"Jim Elbrecht" <> wrote in message...
> 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

I am a praline authority. Because I say so and because friends, foes and
strangers say so. The recipes have been around at least 250 years - more or
less in France and then New Orleans.
First, the pronunciation is praw-leen and I was going to suggest saying
'praw' as in 'craw'fish but folks don't get that right either. The origin
is French; neither Mexico nor China can persuade me otherwise.
Saying the name is much like puh-cahn or pee-can. Nobody here worries
much about that.
As with fudge and divinity, the weather, the cook and the ingredients
vary. Lots.
Putting bacon in a praline is absurd but I suppose Elvis would have
liked it. Polly