Pavlova Primer (or Not eating seasonally)

I know what all the fancy food people say about eating seasonally being an ethical choice. If you do that, not only is the food the very freshest, but you aren't having it trekked in from some foreign land of never-ending sunshine just to suit your jaded desires. And generally I adhere to the idea. It's a good idea. Until the depths of winter. Then I want fruit, dadgum it, and not frozen ones! And maybe some fresh flowers to go alongside...

I am a frugal person and don't buy flowers unless they are to go in the ground. I have plenty of my own in warmer months. But in January, sometimes you need a little something. This bouquet is still lovely at 2 weeks old. They were $4 and called "3Week Wonders". You keep changing the water and cutting the stems and they really do last forever! See the gorgeous vase? My middle son was kindly helping an old feller move. This vase, cut glass and super heavy, was laying in a pile of trash in the corner and he asked the man about it. The guy said it was what he threw at rats when they bothered him. (??!!) He told Seth he could have it, and the fine boy brought it to me. I love my new "rat vase"!

Yes, I admit that it is a bit irrational. But is it really? What the soul craves in the darkness of the coldest months is surely worth a tiny splurge. Thus the bouquet of flowers on the table and the plump raspberries and blackberries, along with only slightly insipid strawberries, in my fridge. 'Cause, people, I need a Pavlova.

Growing up I had never heard of such a thing. To this day (at age 44) I have never seen one on a restaurant menu. Is this simply a regional dearth, or a lapse within within the whole great country of ours? It may sound harsh, but as much as I love the US of A, sometimes we are very shortsighted. How can there be two kinds of weird seaweed languishing in the grocery store and yet no one making a Pavlova? If I had not been lured in by the gorgeousness of its photos I might have missed this morsel of perfection forever. It is so lovely to view, such a masterpiece of beauty that I had to make one. It was a shallow longing based on looks, and I wasn't even really expecting to like it. Perhaps it would be one more thing that I would make, shrug, and mark off my to-make list. But no. A Pavlova (It should be said almost as a sigh. Trust me, it comes out that way if you're actually eating one.) is, as Keats would say, "a thing of beauty and a joy forever". 

I rate desserts on the "transcendency scale". So often I will make something and say, "Just fine." Or, "Nothing special." When a dish is transcendent  it literally makes you close your eyes for a brief second to savor it. It transcends the ordinary and takes you with it.

A Pavlova is a deceptively simple thing. A fragile shell of baked meringue, a bit of sweetened whipped cream, and a tumble of fruit. But combine these textures and tastes- crackly sweet meringue with an inner marshmallow-y chew, cool and delicate whipped cream hardly pressing the palate, and then the meatiness of sweet strawberries, semi-tart raspberries that taste like their coloring, and the random burst of a blackberry, all its tiny juice-filled blisters popping. It is a symphony embodied in a sweet.

Don't believe me, please don't. Insist upon making it yourself and trying it. Decide for yourself if it is truly transcendent. But don't blame me, Dear Reader, if you crave the light freshness in the oddest of seasons.

The recipe below may seem difficult, but it is not. I have taught this to high school students, who left shining-eyed at their glorious success. When I make meringue for mushrooms, or brittle bones, (see Halloween 2017), or mice (see Jan Party 2018) or use it to bake a frosting onto a cake (yes, it is possible, and amazing!) I use a very simple recipe of three ingredients. For the Pavlova I have added many more, and each: cream of tartar, vinegar, salt, cornstarch; is a stabilizer to help the meringue keep its loft and be PERFECT. I am completely anal when it comes to Pavlova. I would stand on one leg and stick out my tongue while making them if it would insure their complete success. So, just let me say- this recipe has never failed me. It is gorgeous, light, crackling, chewy, and divine. Be courageous. How will you ever know the wonder of it if you don't try? And when you have done it once, why, you can have them any time you wish. 'Nuff said.

Here's the ingredients, then I'll show you how to make the Pavlova. At the very bottom of the post I will put the recipe written out in regular (ie- normal human) form.

