This kiwi and its fruit of passion Pavlova have a vacation taste under

The first time I made a pavlova, a majestic dessert of meringue, whipped cream and fresh fruit, I was in high school. A friend organized a potluck, and I, a novice baker at the time, decided to try elegant making. I used the old mixer of my parents’ stand to whisk a meringue, stacked it on a baking sheet, then seated the legs crossed on the ground in front of the oven and watched it like a hawk. He cooks beautifully. Ectedly, I opened the door to the minute I thought it was done, and the meringue cracked and collapsed immediately. It was perhaps not the most beautiful meringue, but garnished with piles of whipped cream and fresh fruit, it was always delicious – and a blow to the potluck.

What is Pavlova?

As is the case with many beloved recipes, the origins of Pavlova are strongly debated. Australia and New Zealand claim to be the birthplace of Pavlova, and dessert is a Christmas classic in the two countries. According to Alan Davidson, the author of Oxford’s companion to food, The Pavlova was named after a Russian ballerina named Anna Pavlova when Herbert Sachse, an Australian chef at the Esplanade hotel in Perth, whipped the confectionery in 1935. The director of the Harry Nairn hotel described it “as light as Pavlova”, and the name stuck. Although Sachse is often credited with having invented Pavlova, history is much more troubled.

Annabelle Utrecht, one of the authors of Beat until stiff: the secret story of the Pavlova and a social history of the desserts of the meringuetold the BBC that “the major meringue constructions incorporating elements of cream and fruit” were common in aristocratic kitchens in Europe in the 18th century. When people started leaving Europe for other places such as North America, Australia and New Zealand during the Napoleonic wars in the 1800s, the Pavlova desserts went with them. “”

Utrecht, who co-wrote the book with Dr. Andrew Paul Wood, plunged into the recipes of the 1800s, and found a lot with remarkable similarities with the Pavlova today. The Torte Schaum (“foam cake” in German), for example, consists of meringue, whipped cream or ice cream and fresh fruit, and arrived in Australia with German immigrants before the Second World War. It is likely that these Pavlova-Esque desserts went both to Australia and New Zealand at the same time.

The entry of the Britannica encyclopedia for Pavlova Note: “The question of which country celebrated for the first time [the pavlova] is upset, but Helen Leach of the University of Otago delivered a newspaper to the tasting of Australia in 2007 showing that a pavlova recipe appeared in New Zealand in 1929. ”Today, Pavlova is a popular dessert ate worldwide.

How to make a pavlova

A pavlova may seem intimidating, but if you separate it into three components, the dessert is really very accessible: it is just a giant meringue garnished with whipped cream and fruit. The most difficult and longest part is to make meringue, a whipped foam of egg whites, sugar and sometimes an acid like vinegar, lemon juice or tartar cream. The secret to make a meringue clear but robust is to whisk the egg whites at room temperature more slowly, to add the sugar gradually and to let the meringues cool completely in the oven.

As I touched myself in my meringue cookie recipe, it can be tempting to launch the mixer and whisk your egg whites at high speed to speed up the process. Whisk the egg whites on a lower speed longer, however, produces a more stable foam which is less likely to deflate and also guarantee that the sugar dissolves properly, preventing your meringue from crying. You will notice a touch of cornstarch in the meringue below; The ingredient helps absorb excess humidity in the meringue, which further reduces the risk of crying after it cooks.

Once your meringue is in the oven, patience is the key: do not make the same mistake as me by opening the oven too quickly! My years of experience in professional pastry have taught me that the best thing you can do to prevent your meringue from cracking and collapsing is to turn off the oven, then let them cool with the closed oven door. (You can find out more about the science of meringue in my recipe for French meringue cookies.)

While the meringue cools, you can prepare your fillings: the whipped cream and the fruit your heart wants. Although I generally reach mature summer berries, our colleague from the test kitchen based in Birmingham, Alabama, Craig Ruff recently inspired me to go with a shiny and punchy combination of kiwis and passion fruit. According to Dr. Wood, Passion Fruit is the classic fruit used in the Australian interpretation of dessert, and Kiwi is generally used in New Zealand. The recipe from Craig below is, diplomatically, a nod to the two versions. The sweetness and crunch of the meringue and delicate whipped cream balance the acidity of the kiwi and the fruits of the passion, which leads to a satisfactory dessert which checks all the boxes. I also like the contrast between the firm kiwi slices and the fruit of the macerated syrupy passion which flows on the sides of the pavlova. It is the Pavlova that I plan to do all summer.

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