Discover the timeless French dessert that rivals Peru's Floating Islands

Besides the mystical ruins of Machu Picchu, tourists to Peru are often drawn to the floating islands of Puno, a man-made archipelago in Lake Titicaca with a thousand year history. They are impressive.

But for my money, if you’re interested in dazzling floating islands, you don’t even need to leave home. You can concoct them in your kitchen. I refer, of course, to the culinary floating island, the French dessert Ile Flotante.

As the name suggests, the dessert features an island of baked or poached meringue surrounded by a sea of crème anglaise. Though sometimes Escoffier is given credit for inventing it, and, indeed, he did devise a recipe of his own using ladyfingers, the genesis of the concoction goes back much further than the so-called King of Chefs, to 1651 and LaVarenne, one of the early culinarians who modernized and codified French cuisine. For that matter one could argue the origin of the dish really can be traced back to the sixth century and the discovery that egg whites could be beaten to fluffy peaks.

Though Ben Franklin refers to the concoction in his diary, Thomas Jefferson served it at Monticello, and an American cookbook from 1847 identifies it as a dessert to be served on the Fourth of July, it really didn’t have its heyday in this country until the latter part of the 20th century, between the 1960s and the 1980s.

Thus, Cecily Brownstone, food editor for the Associated Press around that time, called it a dessert to remember, and New York Times food critic Craig Claiborne said it was his favorite French dessert as did Julia Child. It was served at restaurants as renowned as New York’s Le Cirque and there were plenty of recipes for it published in newspapers and magazines like Gourmet and Bon Appétit.

Over time, however, the dish became less and less popular, and today you’d be hard pressed to find it on the menu at most American restaurants, though I’m happy to report that it is served on a rotating basis at Brasserie by Niche in St. Louis.

But in France it never really fell out of favor. Among the top ten desserts in that country and an icon of French comfort food, you’ll likely find it on the menu at nearly every bistro. Its popularity is such that supermarkets sell packaged beaten egg whites requiring only the addition of custard sauce before serving.

What’s more, though it looks harder to make than it really is, as French food expert Dorie Greensap observes, floating island is something French women, at least of a certain age, can put together with their eyes closed and most likely they wouldn’t need a recipe to do it, as most of them remember it from their childhood.

Truly, with apologies to John Donne, it’s a dish entire unto itself but, deliciously so.

Floating Island

This dramatic looking dessert is adapted from Martha Stewart, who in turn adapted it from New York chef Frank Picchione. The ice cream and chocolate sauce are the brainchild of French cooking guru Dorie Greenspan. Packaged custard sauce is usually inferior, so you’ll want to make your own or follow Ina Garten’s lead: substitute melted ice cream. (Ice cream, after all, is essentially frozen crème anglaise.) There is some good prepared hot fudge sauce on the market, but homemade is better.

n 9 egg whites

n 1 teaspoon cream of tartar

n 1/4teaspoon salt

n 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons superfine sugar

n 2 teaspoons vanilla

n Crème anglaise (custard sauce)

n Hot fudge sauce

n Chocolate ice cream

Beat egg white, cream of tartar, and salt until soft peaks form. Beat in sugar one tablespoon at a time, increasing speed to high. Beat until stiff and glossy. Reduce speed to low and beat in vanilla. Transfer meringue to an oil-brushed 12-cup Bundt pan. Smooth top and place in a roasting pan. Transfer to 375 degree oven, and fill with boiling water to 2 inches up the sides of the pan. Bake about 20 minutes until puffed and lightly browned. Cool completely. Unmold meringue onto deep dish quiche or tart pan. Surround with crème anglaise. Cut into slices and serve with chocolate ice cream. Drizzle with hot fudge sauce.

Tom Harte’s book, “Stirring Words,” is available at local bookstores. A Harte Appetite airs Tuesdays at 7:42 a.m. and 5:18 pm on KRCU, 90.9 FM. Contact Tom at semissourian.com or at the Southeast Missourian, P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 63702-0699.