The gobsmacking brilliance of baked Alaska
I have never seen a baked Alaska in the wild. Have you? I knew what they looked like, of course, all meringue cheekbones and technicolor interior, but I haven't actually come across one. For whatever reason, they seem to be an endangered species – so I took to making them myself.
The pudding was invented in the 18th century by Sir Benjamin Thompson (also known as Count von Rumford), a physicist who invented the double boiler, the modern kitchen range and thermal underwear too. Thompson realised that the tiny bubbles created when you aerate egg whites to make meringue provided so much insulation that you could torch the meringue and leave ice cream intact, unmelted, beneath.
But the name came later: in 1876, New York restaurant Delmonico's chef Charles Ranhofer made a version of the pudding to celebrate the US's acquisition of Alaska, and named it 'Alaska, Florida', a nod to the hot-cold contrast of the pudding and states. It quickly became known as baked Alaska. Ranhofer's baked Alaska was made up of banana ice cream, walnut spice cake and toasted meringue, and commanded a hefty price tag – the equivalent of £30 today.
I read a recipe for baked Alaska recently which described it as 'deceptively simple', which made me laugh out loud. Let me be clear: baked Alaska is not simple, deceptively or otherwise. It's a project. Granted, nothing that baked Alaska requires of you is particularly difficult, and it can be broken down into stages – I make mine across three days, fitting it in around real life – but let's not pretend that a pudding that requires a meringue, a baked cake, moulded ice cream and actual fire is simple.
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