[Sca-cooks] Anneys in Counfyte: The Recipe Was Right

[David Friedman]

>So, here are some comments
>
>>One piece of advice--your pan should be a dutch oven or equivalent. 
>>If >you use a frying pan, the process of rubbing the seeds against 
>>the >bottom to break up the lumps also squirts seeds out of the pan 
>>onto the >stove, kitchen counter, floor, ...  .
>
>I am curious how vigorously the seeds must be being stirred for them 
>to squirt out of the pan.  Were they being stirred with enthusiasm 
>or with soft patience?

With enough force to break up the clusters of seeds.

>How many seeds were in the pan?

I started with an ounce, half the amount specified in the original 
recipe, and was initially using a large frying pan.

>Perhaps there were too many.  In my wok, depending on the size of 
>the seed, I can use one of those small containers which have less 
>than an ounce.  However, once the sugar coating has begun to build 
>up, I find that I need to divide the seeds into two or three 
>different batches.  If you have a wok, try that but be sure that the 
>bottom of the wok is not sitting directly on the heat source.  Use a 
>"wok ring" or something to elevate the bottom off the direct heat.

We have an electric stove, which doesn't work as well with a wok as a 
gas stove does.

>Also, the recipe that you cited mentions taking the pan off the heat 
>from time to time.  That keeps the pan within a temperature range 
>where you can stir the seeds without burning yourself.

As I said in my post, I was stirring the seeds without burning 
myself--that was part of the point. And I was indeed taking the pan 
off the heat a good deal of the time.

>  >One of the things I don't think I got quite right was the color. 
>I >suspect, from the comment at the end of the recipe, that the 
>candied >seeds are supposed to come out a nice white. I let the 
>sugar get  a >little too hot, so it ended up pale brown.
>
>Yes, a nice white is the desired color.  Some problems are that when 
>the sugar coating (the "charge") is initially applied, care must be 
>taken to continue moving the seeds in the warm/hot pan until they 
>are thoroughly dry.  Adding charge after charge to a 
>not-thoroughly-dried seed will result in a grayish color.  If you 
>got brown, then as you mentioned, you may have had too hot a syrup.

I did--the liquid sugar was browning.

But I wasn't using a syrup--no water is mentioned in the original 
recipe, and I didn't use any. Just melted sugar, which makes it 
harder to keep it white but not, I think, impossible.

And, if I'm interpreting it correctly, that may also make it a faster 
process than the one you describe, since there is no water to be 
dried away.
-- 
David/Cariadoc
www.daviddfriedman.com