Floating Island

A floating island is a dessert of french origin, consisting of meringue floating on a vanilla custard .

Main ingredients

The meringues are prepared from whipped egg whites, sugar, and vanilla extract then quickly poached. The crème anglaise is prepared with the egg yolks, vanilla, and hot milk, briefly cooked.

History

According to NPR(National public radio), this frothy egg dessert has centuries-old roots. The first recipe was recorded by the father of classic French cuisine, François-Pierre de la Varenne. His 1651 cookbook, Les Cuisinier François, contains a recipe for oeufs à la neige (“eggs in snow”). Unlike modern takes, this winter-themed version didn’t have custard. Instead, piles of egg whites were adorned with egg yolks, sprinkled with sugar, and baked.  Later, the egg yolk topping migrated into custard, creating the French dessert now considered a classic

In 1902, the snowy dessert got a tropical makeover when French chef Auguste Escoffier published a recipe for “floating island.” Instead of an ethereal cloud of eggs, the island was a solid mass of ladyfinger-like cakes, soaked in cherry liqueur, covered in apricot jam, and surrounded by a pool of custard. Over the 20th century, the ladyfingers disappeared, and floating island came to refer to a dessert nearly identical to the early eggs in the snow recipe

Variations

• œufs à la neige : In French cuisine, the terms œufs à la neige (“eggs in snow”) and île flottante (floating island) are sometimes used interchangeably; the latter is the source of the English name. The difference between the two dishes is that île flottante is often one large meringue cooked in a bain-marie in the oven, and may contain additional flavoring, while œufs à la neige consists of smaller scoops of meringue poached in liquid on the stove
• Farófias : Portuguese version of floating island with lemon flavored custard and cinnamon powder on top.
• Madártej : The hungarian version which means “birds milk”. Almost similar to floating island can be garnished with lemon zest or blanched almonds.
• Schnee-Eier (“snow eggs”) (In German)
• zupa nic (“nothing soup”) (In Polish)
• uova di neve (“snow egg”) (Italian)

Source

• Pépin, Jacques. Jacques Pépin’s table: the complete Today’s gourmet.
• Grausman, Richard. At home with the French classics.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/
• https://www.atlasobscura.com/foods/floating-island