![]() The version you see here is one I created for my TV show, Zoë Bakes on Magnolia Network. I also see them popping up all over Instagram, so I think Baked Alaska is back and hopefully to stay! I even worked with one of my culinary mentors, Dorie Greenspan, on a piece about this magical dessert for The New York Times and I got to teach a Baked Alaska class (I made individual ones, which go together even faster) for Cherry Bombe in celebration of Julia Child’s 100th birthday. I was so excited she was going for it in the amount of time given, but I knew she’d have a race to get the ice cream set up in time … this is not one to be rushed for maximum drama. I knew it was on the rise when I judged an episode of Chopped Sweets and one of the contestants made a blood orange baked Alaska. I have been on a multi-decade mission to bring this dessert back. Not until decades later when I was working as a pastry chef in a restaurant did I discover using a blow torch to toast the meringue, instead of table-side flambé or toasting in an oven, which never quite made sense to me. It was THRILLING and felt a bit dangerous. The waiter doused the quaffed meringue in warm liqueur and set it ablaze right at the table. The setting was very country club and everything, including the dessert, seemed like a movie. ![]() My first memory of a real-life table-side flaming of the meringue-covered ice cream was shortly after I moved from a commune in California to Fairfield, CT. She introduced me to a world of foods I’d never experienced growing up with hippie parents in the 1960-70s. The first time I saw a baked Alaska was probably at the hands of Julia Child on her PBS show. ![]() I have several on this site, including a red, white and blue version for the Fourth of July, a coffee bourbon chocolate baked Alaska, and a passion fruit baked Alaska, which I have dubbed the most delicious creamsicle ever! ![]() If you’ve followed my work for a while, you likely know that I love Baked Alaska. ![]()
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