A HARTE APPETITE: PRALINES TREAT FOR MARDI GRAS, ALL YEAR

Thanks to a fortuitous alignment of the planets, next Tuesday presents me with a delectable coincidence. It's my birthday and it falls this year on Mardi Gras, which translated from the French means Fat Tuesday. Those who know me no doubt will relish the appropriateness of such timing as much as I do. Clearly, I'll lack no excuse for a party!

And when it comes to parties, they know how to throw them way down yonder in New Orleans where America's premiere street party takes place every year around this time as a last gasp of excess before Lent. (Surprisingly, however, the American version of Mardi Gras was born not in New Orleans, but in Mobile, Ala., then the capital of the Louisiana Territory, in 1704. The Big Easy expropriated Mobile's masked ball about 150 years later following a ban on street dancing imposed by the ruling Spanish government.)

The custom of Mardi Gras is not peculiar to New Orleans and can even be traced back to the pagan orgies of ancient Rome. In England they observe Shrove Tuesday (from the word "shrive" or to hear confession), in Germany Fastnacht (eve of the fast) and in Latin America carneval (from carne vale, or goodbye meat). But nobody ushers in the season of Lenten deprivation with more revelry than the Crescent City where last year, according to the city's sanitation director, the Mardi Gras festival generated nearly 1,200 tons of garbage in just two weeks.

It's perfectly understandable why New Orleans is the site of the quintessential Mardi Gras celebration. Its unique cultural heritage, its laissez-faire attitude (though this year the police have threatened to crack down on public nudity), and the lively music and debauchery of the French Quarter make it a natural. And, of course, there's the food. New Orleans, with its Creole cookery, an inspired fusion of French, Spanish and African components, is arguably the greatest food town in America.

After all, when someone says New Orleans you're likely to think of any of a number of unrivaled culinary creations such as gumbo, red beans and rice, shrimp Creole, beignets, muffuletta sandwiches, or bananas Foster (the most frequently requested item on the menu at Brennan's, the famous New Orleans restaurant where it was invented). But I think first of pralines, the most revered of all Southern dessert treats.

They've been making these unique candies in New Orleans since the 1700s, traditionally cooked over an open fire and stirred with wooden paddles in large copper pots. Originally peddled in the streets of the French Quarter from gingham-lined straw baskets by Creole women known as pralinieres and costing only a "picayune," or about six cents, there is nothing else quite like them.

The origin of the word "praline" actually goes back much further than the 18th century and it has several cooking definitions. According to legend, the term is derived from the Duke of Plessis-Praslin, a brilliant general born in 1598 who was a loyalist of Anne of Austria, the mother of Louis XIV. His chef invented a technique for coating whole almonds in caramelized sugar (though some accounts say it was his children who uncovered the technique while others say it was discovered merely by accident). He prescribed them for the duke's chronic indigestion and before long the sugared almonds caught on among the French elite. The chef ultimately retired and opened a confectioner's shop in Montargis, which is still in operation.

A praline to the French remains an almond covered with cooked sugar (cheap versions use peanuts). The word "pralin" refers to caramelized sugar and almonds that have been ground into a fine powder and used as an ingredient in other confections. And "pralin" (with three syllables) is the word the French and Belgians use to refer to any filled chocolate. But in New Orleans, where native pecans replaced almonds and the city's withering humidity prompted a creamier, less brittle candy, the word, pronounced "praw-leen," refers to those wonderful caramel-colored nut patties that have earned a rightful place in Roy Guste's book, "The 100 Greatest Dishes of Louisiana Cookery."

Curiously, the pecans that are at the heart of New Orleans pralines and that are the most popular nut in this country after the peanut, are grown and eaten in few places outside the United States and Mexico where they are indigenous and were used extensively by pre-Columbian Indians. They are linked especially to Louisiana where a slave named Antoine gave rise to the local pecan industry by carrying out horticultural experiments on the plants, a species of the hickory tree.

Pralines aren't that difficult to make, but they aren't fast food either. In fact, pralines have been suggested for recognition by Slow Food, an international food movement headquartered in Italy and dedicated to preserving local traditions involving foods that require a lot of time, money or skill to produce. But the following guidelines, along with a little practice, should help you master the praliniere's art.

