I had never really experienced what it was like to taste a properly roasted pecan until Jean-Philippe Maury showed me what I had been missing. When we first opened Hill Country Chocolate, Jean-Philippe tasted one of the pecans we had created and immediately grabbed it, cracked it open, and with intricate detail showed me the delineation of how we were missing the central part—the very heart of the pecan—from getting it completely roasted.
With his guidance, we completed over twenty-five different trials of roasting times and techniques. We finally settled on our version: quickly parboiling pecans in a concentrated sugar solution made with water, sugar, and glucose, straining them off, and then slowly roasting them for over an hour and fifty minutes in the oven.
The slow roasting means we can have the pecan completely roast to the very heart without burning, so that it becomes actually crispy. The incredible thing that happens is that the flavor of the pecan intensifies. These aren't sweet at all, but the slight par-cooking creates just a micro-level of glaze that has the added effect of preventing staling. It also creates an intensity of surface caramelization that intensifies the flavor in ways I never imagined possible.
This approach has become one of the signature recipes at Hill Country Chocolate. Today we use these pecans in everything from gianduja to pecan nut clusters, to simply enjoying them as a snack. We're incredibly grateful for Jean-Philippe's friendship and his coaching, encouraging us to experiment with both our technique and flavor development.
