Pavlova

Pavlova is a meringue dessert common to both Australia and New Zealand. Both countries claim to have originated it, but the dish has a greater cultural significance to New Zealand, where it is commonly referred to as "the national dessert."

A pavlova is basically a meringue cake, a dish evidently known in both Australia and New Zealand at least as early as the 1920s. At least as early as 1929 cooks in New Zealand were making small meringue cakes and calling them pavlova, after the ballerina, Anna Pavlova. The more common myth of origin for pavlova comes from Perth, Western Australia, where Pavlova danced for an enthusiastic public in 1929. She stayed at the Esplanade there, and some years later, in 1934, when the hotel chef, Bert Sachse, concocted a large meringue cake for afternoon tea, someone said, "It is as light as Pavlova." The rest is cultural history. The word "pavlova" since then has meant a large meringue cake such as Sachse served.

Like its mythology, a pavlova is mostly air.

How to Make a Pavlova

We learned how to make a pavlova (some say, "make a pav") when we visited Pauline and Richard Gare at their irrigated sheep-and-deer farm in Central Otago. Here's how.

First, separate 4 egg whites into a mixing bowl.

Then, add these liquid ingredients.

• 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar

• 1/2 teaspoon cold water

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Beat the mixture until it's stiff. Then add, beating it in bit by bit, 3/4 cup sugar.

Grease a baking sheet, scrape the meringue onto the sheet, and sculpt it into a round cake shape.

Bake it at 225 degrees for 90 minutes. (Watch it doesn't get too brown.)

Let it cool, top it with whipped cream, and serve with fresh sliced fruit. Kiwifruit, of course, if you're in New Zealand.

For variant recipes, just do a net search for "pavlova," and you'll find plenty.

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