Pink Pralines: A Lyonnaise Specialty

The famous pink pralines of Lyon “are not a result of modern chemistry. In 1692, in the book Nouvelle instruction pour les confitures, les liqueurs, et les fruits, François Massialot explains how to make pralines gray, red, white, or gold. Red pralines get their color from cochineal dye: ‘water in which is boiled cochineal with alum and cream of tartar.’

The French definition of a ‘praline,’ is ‘grilled almonds coated with coarse sugar, candied, lending it a rough texture.’ The Belgian definition is ‘bonbons made with chocolate, most often filled (with cream, liquor, etc.).’ The Louisiana definition is ‘treats made with pecans, cane sugar, milk, and butter.’ When the French settlers moved to New Orleans in the eighteenth century, they applied their recipe for almonds to pecans. In the Dictionnaire françois (1694) by Pierre Richelet: ‘For some years we have been calling unskinned almonds cooked in sugar ‘almonds à la Prasline,’ or simply ‘praslines’; they are so called after a sommelier of Marshal Plessis Praslin, who was the first to prepare them in this way.’” (Excerpts from Let’s Eat France, by François-Regis Gaudry, translation by Zachary R. Townsend).