Curious Cook

Curious Cook in the New York Times: Making Candies in the Microwave

In my last Curious Cook column for 2010, I write about the advantages of cooking down candy mixes in the microwave oven, which is more forgiving in several ways than the stovetop. I also give recipes for nut brittle, New-Orleans-style pralines, and saffron-flavored Turkish delight.

 For any home cook who enjoys candy-making or would like to give it a try, I strongly recommend Peter Greweling's recent book Chocolates and Confections, in the Culinary Institute of America's "At Home" series (John Wiley & Sons, 2010).  His Chocolates and Confections: Formula, Theory, and Technique for the Artisan Confectioner (Wiley, 2007) delves deeper into the technical details.

And for an eye-opening review of just how complex the chemistry of candy syrups is, take a look at the review cited below.

 

Zapping the holiday candy

I’M not a big candy eater, but around the holidays I find myself longing for a few pieces of chewy Turkish delight. Despite the name and exotic rose-water flavor, it’s among the humblest of confections, made from just cornstarch and sugar. But it takes me back to the first Christmas I can remember, when the grandmother I hadn’t yet met, who was Indian and lived in England, sent me a box. For me it still carries the taste of strangeness and confusion and wonder.

I also don’t make candy very often. But when I do it seems the most magical branch of cooking, one that needs little more than plain white powder to conjure up such different marvels as glassy lollipops, opalescent ribbons, smooth creams, crumbly fudge and rich brown caramel.