Wednesday 7 November 2012

pavlova experiment ✔



I'm still stuck on making pavlovas and the fridge is filling up with egg yolks. Now I've found the easiest pav recipe ever I am walking away from them- carrying a plate and a fork and a rather large slice topped with cream, strawberries and passionfruit.
Turn the oven on to 120ºC.
Take 6 egg whites and 1 1/2 cups of caster sugar, bung them in the bowl of a mixer with the whisk attachment, start mixing on low (the recipe says this, I just cranked it up to 11 straight away) and then turn up to high and beat until thick and glossy. It'll take about 15 minutes.
Turn mixer off, add 6 teaspoons of cornflour (this recipe was on the back on the White Wings cornflour pack) and 1 teaspoon of white vinegar and beat for 1 minute. I also like to add my yummy Bourbon vanilla bean paste here too.
Pile it all up on a tray lined with baking paper, a round of about 20cm in diameter and cook for 2 hours. Turn the oven off and let the pav cool in the oven for a couple of hours.
What do I like about this recipe?
Well I was brought up on the whole slow addition of sugar to make a good pavlova myth. I think it's just one of those techniques based squarely in the days of hand whisking, of course a tablespoon at a time would be easier in that case. I've done my time in cooking jobs hand whisking egg whites and mayo but now I have a KitchenAid and I'm jolly well going to use the thing. I multitasked doing this pavlova, hung the washing out, got the rubbish together, talked to the cat, drank tea, so that is another reason for my joy in this bunging it all together technique. Also the low temp cooking for a longer time means less chance of overcooking or too much browning. The crust on yesterday's pavlova was perfect, still in one and I just smashed the centre to create a crater for the cream. The marshmallow interior was thick and perfectly cooked through.
A perfect pavlova is a heavenly thing.
My work here is done.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for this.....I have a man in my life who is mad about pavs ...l'll give this a burl for his 60th in Dec.

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