I like cooking. I do, I swear! But there are some things I'm not crazy about cooking. To be more direct, there is a certain type of dish that I'm not too crazy about making. What is it? APPETIZERS. I know what some of you might thinking. "Your last two posts were appetizers!" Well, those are really the only two apps I'm willing to mess around with. If you consider guacamole an app, you can say that's 3 things. Really, that's about it.
Why? Because it takes work! I'm not a completely lazy bastard, but if I'm gonna put in serious work in the kitchen, I wanna see a lot of food come out of it. But if I gotta do a lot of work just to see a few bites come out of it, that's just gonna tick me off. Case in point: Chef Jose Andres. He's a well know Spanish chef. Does really crazy food. Has a book on Tapas. In that book, each app he creates is super complicated. A lot also involve expensive ingredients. I don't know who he made that book for, but it damn sure wasn't me!
Now for the flip-side of the coin. Appetizers, tapas, petit fours, and any other name you can think of for these things, can speak volumes for you. Small, delicate desserts, elegantly decorated and presented, can say more for you and your culinary skills than you ever could verbally. Same goes for apps. It can show your attention to detail. Your ability to please the eyes, as well as the taste. I think if I ran a restaurant, I would ask potential chefs to create a small petit four plate as part of their try out. I also think as boss, I'd be trying to bang all the cute female servers. Hey, I'm allowed to have dreams!
So, for what I'm making, I'm breaking this into two parts. I could make it into one, but you would be scrolling down for the next month. The above pic is the finished product. It is two small slices of vanilla pound cake with nutella in the center. It is covered with a semi-sweet ganache and has chopped nougatine on the top. The nougatine is what we are going to make in this post.
The peanut nougatine is what most of us know as peanut brittle. Why call it nougatine? Because that's what we call it at work, and that is what I'm going to call it for the rest of this post. Don't like it? Too damn bad! This is my blog! I wear the pants around here! And if I don't feel like wearing pants, I still run this show! HAHAHAHA!!!!
Sorry about the power trip there. I'll try not to do that again. No promises, though. :)
Before making the nougatine, you are gonna need one of these.
Here's the recipe for the nougatine:
2oz Butter
4oz Sugar
1.5 oz Peanuts
You can use other shell nuts if you want, just make sure they are unsalted.
Now, before we start this adventure, you must understand this one thing: Safety is Everything! Yes, as corny as that may sound, you gotta make sure you are working safely. ESPECIALLY with hot sugar! A hot little tart on the cooking channel by the name of Nadia G. put it best: "Hot sugar doesn't burn. It maims". If this stuff gets on you, well....you're fucked. So BE CAREFUL!!
Lets get started! After you scale out your ingredients (I work in weight. Use a scale!), you are gonna want to give the peanuts a rough chop. You don't need to turn them into a fine powder, just break them up some.
Time to cook. Normally, I would use a small pot to cook this. For the sake of taking pictures, I used a small saute pan. If you decide to go with the pan, just take caution stirring a bit more.
First, drop in your butter and turn the flame to medium or medium-low. This isn't a race, so you don't need to blast this on high. Plus, you don't want to burn the butter. Using a whisk or wooden spoon, move the butter around until melted. When the butter is melted, add your sugar and keep stirring. In fact, you aren't going to stop stirring. This is something that needs lots of attention and love. So make use of the DVR, put your show on pause, and focus on the food.
I tried to take a lot of pics to show this will come together, so please work with me on this.
As you stir, the mix is going to change colors. It's gonna start off a little yellow, then slowly start to turn brown. This is not a bad thing. Caramelization is happening, slowly but surely!
As the mix gets a little darker and gets a little smoother, something is going happen. And that "something" is the butter separating from the sugar. When this starts to happen, DON'T PANIC! Just keep stirring! And keep in mind what I said earlier: Be Careful. If that hot butter splashes up on you, it's gonna hurt like a son of a bitch! Trust me, I know!
We are almost to the finish line for this! While the butter is separated, you can take the pan off the heat for a little bit to help it come back together. While stirring, just take the pan off the fire for about 30 seconds or so, then back on the fire. Once it has come back together, add your peanuts. You don't need to cook them long. 1 minute at the most! Really, you wanna stir them in enough to know all of them are covered with the caramel. Once coated, pour out onto your silpat.
Because this is sugar, you are not gonna want to leave this out too long. Wait for it to cool completely, then break into pieces and store in an air tight container. A zip-lock bag will do well too. And....that's it.
Because this is sugar, you are not gonna want to leave this out too long. Wait for it to cool completely, then break into pieces and store in an air tight container. A zip-lock bag will do well too. And....that's it.
This may seem like a lot, but it really isn't. You only need 3 ingredients and a little patience. Once you taste it, you will know that little bit of effort was well worth it. Every time I make this at work, people always walk by it and break off little pieces to eat. It's really that good.
When part 2 arrives, I'll show you how to put it all together. Thanks for stopping by. :)
J. Miller
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