On Saturday, April 12, 2014 1:12:18 PM UTC-4, graham wrote:
> My d-i-l needed some pralines to take to her book club where the book in
> question was set in New Orleans. So I made 2 batches following a recipe
> by Emeril.
>
> The trouble is that some of the pecans got burnt during the cooking. I
> fished out the worst but I could still detect a slight burnt flavour in
> the candy. I wondered that, for future batches, whether it was OK to add
> the pecans just before the softball stage is reached.
> ISTR that during a visit to N.O., some 30 years ago, that I saw a demo
> of praline making and they poured the candy over separate piles of pecans..
> I would appreciate any advice.
>
> Graham

I would think that it wouldn't matter much. Praline is cooked to the soft ball stage, less than 240 degrees F, so not much hotter than boiling water, and certainly less than what would be required to burn nuts. Just be sure you're stirring constantly and keeping the temperature below 240.

For brittle or other candy that's cooked to the hard crack stage, definitely leave the nuts out until the very end.