Take a closer look at a product at each stage of the panning process and learn what happens at each stage.

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Comments

Thank you, Russ, the series is great and in depth. I have one important question. You said that caramelizing the nuts is straight forward, but how? How do I caramelize 20 kg of nuts? When I try just 2 kg, I end up with pieces of 3-10 nuts stuck together always. Any advice please? Sincerely

Hi Petr, how are you trying to caramelize your nuts? In the oven? Typically I do this process in the oven and never have any issue. You can also do this in large copper bowls over an open flame, but you need to have all the proper equipment and setup, as well as training in place to achieve this. Typically in a professional kitchen we would use this method instead of the oven as when done properly it delivers superior results. In production kitchens we often have equipment which automates this process.

To do small batches in the oven:
-Combine sugar and the water and bring to the boil. (1kg of sugar + 600g water per kg of nuts)
-Add the nuts and boil slowly for about 5 minutes.
-Strain the nuts out of the syrup.
-Spread the nuts onto trays lined with silicone sheets.
-Toast in a 160C/320F oven for 10-12 minutes, tossing the nuts every few minutes until they are a dark caramel color.
-Remove the nuts and cool completely. Proceed as desired.

Thanks Russ. We tried in normal steel pot, cooking was fine, the separation was tedious. Tried your method twice (thank you for the details!), the sugar on some nuts were not caramelized enough, while other nuts begun to overroast. I think I will try the oven method again after I dry sugar coat the nuts in the pan.
Regarding the automation, are you reffering to Pyrex pot, or what could I take a look on?