Pecans are one of America’s favorite nuts. These little beauties are packed full of flavor and nutrients, making them a great addition to many different kinds of dishes. Whether you’re making a dish in which pecans are the heroes, such as pecan pie, or simply adding crushed and rolled pecans to muffins or soups to kick up the flavor there are some tricks to working with them.
~How to Roast Pecans:
You’re recipe may call for roasted pecans. If you’ve never done so you may be asking yourself how you’re supposed to do that. Don’t worry, it’s not all that hard, and there are several ways to do it.
The first thing you have to understand is that there are 3 stages of roast: light, medium, and dark. Unless you are specifically buying raw pecans they come in bags of light roast. To achieve a medium or dark roast you have to do it yourself.
But, why roast pecans? Well, because roasting pecans changes their flavor. The darker the roast the more hearty and robust their flavor will be. So, why aren’t they roasted ahead of time, pre-packaged? Because by roasting them what they gain in flavor they loose in nutrients. It’s like coffee, the darker the roast the less caffeine the beans will have. With pecans they loose a lot of the natural antioxidants and oils they possess. The key is to roast only what you need.
Light roasted pecans are good for snacking on straight, or in a jar of mixed nuts. Medium roasted pecans are good for topping pecan pies when chopped, or crushed and sprinkled over ice cream. Dark roasted pecans are usually crushed and rolled to be used as a spice, much in the same way as powdered cloves or cinnamon are. Dark roasted rolled pecans can be added to bread dough to warm up the flavor, or to cookies, such as in the making of pecan sandies.
Light medium roasted pecans will barely be darker than the original light roast. Regular medium will be slightly darker than that, with some pecans looking charred. Dark roasted pecans should look evenly charred. They will look burnt; don’t worry, they’re supposed to look like that.
There are 3 standard ways to roast pecans: in the oven, in a toaster oven, or in a skillet. Some people roast their pecans on fine wire meshing over an open fire, but that’s a bit more advanced than we’re going to tackle here.
Oven Method For Roasting Pecans
Preheat oven to a low broil and adjust rack to center of oven. Spread out 2 cups shelled pecans evenly on a baking sheet. Broil nuts for 4 minutes. Remove from oven and toss with spatula to turn the pecans over. Return to oven and broil for 4 more minutes. At this point the pecans will have achieved a ‘light-medium’ roast. If that is your goal put the baking sheet on a wire rack in cool place to let pecans cool to handling temperature. Nuts will be hot; handle carefully.
If your goal is a regular medium or dark roast you’ll need to repeat the process of turning them over and broiling them on low for 4 more minutes for each side. One more time for a regular medium roast and 2 more times for a dark roast.
Toasted Pecans
Fill the baking tray of your toaster oven with a single layer of pecans and set the toaster to give them a mild toast. Keep an eye on them since the pecans will not react the same way as bread does in the toaster oven, and many toaster ovens vary. Once they’ve toasted on one side take out the tray, turn the pecans over with a fork or tongs, and then return the tray to the toaster oven for another light toasting. Repeat this process until the pecans have achieved the roast you want.
Skillet Roasted Pecans
Preheat a large dry skillet over medium-high heat. Add just enough pecans to cover the bottom of the skillet in a single layer. Let fry for 3-4 minutes then flip the pecans to roast the other side. Repeat this process until the pecans have achieved the desired level of roast. Some people add a small dab of butter to the skillet for this method, but that could interfere with the recipe you intend to use the pecans in. Double check that adding butter or oil will be compatible with your recipe before using them. If you’re not sure err on the side of caution and skillet roast your pecans dry.
~How To Prepare Roasted Pecans For Recipes:
There are so many different uses for roasted pecans I could take up five pages listing just the ones I know of! But, despite the seemingly infinite uses for them there are only 4 ‘preparations’ for pecans: whole, chopped, crushed, and rolled.
WholePecans
It may seem silly to think of preparing pecans if you intend to serve them whole, but there are certain things to consider. First, are the whole roasted pecans going to be the hero of your dish? Are they going to take front stage and become a visual center point or noticeable accent to it? If so, you’ll want to sort through them and pick out all the broken, overly charred, or just plain ugly nuts. If the presentation of your roasted pecans is a main part of the plating of your dish you’ll want to make sure you’ve selected only the most attractive pecans to display. You can discard any other pecans to the chopping block so they won’t go to waste.
Chopped Pecans
Most shelled pecans sold in stores have already been cut in half. This is normal since it is very hard to get the nut from the shell without it breaking in half in the first place. Now you need to make them smaller still. Using a self contained nut chopper or kitchen knife you achieve the ‘chopped’ preparation by cutting the pecans into quarters. Once lengthwise and again widthwise.
Crushed Pecans
To call crushed pecans ‘crushed’ is actually a lie. You can use a kitchen mallet to crush your pecans, but it’s much easier to do it with a nut chopper or kitchen knife. Just cut them up to a finer consistency than ‘chopped’ nuts.
Rolled Pecans
Before you can roll out pecans you’ll first have to ‘crush’ them. At this point you can apply a rolling pin to them to turn them into something that almost resembles a paste. It a good idea to put your crushed pecans into a plastic bag before rolling them to keep them from going everywhere. Leave the bag open, however, or you’ll simply end up struggling against air pockets. When the pecans have been rolled they will have a flat flaky appearance and be a little sticky. Empty them out of the bag and use a fork or your fingers to ‘fluff’ them up.
You may be tempted to use a food processor, blender, or hand mixer to make the job easier, but this is one time when old tech rules. If you attempt to make rolled pecans in a machine all you will end up with is paste. However, if you’re looking for paste, go for it! Pecan butter on toast actually sounds good… but it doesn’t work very well in pecan sandies.
Storage of Roasted & Prepared Pecans
Pecans can be roasted ahead of time for most things, but remember, they go stale and loose their favor much faster after they’ve been prepared. Their natural oils also begin to dry out, and the oils and husks is where a lot of the flavor is in regards to roasted pecans. It’s best to roast your pecans the same day that you plan to use them.
If you can’t, however, keep them stored in an air tight container, such as a plastic bag with all the air forced out, or even a seal-a-meal type bag.
Whatever you plan to do with your roasted pecans have patience, the results are well worth the time it takes to roast and prepare them. Happy eating!
