Sally Sampson - Party Nuts!: 50 Recipes for Spicy, Sweet, Savory, and Simply Sensational Nuts That Will Be the Hit of Any Gathering

The Harvard Common Press
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Boston, Massachusetts 02118
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Copyright 2002 by Sally Sampson
Photographs copyright 2002 by Duane Winfield

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Printed in China
Printed on acid-free paper

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sampson, Sally

Party nuts! : 50 recipes for spicy, sweet, savory, and simply sensational nuts that will be
the hit of every gathering / Sally Sampson
p. cm.
ISBN 1-55832-243-4 (hc)
1. Cookery (Nuts) I. Title
TX814 .S27 2002
641.6'45--dc21
2002024100
ISBN-13: 978-1-55832-243-1
ISBN-10: 1-55832-243-4

Special bulk-order discounts are available on this and other Harvard Common Press books.
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10 9 8 7 6 5

Interior and jacket design by Elizabeth Van Itallie
Photography by Duane Winfield
Food styling by Anthony Leberto
Prop styling by Duane Winfield and Justin Schwartz

Front jacket recipe: Paige's Hot Peppered Candied Walnuts,
Back jacket recipes: (clockwise from upper left): Cumin-Cayenne Cashews, Pine Nuts, and
Pistachios, ; Jennifer Ligeti's
Classic Sugared Holiday Nuts,

to the people who inhabit my nuthouse:
mark, lauren, benjamin, and tom

It really isn't possible to thank Carla Glasser or Jenny Alperen sufficiently for all that they contribute to my books and my life. Since this book was Carla's idea, it is actually true when I say that I couldn't have done it without her. Carla, may your life always be filled with MBs.

As soon as I decided to write this book, I sent an e-mail to all my friends: Do you have any recipes for party nutsthe edible, not the human, kind?

There is not a soul alive who would consider me a human party nut, and yet I have become so intrigued with the edible kind. The very thought of whipping up a batch makes me look forward to going to a party. So, does that mean that I am now a Party Nut? And the real question is: Is all this nuttiness now why people invite me?

It wouldn't surprise me. Party nuts are perfect for parties: sweet, salty, sometimes spicy, always rich, a little bit decadent, and yet one feels virtuous for eating them. In spite of the fact that nuts are high in fat, the fat is unsaturated (the good kind), they are totally lacking in cholesterol, and they are high in protein.

My fascination began a few years ago. Mark, my husband, invited his old college friend Scott MackIntosh for a visit. Scott's wife, Beverly, brought toys for Lauren and Benjamin, our two children, and a gift for me: a hand-tied bag of homemade roasted sweetened pecans. I won't say the rest is history ... yet.

My first reaction was, I am loath to admit, pretty snobbish. Beverly's pecans seemed pass. But then I tasted them and literally didn't stop chomping until I had emptied the bag; I don't even recall offering any to Mark. I was wowed by Beverly's culinary prowess (never mind that she was also tall and beautiful) and stunned by how delicious and addictive the nuts were. In spite of the fact that I had written six cookbooks, it had never occurred to me to roast a nut of any kind.

I implored Beverly to give me her recipe. I replicated it exactly. But later, as one is wont to do in a pinch, I started to tinker with the ingredients, the temperature, and the timing. I bought a pound of pecans and later two and then, the following year, ten. I don't even have the original recipe anymore. I started to experiment with other nuts, different coatings, different methods, different temperatures. Eventually, there was almost nothing I wouldn't put on a nut. I explained it this way to my friend, cookbook writer and Gourmet magazine editor John Willoughby: I think of every possible flavor combination that would be good on one of many nuts and then try it.

Eventually, a friend suggested that I go into business, and in November of 2001 I decided to give it a try. I called my friends Olgo and Tony Russo, co-owners of A. Russo and Sons, a wholesale and retail produce market, and asked if they would try my Sweet and Spicy Pecans and, if they liked them, sell them. They loved them, but Olgo said they were a little too spicy, and Tony said they were not spicy enough. I knew then that I had reached a perfect ratio of sweet to spicy.

I asked Olgo how much he would need to sell to consider them a successful product. He said 30 pounds a monthbut he ended up selling that much in the first week. I made batch after batch after batch in my small kitchen. I ordered extra sheet pans and, later, extra racks. I am not exaggerating when I say that my oven was on from the moment I woke up until the moment I went to sleep. The scent of sugar and spice pervaded the air, the furniture, even our clothing.

Mark, a sales and marketing vice president for start-ups and small companies, decided right then and there to quit his job. If A. Russo and Sons could sell 30 pounds in a week, he figured, this is a real business. We officially started Sampson's in 2002. Mark went on to open more and more accounts locally and then nationally. I can now say the rest is history.

First of all, buy nuts from a reputable source that sells lots of nuts. Although they are sometimes more expensive, whole-food stores are good, as are wholesale clubs and Trader Joe's. I don't recommend little bags from grocery stores, as they tend to be old and have less taste.

Experiment with different kinds of nuts. I have discovered that subtlety is not something you generally find in a nut. Because of this, seasonings need to be strong to compensate for the dense richness of the nuts themselves. I usually prefer to use one type of nut per recipe, but nut mixes are also good. As a general rule, anything you can do with a pecan you can also do with a walnut, and anything you can do with an almond you can also do with a hazelnut. Beyond that, have some fun and monkey around with different varieties (and then be sure to send me a letter with the results).

I always store nuts in the freezer. While it won't hurt to refrigerate most nuts for up to three months, unless you are really sure about your source, you'll ensure against rancidity by freezing them. This goes for toasted, roasted, and sauted nuts (including all the recipes in this book) as well as raw.

Even if you are eating nuts without adornment, you should always toast them first to intensify their flavor and their essential, well, nuttiness. You can cook them in a lower oven, say 250 degrees, but then you have to double or triple the cooking time. You can also cook them in a skillet, but I almost always burn them because, if you walk away, even for a second, it's a sure bet that that is the precise moment when they will be done. What follows is the most foolproof method for lightly toasted nuts.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Place the raw nuts on a baking pan or sheet. It is not necessary to butter or oil it or to line it with parchment paper. If your oven heat is uneven, turn the nuts once or twice during the cooking time.