Floating Islands

 I do not like meringue. This is something I will probably mention numerous times over the course of this project. It's mostly a texture thing, but also a flavor thing. In my experience, there are two types of meringue: the hard, chalky kind that makes your teeth wince a little when you bite into it, and the soft, marshmallowy kind that lies in that uncanny valley of a dessert that just feels like you're eating whipped egg whites. Sometimes it's a little bit of both, like in a pavlova. Also, because a basic meringue is just two things - egg whites and sugar - and egg whites don't really have any flavor on their own, it often just tastes like one thing, and that is sweet. Pure sugar sweet. I'm not sure how popular or unpopular of an opinion this is, but it's my truth. That being said, I'm still holding out hope that I can be converted, and that I just haven't tried everything that meringue has to offer. Claire has a large number of meringue-based desserts spread throughout both her cookbooks, all of which I will eventually have to try. I'm dreading this prospect a little, but I'm also approaching it with an open mind and as an opportunity to find a meringue that I do, in fact, like. I decided to rip off the bandage with her recipe for Floating Islands from What's for Dessert. 

A floating island is one of those fancy French desserts that consists of poached meringue served over crème anglaise, which is basically just a custard sauce that isn't thickened with any starch. Claire also adds a caramelized almond topping to her version. I had been planning to make this recipe for about a week now, and I actually made a batch of crème anglaise last Saturday, but I noticed there were a ton of flecks of nonstick pan coating in it which was super gross, and it had also thickened a little too much, so I just decided to start over. To be honest, I came into this recipe already sort of knowing I wasn't going to like it all that much. It's meringue: strike one. In the headnote, Claire describes this recipe as "decidedly sweet": strike two. Claire also describes this recipe as "quite an eggy dessert": strike three. However, in the spirit of giving everything a fair shot, I went for it anyway. I should note that I scaled this recipe down quite a bit and divided all the measurements by five. That being said, I don't think that specifically affected anything.

Honestly, this is a very straightforward and simple recipe. It's slightly technical in spots, but everything (aside from toasting the almonds) happens on the stovetop, and it didn't feel like a project the way some other recipes have. I think it's a good recipe for people who like to cook but don't really like to bake (I have said before that I find such people annoying, but that's beside the point). I also like the fact that this recipe uses the remaining yolks for the crème anglaise - I often find it really annoying when recipes call for, like, ten whites and no yolks, so I thought this aspect made the recipe more approachable. I have had meringue before, but I have never had poached meringue, so I didn't know what to expect at all. To make the poaching liquid, you have to bring a mixture of milk, water, sugar, and salt to a boil and then reduce it to a simmer. To be honest, I tried this twice, thinking I was doing it wrong the first time, before just going with it. I'll be honest: my milk is a little past its expiration date, and I don't really care. I'm the only one using it, and it still seems fine, so I just take those kinds of risks. I don't know if that affected the behavior of the poaching liquid, but my research (aka Google) tells me that because milk is an emulsion it will naturally separate and curdle if it's boiled, hence cheese. So it seems a little weird to me that the recipe would specifically say to bring milk to a boil, but whatever. Long story short, it was definitely not an attractive-looking mixture. The milk separated into flaky bits at the top that had to be skimmed off, leaving a very watery, vaguely cloudy liquid that still had some curdled bits mixed in. 

I've only had to whip egg whites for one recipe so far: the blood orange pudding cake I made back in February (my review for which is linked here). In that recipe, my egg whites simply did not whip up into glossy, stiff peaks, and remained pretty much liquid until they eventually separated into a watery, grainy mess. The cake turned out fine, but still, it was frustrating. In this recipe, I noticed Claire specified to use a nonplastic bowl to beat the whites. I researched this a bit more and discovered that plastic bowls retain trace amounts of fat and grease no matter how much you wash them, and this fat inhibits egg whites from whipping properly. I am convinced this rookie mistake was the reason for my egg white woes a few weeks ago. I used a clean ceramic bowl this time, and while I still think I slightly overwhipped them, they were definitely usable. 

The whites are formed into dollops and then get poached in the strange liquid for around two minutes on each side. They're slightly delicate, but it's a pretty simple process overall. Claire said to transfer the meringues to a paper towel-lined plate after poaching, but I found the meringues stuck to the paper a little bit. Maybe it's just the brand of paper towels I have. The meringues get plated individually atop the crème anglaise (hence the name "floating islands" - the meringue "islands" are floated atop a sea of custard) and then sprinkled with caramelized almond pieces. The recipe calls for sliced almonds, but I only had toasted slivered almonds, which I thought would work fine. However, because I toasted them again, they got a little dark. They were still edible, though. You then simply make a caramel over the stove which hardens as you pour it over the almonds.

I'll start off with the positives. This is a very visually appealing dessert that feels extremely elegant and classy. I think it would be perfect for a really fancy dinner party (the kind Martha Stewart hosts; not the kind I would ever host), especially if you're someone who can't be bothered to turn the oven on. I really liked the addition of the caramelized almonds - they added a much needed contrast of both texture and flavor to this dessert. Which leads me to my criticisms. To be honest, this dessert turned out how I expected it to turn out. It simply isn't the dessert for me, and that's okay. The poached meringues had a very soft, melt-in-your-mouth texture, but not really in a good way. Paired with the smooth crème anglaise, it was just soft-on-soft, with the exception of the almonds. Claire was also right that this is a very sweet dessert - the meringue was just egg white and sugar, and the crème anglaise was extremely sweet as well, so the whole thing just tasted generically sweet and a little one-note. I think I would actually like the crème anglaise in a different application, maybe to offset something on the less sweet side. It just didn't work for me in this particular dessert. Like I said, this is just my personal opinion based on my personal tastes. If you love meringue and very sweet desserts, then you'll probably think very differently than I do.

verdict: 4/10

would I make again: no, sorry.