Today’s Tuesdays with Dorie challenge was posed by Shari of Whisk: a food blog. And since I had never made Floating Islands (nor tasted them!) I thought this would be a good, educational challenge for me. I could test my recipe reading skills. I could follow directions. It would be good.
Alas, my Floating Islands did not turn out quite as dreamy as I had hoped. Three things prevented this:
- My créme anglaise separated – I was able to pull it back together, but I think I might have missed a trick or two
- I did not understand, from reading the instructions, how to poach the meringue islands
- I am pretty sure I overcooked my caramel (note to self: don’t let it harden in the pan!)
Even with these errors, it was an educational exercise. Poaching meringue in milk was new to me, as was the whole process of forming the little islands. I found it easiest to use two serving spoons (larger than a soup spoon, but not as big as a cooking spoon) and carefully rounding the meringues from the back, scooping them around to the front as they turned.
As far as the taste, this is where my bad créme anglaise became apparent. It was heavy and thick, with a texture that was not supposed to be there. When it started to curdle, I took it off the heat, whisked another egg yolk in a clean pan, and slowly added the hot curdled custard to the new egg in the new pan. It came back together, but I think that extra egg might have been too much. Either that, or I just completely overcooked it!
I probably won’t make this dessert again, but if I find it on a menu, or I eat dinner at the home of a lovely French couple, I would certainly eat it and see what I have been missing! If you want to try this dessert yourself, the recipe is on page 401-402 of Dorie Greenspan’s Baking from My Home to Yours.
Kitchen Gadgets I used included my Kitchenaid mixer with whisk attachment, slotted spoon, egg separator, and wax paper.
More about this week’s challenge can be read at these blogs:
February 15th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
I’m so glad you gave this a try. I’d never poached meringue in milk before either, and I too would love to taste this at a fine French restaurant someday. Thanks for baking along with me this week!