Baked Alaska for tonight's VP debate

For anyone wondering what to serve at tonight's first and only Biden-Palin VP debate, coverage of which begins at 6 p.m. PST, consider a Baked Alaska. It's a dessert that was funny even before John McCain selected Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. (For really funny, you might want to tune in to SNL this weekend; to see Tina Fey as Sarah Palin, click here and here.) 

A Baked Alaska is a hot-cold dessert, a thin sheet of cake topped with ice cream, encased with an insulating layer of meringue, then put in a hot oven for a few minutes or fired with a brulée torch. The meringue keeps the ice cream from melting, which is a pretty neat trick. In many older recipes (ice cream lover Thomas Jefferson gets credit for a version of this dessert), an eggshell of liquor is perched atop the dessert, then flambéed. Think fast-melting Arctic glacier.

If you want to get fancy (see picture), use the recipe in Roland Mesnier's "Dessert University" (p. 186). The French-born Mesnier was the White House executive pastry chef for 25 years, before his retirement during the G.W. Bush administration.  (The current White House pastry chef, appointed by Laura Bush, is William Yosses, a veteran of Bouley in New York, and author, with Alison Yates, of the book "Desserts for Dummies". You can't make this stuff up.) 

Mesnier's Baked Alaska is a rather complicated construction, in which vanilla genoise is brushed with orange simple syrup, layered with honey-vanilla ice cream and raspberry sorbet, then topped with orange-vanilla meringue and dusted with powdered sugar. (If you start this now, it might be ready in time for the second Obama-McCain debate.)

For something simpler, make an easy meringue by whipping egg whites and sugar, then use it to frost a purchased brownie that you've topped with two scoops of purchased ice cream. After giving it half an hour in the freezer to set up, broil the dessert for a few minutes, until the meringue is just golden. 

Top with an American flag (or not), garnish with raspberries and raspberry sauce and serve immediately. Note: If you pitch a flag, do not try the flambé method, as the Supreme Court may not uphold that ruling for much longer. Texas v. Johnson! Got one for ya, Katie!

-- Amy Scattergood

Photo of Baked Alaska by Amy Scattergood

Comments

[Doug Lang]

This dessert was originally called "Norweigan Omelette'. It was served during a White House dinner (is actually in the "White House CookBook") after the purchase of Alaska from Russia, for a penny an acre.This is where it was given it's new name!
Chef Doug Lang
University of Oregon

[Aissa Galoso]

This dish sounds strangely similar to a Norwegian omelette. Sounds divine.