Pralines From the Source

Directions to the New Orleans School of Cooking are not needed. Just find Jackson Brewery and follow your nose.

The moment you enter the brewery, the smell of something wonderful wafts over you. Something nutty and sweet and creamy. Follow the aroma and you’ll land at a candy kitchen, where only one thing is made from morning to night--pralines.

Now, many praline makers won’t give you their recipes, but these cooks will not only give you the written instructions, they’ll show you how to do it.

“That’s the biggest secret to it--watching,” says Lisa Ratliff, who has made pralines for 2 1/2 years at the school. If the candy is not cooked enough, it won’t harden, and if it’s cooked too much, it will be too hard. The cooking, she estimates, should take between 10 and 15 minutes, but she never times it; she can tell when a pot is ready by the degree of caramelization and the tug on the spoon when she stirs it.

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The best test a novice can make is to drop a bit into cold water; if it clings together in a ball, it’s ready.

The most popular New Orleans candy, pralines are made from two of Louisiana’s top products--sugar and pecans. The New Orleans School of Cooking’s version uses white sugar, brown sugar, pecans, butter, vanilla and milk.

Pralines derive their name from the French marshall Choiseul-Praslin (1598-1695), who offered almonds coated in cooked sugar along with his amorous intentions to famous women.

When Louisiana was settled by French colonists, native pecans were substituted for the almonds, and sugar made from Louisiana sugar cane was used. Recipes have been handed down from generation to generation.

At the New Orleans School of Cooking, which includes praline instructions in its classes, the nutty patties are made in small batches, with three pots usually bubbling at once on separate burners.

“Thousands,” Ratliff says, are made each day, and rarely is one left by night. Demand is so high that sugars are measured the night before for a quick start at 9 a.m. daily, an hour before the brewery opens.

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“If I had to keep a count on how many I make, I think I’d probably quit,” says Arthur Ruffin, another staffer at the school, who spends most of his time making pralines.

One difference in their version, Ruffin says, is that milk is used rather than cream. “You get more of a praline taste without the cream,” he says. Also, they are lower in fat.

A sign over the tiny praline kitchen reads, “De bes’ in de world!” And the numbers of customers who return are convincing.

A California woman who tasted the pralines on a visit to New Orleans called in an order for 900 to serve at her daughter’s wedding. The order went out the next day after Ratliff and Ruffin came in at 7 a.m. and whipped them up in 1 1/2 hours. Personalized wrappers are used for orders from hotels and businesses that use pralines as business cards. One local lawyer’s personalized wrapper reads, “If you think lawyers leave a bitter taste . . . try this. Bon appetit.”

Special large-size pralines are made for the riverboat Natchez.

During Mardi Gras and major convention weeks, the praline pots at the school bubble from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

“As fast as we can fill the boxes, they take them,” Ruffin says. Boxes of a dozen sell for $5, individual pralines for 50 cents.

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Besides learning to make pralines, the cooks have acquired other knowledge from their thousands of customers.

“We have learned to say chocolate and peanut butter in all sorts of languages,” Ruffin says. Those flavors are made by the addition of semisweet chocolate and/or peanut butter at the end of cooking. The key here is to take the pot off the stove a couple of minutes early and then add the flavoring. The chocolate or peanut butter helps to thicken the candy, so the cooking time is shortened.

A special ingredient in all of the school’s pralines is LeRuth’s gourmet vanilla, made by former chef Warren LeRuth with a select bourbon vanilla bean. This vanilla is sold, along with hundreds of Louisiana products, in the general store adjacent to the cooking school.

Pralines are easy to make at home. According to Joe Cahn, founder of the New Orleans School of Cooking, “The freshest praline is the one you make at home.” The recipe shown here is his.

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PRALINES

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cup light-brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

6 tablespoons butter

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

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* Combine sugars, milk, vanilla extract and butter in saucepan. Bring to boil over high heat. Add pecans. Continue to boil until mixture reaches soft-ball stage of 238 to 240 degrees, stirring constantly. Test for soft-ball stage by dropping a spoonful into cup of cold water. If it clings together in ball, it is ready. Remove from heat.

* Stir until mixture thickens, becomes creamy and cloudy and pecans stay suspended in mixture. Spoon out onto buttered wax paper, foil or parchment paper. When using wax paper, be sure to buffer with newspaper underneath, as hot wax will transfer to whatever is beneath.

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Makes about 3 dozen pralines.

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VARIATIONS

Chocolate Pralines: Just before praline mixture reaches softball stage, remove from heat and add 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips. Stir until mixed well. Spoon out onto paper or foil. Chocolate will help thicken mixture.

Peanut Butter Pralines: Just before praline mixture reaches soft-ball stage, remove from heat and add 1/3 cup peanut butter. Stir until mixed well. Spoon out onto paper or foil. Peanut butter will help thicken mixture.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Pralines: Just before praline mixture reaches soft-ball stage, remove from heat and add 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips and 1/6 cup peanut butter. Stir until mixed well. Spoon out onto paper or foil. Chocolate and peanut butter will help thicken mixture.