Mouth-Watering Pavlova (May 9)

Sometime shortly after we arrived in New Zealand, we heard about Pavlova, considered to be the Kiwi national dessert, the antipodean answer to the apple pie, if you will. Nevermind that Australia has also laid claim to the dessert’s provenance; as more than a few Kiwis have reminded us, who can trust a country of convicts? (To any Aussies reading this, please don’t have your pet kangaroos beat us up…) As Pavlova is basically a giant meringue topped with fresh fruit and cream, though, its origin seems moot since you’d have to imagine the concept of meringue was developed at some point before anyone was baking anything in Australasia.

Anyway, we decided that, strictly in the interest of furthering our cultural awareness, we would have to sample Pavlova at some point. And for authenticity’s sake, not just any grocery store-bought version would do. To get the real experience, we felt it would be best to have a real home-made, Kiwi-made Pavlova. Not to mention that having made many a meal at a hostel, we knew we’d feel a little out of place eating a grand dessert whilst people around us ate beans out of cans, instant noodles, and spaghetti out of the pot (to save cleaning another dish, natch).

Isabel spreads out the pavlova for the oven

Up to date, we’d struck out so far. Apparently making a good Pavlova is a dying skill, or we’d just been unlucky where we’d stopped. However, when we got to Lawrence, we found out that a good friend of Thomas and Alex’s, an elderly local woman named Isabel, not only made a mean Pavlova, she often had their wwoofers over to show them how to make one. Becky was eager to see, so she had Thomas book us a visit on one of our days off. We suspect Thomas was happy to arrange it as he mentioned eating a huge portion of the last Pavlova from Isabel.

After trekking across Lawrence (that makes it sound far; in reality a 10-minute walk) we arrived at Isabel’s small hillside home. Isabel is a spry and lovely 83-year old Kiwi lady who knows her way around the kitchen. Besides Pavlova, she has a repertoire of heaps of other desserts. It isn’t often you meet someone who’s an expert on plum pudding these days. She recounted stories of past baking exploits, and it certainly sounds like she deserves a plaque of gratitude from the local hospital for the goodly sized portion of it that her donated baked goods must’ve paid for.

Her plum pudding was a special hit at the annual bake sale when she prepared 27 of them for the raffle one year. Becky, in her naivety, asked Isabel where she got all the plums to make the pudding (as Kiwis often have fruit trees in their backyards). That was the funniest thing Isabel had heard recently, as plum puddings apparently contain no plums at all. She was kind enough bake (or rather boil) us one of these as well. Isabel recommends only a small spoonful of her brandy sauce with the dessert, but we think you can hardly go wrong with a ladleful.

Plum pudding only looks like a plum. Or a brain, which is decidedly less appetizing.

Isabel was a really terrific host; we had a relatively proper tea with scones after she baked the Pavlova - I knew I should’ve brought my white gloves along. OK, maybe not that fancy but quite nice.

Pavlova in the beard, you know it's good!

Pavlova turned out to be really pretty simple to make. Beat egg whites, sugar, and some other ingredients (including vinegar for a dessert?) for awhile, then bake for an hour and leave in the oven overnight. Afterwards top with whipped cream and fresh fruit. Becky was happy to get a new, novel recipe, and I was happy for dessert, erm, to enjoy the cultural experience the next night.

As for the Pavlova itself, we found it to be tasty and quite rich. It had a nice crunchy outside and was soft like a giant marshmallow on the inside. Since it’s basically a ginormous meringue it’s really light, so you feel you can eat heaps of it. It should come with a warning not to do that though, as eating too much will leave you with the “wow I didn’t realize it was that rich” feeling you’ll regret for awhile.

The finished product... Diagnosis: delicious!

P.S. In the spirit of full disclosure, I’ll admit that a good part of the reason that I wrote this post was because the title basically wrote itself. Much like pavlova itself, who could resist?

Recipe:

Ingredients:

4 egg whites
Pinch of salt
4 tablespoons cold water
1 large cup of sugar
4 teaspoons cornflour
1 teaspoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat the egg whites, salt, and water until soft peaks form. Add the sugar gradually beating all the time until stiff. Fold in cornflour, vinegar, and vanilla. Put damp grease proof paper on oven tray. Gently pour mixture on to the paper and form a high round cake. Place in the middle of an oven set at 355 F for 3 minutes. Turn down the temperature to 210 F. Leave in the oven for an hour. The pavlova may sit in a cold oven over night. The pavlova should be topped with fresh whipping cream and seasonal fruit (although, we must state a preferance for the kiwi).

Keep us posted on all your pavlova making ventures!