The origin of this most precious dessert lies in a picture postcard perfect little village in the south west of France, called Clermont, where I was taken on holiday many years ago by a French friend of mine, and it was at the principal bakery of Clermont, renowned for its pies, locally known as ‘Croustades’, for which every day without fail, there is a queue of people extending all the way around the village, that we discovered their meringue – the likes of which neither one us had ever eaten before, the texture crisp on the surface and meltingly soft, even slightly chewy beneath – when we were told that the croustades had run out.
I never ever imagined I would be able to reproduce it, and hence didn’t even consider trying until lockdown of 2020, when I said what the hell, the one thing I have is plenty of time and nothing to lose …
… and thus I hereby give you the recipe for the best meringue you will ever eat in your life. As for the rest of the ingredients, feel free to choose whatever you wish. Mine is a product of my own love for mascarpone, mint, strawberries and balsamic vinegar.
Ingredients for the Meringue
YIELD: 6 SANDWICH PORTIONS
- 2 large eggs
- 100g caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon cornflour
- ½ teaspoon vinegar
Method
First and foremost separate your eggs; you need only the whites, which you must place in a large stainless steel bowl. Next, line your oven tray with a silicone mat, as shown in the image below, leave it outside and preheat your oven (convection bottom heating setting) to 70°C.
Then start whisking your egg whites with an electric hand beater, set at the lowest speed (STEP 1).
Once the egg whites are frothy and beginning to homogenise, as shown in IMAGE 2, then start adding the sugar, one tablespoon at a time and beating for at least one minute between each addition (STEP 3), until you arrive at the consistency of IMAGE 4. Then add the corn flour and vinegar and beat again for 1 minute.
Then get a hold of an open mould – 2.5 inch diameter x 1.5 inch height (STEP 5) and spoon your mixture into it ¼ the way up (STEP 6). Lift up (STEP 7), clean the insides and repeat until you have 12 meringues (IMAGE 8).
Place the tray on the second highest shelf in the oven (STEP 9), and cook for 45 minutes, then raise the temperature to 90°C and cook for a further 25 mins. Turn the oven off, leave the oven door slightly ajar, and let sit preferably overnight (STEP 10).
Then slice each strawberry into quarters (STEP 11), and in the event they are not sweet, mix with some icing sugar to achieve the desired sweetness (STEPS 12 & 13). Needless to say, but I will anyway, do make sure your hands are squeaky clean.
Then spread out your meringues (STEP 14), top four with a generous dollop of mascarpone (STEP 15), cover each one with one of the remaining four, top again with an equally generous dollop of mascarpone (STEP 16), crown with the strawberry quarters (STEP 17), some washed and dried mint leaves, dust with icing sugar (STEP 18) and then drizzle with the same balsamic glaze (STEP 19) for which I have already given you the recipe; as you can see, it has multiple uses.
Below, a picture of the finished product (left), and me on the right, in a transcendental state, the first time I tasted this meringue, many years ago, in the formidable south west of France …