First, use a very heavy saucepan that conducts heat evenly. I'm still using a cast aluminum pot I bought some 25 years ago at the old Ueleke's Hardware store in downtown Cape and I haven't scorched a batch of pralines yet.

Second, unless the recipe directs otherwise, use a candy thermometer and make sure it's a good one. With experience you'll be able to eyeball when the praline mixture has reached the proper stage, but an accurate thermometer is a good insurance policy. I just wish they made them with large type!

Third, stir the mixture carefully at the start before it reaches the boiling point to fully dissolve the sugar crystals and keep them in the lower part of the pan to promote a smooth texture in the finished product.

Fourth, be careful not to underbeat the praline mixture before spooning it out. Actually, judging when the pralines are ready is the trickiest part of the process, but if you beat the mixture until it's too thick, you can usually thin it out with a tablespoon or so of hot water. If it's too thin and does not eventually harden, your only recourse will be to fold it into softened ice cream, which, come to think of it, is not entirely a disaster.

Fifth, use a metal spoon rather than a wooden one to form the individual patties because the candy drops easier from a metal spoon.

And finally, work quickly.

The following recipes are good ones to start out with. Once you've mastered them you can experiment with variations. For example, try adding bourbon, instant coffee, chocolate or even peanut butter to your favorite praline recipe to give it an extra twist. Any way you prepare them, pralines are a distinctive New Orleans treat that will sweeten Mardi Gras or any celebration.

Clara Feldmeier's Pralines

My mother-in-law, Clara Feldmeier, has over the years built a deserved reputation as a candy maker with this recipe, handed down to her by her mother who originally got it from a neighbor. The secret to the recipe is the caramelizing of some of the sugar before it is added to the praline mixture.

Ingredients:

4 cups sugar, divided

1 cup milk

1/4 pound butter

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 pound large pecan pieces

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Combine 3 cups sugar, milk, butter, and salt and cook to soft ball stage, stirring constantly. In heavy pan, lightly brown remaining 1 cup sugar and add to mixture along with vanilla. Add pecans and stir until cool. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto waxed paper and let stand until firm.

French Quarter Pralines

These wonderful molasses spiked pralines defy the notion that candy making is difficult. They're so simple you don't even need a candy thermometer. The recipe is adapted from one of my very favorite new cookbooks, "Short & Sweet" by Melanie Barnard, which contains dozens of sophisticated dessert recipes requiring no more than seven ingredients or 30 minutes of preparation.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups light brown sugar

1 cup half-and-half

1 tablespoon molasses

1 1/2 cup pecans

Directions:

Combine all ingredients except pecans and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Boil for 12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add pecans and boil 1 minute longer. Remove pan from heat, let stand 1 minute, then beat until mixture cools and thickens. Drop mixture by tablespoonfuls onto greased foil-lined baking sheet. Cool until firm.

Old-Fashioned Pralines

This recipe, from a book published in 1879 by the old Godchaux sugar refinery in New Orleans, produces pralines that are authentically old-fashioned because, unlike modern pralines, they contain no milk or cream.

Ingredients:

3 cups sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 cups water

3 cups pecan halves

1 tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Combine sugars and water and bring to a boil. When sugar is dissolved, add pecans. Reduce heat and gently simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until mixture grains when metal spoon is rubbed against side of pot. Add butter and vanilla and beat mixture until it appears to granulate and adhere to the spoon. Drop onto waxed paper and cool until firm.

Louisiana General Store's Pralines

This recipe, from Joe Cahn of the New Orleans School of Cooking and Louisiana General Store, is said by some to be New Orleans' best praline. It's adaptable to several variations. For instance, try adding 1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper, or 3 tablespoons orange liqueur, or five chocolate-covered peppermint patties (1/2 ounce) to the mixture before cooking.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 stick butter

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 cups pecans

Directions:

Combine all ingredients and bring to soft ball stage. Remove from heat and stir until mixture cools and thickens. Spoon out onto waxed paper and cool until firm.

A Harte Appetite is now on the air. Listen every Saturday at 11:59 a.m. following "Whad'ya Know" on KRCU, 90.9 on your FM dial. Send suggestions for this column to A Harte Appetite, c/o The Southeast Missourian, P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, MO., 63702-0699 or by e-mail to tharte@semovm.semo.edu.