Nuts Over Nougat

Thanks, Todd Selby, for introducing us to Didier Murat’s no-brainer nougat noir, the tastiest nut brittle ever.

EASY & DELISH | If you’re addicted to Internet food and home décor porn like I am, you already know who Todd Selby is and can scroll straight down to the bottom of this intro for an awesomely easy nougat noir recipe. It was part of a recent photo essay he did for the New York Times on an out-of-the-way French bakery in Vermont.

If you’re unfamiliar with Selby’s particular POV, a few minutes spent on his two famous blogs should get you up to speed: theselby.com, where he documents interesting people in their interesting homes (giving rise to a much-imitated style of photography that has “come to define cool,” according to Eva Wiseman in The Observer); and edibleselby.com, where he puts the same energy into shooting creative people who work in food.

Selby developed Edible Selby in collaboration with the New York Times T magazine, and his visual essays for the publication typically include a recipe, like the one featured here for French nougat noir, which had everyone at Frugalbits HQ salivating because it’s so obviously easy—and quick.

Nougat maker/baker Didier Murat, of Vergennes Laundry bakery put his own spin on classic French nougat noir by adding coriander, which gives the candy a delightfully original flavour and fragrance.

How To Make Didier’s Nougat Noir

500 g almonds
150 g pistachios
250 g honey
300 g sugar
13 g crushed [or ground] coriander

Roast nuts in the oven, being careful not to let them burn. Heat sugar and honey to 165 degrees C (if you don’t have a candy thermometer, a meat thermometer works fine). Add the roasted and still-hot nuts. Add crushed coriander and mix well while hot. Then pour out onto a greased marble slab (Murat uses cocoa butter to slick his surface, but says any mild oil will do. “If you have a silicone sheet, you won’t need any oil,” he told me). Spread the candy across the slab, let it harden (five to 10 minutes), then cut with a supersharp knife.

(A word to the wise, nut brittle can be tough on teeth. To insure against damage, cut nougat into chunks that can be popped into the mouth and then chewed rather than into slabs that require biting and pulling with your teeth.) —C. Rule

Todd Selby’s latest book, Edible Selby is now in bookstores across Canada, and available online at chapters.indigo.ca