Leonard Blaisdell > wrote:

>In article >,
> "Julie Bove" > wrote:
>
>> First... How do you pronounce them? I grew up saying "prayleen" but I have
>> only heard "prawline" or "prawleen" from other people.
>
>> I have looked up various recipes and I can't really tell what the texture
>> should be from those but the shape and look of them is exactly like I
>> remembered.
>>
>> So... How should they be?
>
>Southerners should answer this. To me "prayleens" are pecans in a stiff
>caramel coating. I'm from Nevada and couldn't discern a real southern
>praline with a gun to my head. I remember when my parents got sugary
>pecan lumps for Christmas that were called pralines. Come to think of
>it, they weren't caramel.
>

C'mon y'all from south of the Mason-Dixon. I'm a NYer. I've
made them a couple times and thought I'd failed. They have come out
as a gooey cookie that is *almost* grainy caramel. It can still be
broken, but it bends quite a bit before it comes apart.

I tried 2 recipes, then figured I must be leaving out a secret step
that only southerns know.

Then my daughter brought me home a bourbon/bacon/some-hot-thing
praline from New Orleans. The texture was exactly what I'd been
coming up with and had caused my disappointment.

Is that what they are *supposed* to be?

Jim