Pavlova shells 

into mixing bowl place:
3/4 cup egg whites (about 6 eggs)
pinch salt 
sprinkle cream of tarter
in a small cup mix:
2 tsp vinegar
1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla
in a small bowl mix:
1 and 1/2 tsp cornstarch
1 and 1/2 cup granulated sugar

sweetened whipped cream
mixed berries or fruits

First thing to do is to macerate your berries. Macerate, not masticate! To macerate is to add sugar so that the natural juices are drawn out, making a bit of thin syrup. To masticate is to chew, so be cautious of which you do- if you eat all the berries there will be none left for Pavlova! Take the fruit of your choice, leaving small berries whole and chopping the strawberries (or peaches, or whatever). Sprinkle with sugar and let sit in the fridge overnight, or a couple of hours. The amount of sugar depends on the fruit. These were winter strawberries and needed a bit extra.

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees. 
Next you are going to cover sheets with parchment paper and then rub with cornstarch. You don't want your meringues to stick to the pan and crumble when you go to remove them. Also, lots of old recipes say to simply butter the metal sheet. Just don't. Trust me.

Here is the most important part of the whole recipe- separating your eggs. You only need whites for meringue and if you get a SPECK of yolk (fat) in with the whites it will not beat stiff. You will not have meringue. I separate eggs quite carelessly every day. With this recipe you actually need to crack them into a separate little bowls and then pour that into the measuring cup. Repeat this step with all the eggs. If you happen to get a bit of yolk into one white, you cannot use it. Pour it out and wash the cup before trying again. Measure 3/4 cup of whites. Once you have all the eggs separated you are home free and Pavlova bound!

I like to practice mise en place, a French term that means having all your ingredients laid out so that when you need them they will all be there and easily accessible. I usually even measure out each item, not always. Here we have everything ready to make our Pavlovas. The egg whites are in the mixing bowl, beside it is the cream of tartar, salt, a bowl of granulated sugar mixed with cornstarch, and a small cup with my vanilla and vinegar mixture. Behind are my prepped sheets. Ready to go!

Have your whites in a medium mixing bowl, add a pinch of salt and a shake (or pinch) of cream of tarter. Beat the egg whites on medium speed until they have gone past having bubbles to a nice foamy look where when you lift the beater it makes a peak that droops. This is a soft peak.

Increase the speed to med-high and add one Tbsp of your sugar/cornstarch mixture approximately every 10-15 seconds. (Yeah, I actually count.) If you have read anything by me, you probably know that I am an impatient person and I am always looking for shortcuts. Here, if you add in too much sugar too quickly, the consistency of the meringue will change. It will not hold its shape and it cooks differently. That is the type you can use to bake onto cakes or cupcakes. But it will not make Pavlova shells. Exercise patience and go slow. Beat until the whites have glossy peaks and you have used all your sugar. Beat in the vinegar/vanilla mixture in a slow stream. Beat till you have stiff peaks that hold their shape. This should be about equal time to slowly adding your sugar and then the vinegar/vanilla. See the perfect glossy swirl below that looks like the Gerber Baby's curl? That's perfect!

Now you can do two sheet sized Pavlovas, or about 12 individual ones. Below I show that you can make shells without piping them by putting a big blob on the sheet and then using the spoon to scoot out a bowl in the center. But piping bags are cheap and disposable and that is what I use.

I keep them in the cupboard at all times- for meringues, filling deviled eggs, making the Southern Jam Cake. They are great. I have a big tip that I use all the time; it is the Wilton 2A. Unless you want to decorate fancy cakes (I can't!) this one will do just about everything. Or you could just snip the corner of a ziplock- I have done that before. Simply go around from a center point and make a spiraling circle that is the base. They should be about 3- 3 1/2 inches in diameter. Then go around the edge in a circle and build a "wall". Notice that mine are certainly not perfect. Some have slumpy sides, or are more oval. They will be delicious!

Put into the oven and immediately reduce the temp to 250 degrees. Bake 50  minutes for the individuals, 50-70 for the two large ones. At the end of the time, gently tug on one. It should lift right up off the paper if it is done. Turn it over. There should be no sticky or damp spots on the bottom. If there are, cook another 7 minutes. The picture below shows a nice dry bottom. Still unsure? You can use your finger nail to gently scratch the bottom. It should feel and sound like scratching chalk. Perfect. Now, turn off the oven and leave the sheets in there for another hour. This will ensure they are dry through the center and remain crisp.

At the end of the hour, gently peel from the paper and sit on wire racks to cool. They are best used the same day, but you can keep them overnight in an airtight container or bag. Humidity is the bane of meringues, so don't try these if it is raining. Some of the shells might have thin spots or air pockets- notice the one in the front left, how it has cracked a bit around the wall. When filled with cream and berries no one will ever know! The one to the right of that is the one I spooned out instead of piping. It's great too.

