Nougat de Tours

The nougat de Tours is a confectionery specialty of Tours in Touraine. Local tradition places its creation in the Renaissance, in the era of Leonardo da Vinci — who lived his last years nearby and is said to have loved almonds and candied fruit — but this is told as legend, not record; the original is described as using candied citron and a jam of alberge, a now-rare apricot-peach stone fruit. One of the first published recipes appears in an 1865 cookbook. Largely forgotten by the 1960s, it was revived by the Tours chef Charles Barrier, and a confrérie was founded in 1998 to preserve and promote it.

Three layers in one forkful: a crisp, buttery shortcrust base; a sticky, glistening band of candied fruit set in apricot jam, sweet and slightly tacky; and on top the macaronade — a thin almond meringue that crackles on the surface and stays soft and chewy beneath, like the lid of a macaron. The whole is sweet and rich, the apricot's faint acidity and the almond cutting through the candied fruit. It firms as it cools and slices cleanly.

The dish layers three set textures built on sugar and egg. The shortcrust is blind-friendly pastry that bakes crisp under the moist fillings. The candied fruit is fruit preserved by saturating it with sugar syrup until it resists spoilage; bound in apricot jam, it forms a stable jewelled middle. The macaronade is a meringue-almond batter — egg whites whipped with sugar and folded with ground almonds — that bakes like a macaron shell: the surface dries to a thin crackling crust while the inside stays soft from the almond fat and sugar holding moisture. Baking sets all three together into one sliceable tart.