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Macaroon Parfait
1 cup sugar 1 cup water 3 egg whites, beaten 2 cups cream, whipped 1 tablespoon sherry 1 cup crumbled macaroons 1 tablespoon vanilla Boil sugar and water until it threads. Pour gradually on the egg whites, stirring constantly. Stir in whipped cream, crumbled macaroons and flavoring. Freeze for 5 hours. Serves eight.
A still-frozen parfait in the older American sense: an Italian-meringue and whipped-cream base that sets in the freezer without churning. Nothing here needs an ice-cream machine, but the syrup stage does the structural work and is worth getting right.
- Thread stage"Until it threads" is roughly 230-234F on a thermometer, when a spoonful drops in a fine thread rather than beads. Go much past that and the syrup seizes into a hard candy in the meringue.
- Pouring the syrupBeat the whites to soft peaks first, then add the boiling syrup in a thin steady stream down the side of the bowl, away from the beaters. Keep beating until the bowl is cool to the hand, otherwise the meringue slumps when the cream goes in.
- Egg whitesThe syrup partially cooks the whites but at thread stage it does not reliably bring them to a pasteurizing temperature, and the mixture is never heated again. Use pasteurized whites if serving anyone pregnant, elderly, very young or immune-compromised.
- MacaroonsMost likely almond macaroons, the crisp dry meringue-and-almond kind rather than French macarons; coconut macaroons were also current by this date, so the recipe does not settle it. Dry ones crumble better than soft; if yours are soft, a short spell in a low oven (about 300F for ten minutes) and a cooling before crumbling will keep them from turning to paste.
- CreamTwo cups means two cups measured before whipping, which yields about four cups whipped. Use heavy or whipping cream at 36 percent fat or better, whipped only to soft peaks so it folds in without breaking.
- VanillaA tablespoon is a heavy hand by current standards, especially alongside the sherry and the almond in the macaroons. A teaspoon or two is closer to modern taste.
- FreezingFreeze in a shallow metal pan or loaf tin, covered, for the stated five hours; a deep bowl will take considerably longer. No stirring is needed - the meringue and cream hold enough air on their own.
- ServingServes eight. Let it stand five to ten minutes at room temperature before cutting or spooning. Note that the crumbs are folded in before freezing, so they will soften rather than stay crisp.
Parfait in the American kitchen of the early twentieth century meant something narrower than the sundae glass the word now suggests: a still-frozen dessert built on a hot-sugar-syrup base beaten into eggs, then lightened with whipped cream, which freezes smooth without being churned. Crumbled almond macaroons folded into a frozen cream are older still, a standing trick in nineteenth-century confectionery for adding texture and almond flavor to something otherwise plain, and the spoonful of sherry belongs to the same tradition of scenting cream with a fortified wine.