Pavlova and flowers = mid-winter heart-happiness! Plus my favorite cd of 1920's music is playing on the radio. Bliss...

Now you are ready to make some homemade "whoop" cream to fill your shells. Pour 1 cup heavy cream into medium bowl and beat until it begin to gain volume and hold soft peaks. Add 1/4 -1/3 cup  powdered sugar. Powdered, or confectioner's sugar, already has cornstarch in it to help stabilize. The drawbacks to granulated sugar are that it sometimes tastes grainy instead of velvety, and it often melts after having been whipped and makes the cream "break" and go thin. Use the 1/4 cup and taste it. Everyone likes a different amount of sweetness to their cream. I wouldn't do more than 1/3 cup. The shell is sweet, and you don't want to overpower the berries.

Fill your shell's cup with whipped cream and begin to spoon in the fruit. You can pick out a few perfect ones to decorate the top. Don't fill the shells until your guests are ready to eat them. Moisture begin to soften the meringue in a very lovely way as you eat it. But if you tried to make them ahead of time they would be melting and ruined!

The picture at the beginning of the post was a made in the summer with peak of the season berries. The strawberries actually came from my garden and I plucked a strawberry flower as decoration. The rose petals in that one were a surprising treat. I thought they would be just for looks, but the taste of them with the berries was amazing! You could add any sort of fruit- I have seen winter ones made with a mix of finely diced apples and pears that had been macerated with sugar and cinnamon. If it is summer you can decorate with all types of edible flowers. But flowers or not, Pavlovas are gorgeous to look at, and even more desirable to eat!

I made these for Monday Family Supper, but I finished with the shells at 4:00 in the afternoon. There was no way I could wait till evening to have one. So this was my wicked afternoon treat. Do you see the pink stain spreading down through the white of the cream? That is the syrup that comes off the berries. Transcendent!

Please make this recipe, or some other Pavlova recipe that you like the looks of! I want so much for you to try it. And, sugar, you know that if you were in the neighborhood I'd make them for you in a heartbeat! So, just how are you getting through the winter months?

Pavlova

ingredients:

3/4 cup or 6 egg whites

pinch salt

sprinkle of cream of tartar

2 tsp vinegar

1 ½ tsp vanilla

1 ½ tablespoon cornstarch

1 ½ cup granulated sugar

Heat oven to 275 degrees. Cover 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and dust with cornstarch.

Pour vinegar and vanilla into small dish. Mix cornstarch and sugar in small bowl. Separate whites into a large mixing bowl and sprinkle with a bit of cream of tartar and a pinch of salt. (These are just stabilizers for the whites to help them rise.) Keep the yolks for another recipe, like crème brulee.

Beat egg whites with whisk attachment on med to med-low until soft peaks with small bubbles appear. Soft peaks mean you can pick up the beater and it will have a peak of white on it that is soft and will droop.

Now increase speed to med-high and add one Tbsp of your sugar and cornstarch mix approximately every 15-20 seconds. DO NOT get in a hurry. If you add the sugar too quickly you will have a different kind of meringue, and not one you can form. Take your time. When all the sugar is added, pour in the vinegar/vanilla mix in a slow stream. Whip until glossy with stiff peaks. This should be able equal time to add all your sugar mix and the vanilla mix. Stiff peaks means you can pull up the beater and turn it toward the ceiling and the peak stays firm and pointed.

Now you can either make two large Pavlova, or approx 12 individual ones. For the large ones, divide the meringue into a mound on each parchment covered sheet, Use a spoon to shape so that it is nest-like, with a shallow base and taller sides. You can also do this for the individual ones, or you can spoon into a piping bag with a large tip and pipe circles for the base and then pipe walls. If you want them all to be the same size, mark the circles on the parchment and then turn over. The carbon will rub off on the meringue if it touches.

Place in the 275 degree oven and then reduce to 250 degrees. Bake for 50 minutes for individuals, 50-70 for large. They should be dry as sand to the touch and be prone to crack, not deflate when you press on them. If in doubt, cook 10 minutes longer. Overcooking meringue is better than under. When through cooking, turn off the oven and leave the trays inside for another hour. If they are still warm when you remove them, gently pull from paper and cool completely on cooling rack.

These are best used the day they are made, but can be kept airtight for a day. Be aware that humidity and rain can cause the meringues to soften overnight.

Fill with homemade whipped cream and your choice of berries macerated overnight in sugar.