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Meringue Glace
Make the meringue shells of any suitable size, have them dry and crisp. Fill the halves with any cream desired, placing two together, then put them desired, placing two together, then put them into the ice cave or into an empty can imbedded in broken ice and salt. Before serving, bind together the two halves with a bright colored ribbon.
A soda-fountain assembly rather than a baked dish: the whole thing hinges on keeping bone-dry meringue away from moisture until the moment it is served.
- "Any cream desired"Given that the filled shells go straight into ice and salt, this most likely means ice cream rather than whipped cream: vanilla, chocolate or a fruit ice. The recipe does not specify.
- Drying the shellsThe recipe gives no oven temperature or time, only that the shells be "dry and crisp." Modern practice is a very low oven, the meringues then left to cool in it; they should snap cleanly, with no tacky centre.
- The "ice cave"An insulated, ice-packed chamber of the kind kept under a soda fountain counter. A freezer is the nearest modern equivalent; the "empty can imbedded in broken ice and salt" is the improvised version, a metal container buried in crushed ice and salt. No proportions are given.
- Assemble fast, hold shortFill and sandwich the shells with firm, well-hardened ice cream and get them cold immediately. Even in a freezer the meringue begins to soften from contact within a few hours, so build these the same day.
- Shell sizeNo dimension is given, so the shells can be piped or spooned to whatever size suits the portion of ice cream intended.
- The ribbonTie it on at the point of service, not while the shells are in the ice, since ribbon takes up condensation and frost. The recipe asks only for a bright coloured ribbon around the join of the two shells.
- HumidityMeringue shells left in a warm, damp kitchen soften and turn leathery quickly. Store them in a sealed tin, with the ice cream held separately until service.
Meringue glacé — literally "iced meringue" — is French confectionery shorthand for a pair of dried meringue shells sandwiched around ice cream, the same logic that produces the vacherin. The ribbon reads as fountain showmanship. Note too what the recipe assumes it need not explain — that a working fountain kept both a supply of ice cream and a bank of broken ice and rock salt within arm's reach at all times.