15 May 2014
LOST IN TRANSLATION
“Here’s a recipe that will change your life.” When I read something like that from Amanda Hesser, I take notice. The former NY Times writer (did you see her playing herself in Julie and Julia?) has a website, FOOD52, which is a treasure trove of recipes, food stuff, competitions and really knows how to connect with keen cooks.
The recipe turned out to be, wait for it: Peanut Butter Pavlova. As a New Zealander I was outraged at such a travesty. The pavlova was invented here, and I have previously published the definitive recipe in my Listener food column. Baked often by my mother, it was passed to her by my grandmother who actually baked it for the young Queen Elizabeth when she was on her 1952 tour of the South Pacific (my grandfather grew the strawberries specially.) Peanut butter in this lovely meringue concoction? Poof!
But then I noticed the recipe had been created by Alice Medrich. I love her. I met her at an El Rey chocolate dinner in San Francisco many years ago. She is the queen of chocolate cookery and a great baker. After reading my tweet that expressed such indignation, Alice contacted me. I agreed to bake her recipe before squawking anymore.
But here’s the catch. America, the land of innovation that led the world in techie stuff, and is the mother of most inventions has yet to discover metric measurement. So cooking any American recipe is fraught with difficulties. My oven does not register Fahrenheit, my scales only measure in grams, nobody knows what an inch is any longer and what the hell is a cup? Added to that my own experience tells me that cornstarch is cornflour, superfine sugar is caster sugar, parchment is baking paper, and heavy cream is probably cream. Does everyone know that?
As for peanut butter, Alice told me in a message to use smooth peanut butter, not the sweetened type. Sweeten peanut butter? Yikes! Why? Only in America. I have no idea just how our peanut butter differs from the American stuff, and I was not sure how to measure half a cup, but I boxed on.
I followed Alice’s instructions as well as I could. And they were very clear and precise. But my peanut butter pavlova looked nothing like Alice’s. It crumbled around the edges. I suspect I overmixed the peanut butter into the meringue. I may have baked it at too high a temperature. Perhaps Pic’s peanut butter, made in New Zealand with organically grown Australian peanuts is nothing like American peanut butter? Maybe recipes really do get lost in translation?
But here’s the thing. I took the peanut butter pavolva, topped with cream and persimmon slices in place of strawberries which are no longer in season, to my 91 year old mother. She adored it! She really did. The proof is always in the eating. Go Alice and Amanda!
The peanut butter recipe can be found on the FOOD52 website.