How They Made It: Eton Mess with the Randalls in Boston

Spring is in the air

Spring is a time of hope and renewal.

For Claire and Frank, their move to Boston had the hope of renewing their relationship and establishing their family ties, but alas, it was not to be. They tried, though. Early after their move, the Randalls befriended Jerry and Millie, their neighbors. At a dinner party in Outlander Season 3 Episode 2 “Surrender,” both couples portrayed themselves as happy, loving couples. Claire served Eton Mess, a quintessential British dessert which Claire called, “a cheerful term for a failed Pavlova.”

Aptly prescient, seeing as how after Jerry and Millie left, Frank and Claire had a fight during what would be their last attempt at lovemaking. Intimacy failure, indeed. Leaving marriage counseling to the professionals, I’d rather focus that dessert.

(No surprise there!)

The messy history of Eton Mess

For the uninitiated (ok, me), Eton Mess is a dessert made of strawberries, meringue, and whipped cream. It’s the same as a Pavlova, except the meringues are crumbled up and everything is all mixed together. The combination of sweet, crunchy, and billowy creamy texture creates a sensory explosion. Your mouth doesn’t know which to savor first!

The beginnings of Eton Mess seem murky at best, the common denominator being that it originated at Eton College. One story goes that at a cricket match in the 1920s, an overenthusiastic Labrador sat on and crushed a strawberry pavlova meant as an after-game treat for the players. Apparently they liked it so much that a new dessert was born.

It’s a cute story but may be just a story, as Eton Mess had been documented in the 1890s. There are other theories, from the word “mess” referring to a dining hall to the jumbled look of the dish. Whatever the real origins, it’s easy to make and tasty to eat, and that’s all that matters really.

Simple ingredients for a simple dessert

The beauty of an Eton Mess recipe lies it its simplicity.

You can buy the meringues if you don’t want to make them, but I encourage you to give it a try. Homemade meringue cookies are light and crunchy, yet have a slight chewiness that makes things really interesting.

Superfine sugar (aka caster sugar) will dissolve more readily in this type of meringue than standard granulated sugar. It isn’t as prevalent in American kitchens as it is in Commonwealth countries, so you might have to go looking for it. If you prefer, you can make one cup of superfine sugar by grinding one cup plus two teaspoons of granulated sugar in a food processor for 30 seconds.

Step 1: Bake the meringue cookies

If you decide to bake the meringue cookies, all you need to do is make a simple French meringue batter. That is just a mixture of egg whites whipped to stiff peaks and stabilized with sugar. In this case, we’re adding cream of tartar to further stabilize the meringue structure and vanilla and salt for flavoring.

For a successful meringue, the egg whites need to be absolutely free of fat to whip. To make sure there is no yolk, I suggest you separate the eggs over a bowl and dump the whites into another bowl (an egg separator can help). Also, wiping the mixing bowl with white vinegar or lemon juice prior to adding the whites helps to ensure there is no fat in the bowl that can inhibit the meringue formation. This step is optional but highly recommended.

After making the meringue, spoon it into mounds on a half sheet baking pan lined with a Silpat silicone mat or parchment paper and bake at 200°F for 1 to 1½ hours until they are pale in color and appear dry and crisp. Turn off the oven once they’re done without opening the oven door and let cool completely in the oven (about 1 to 2 hours) before removing the pan.

Step 2: Get your strawberries ready

This involves just cutting the strawberries into bite-sized chunks, then sprinkling on some granulated sugar and letting them sit for a bit (i.e. macerating the strawberries).

Remove some of the strawberries to use as a topping; then coarsely crush the remainder.

Step 3: Prepare your whipped cream

The final prep step is to whip the heavy cream to soft peaks; then add vanilla and powdered sugar and whip to stiff peaks. Chilling the bowl and beaters helps speed up the process.

Step 4: Assemble the Eton Mess

All the steps above can be done ahead of time, but you should assemble the dessert right before you’re ready to serve. You want the meringue pieces to stay firm in the whipped cream.

Crumble the meringues into the whipped cream; then fold in the crushed strawberries. Don’t mix it in all the way as you want to see streaks of strawberries.

Transfer the mixture to a serving bowl and top with the reserved strawberries.

That’s it!

It tastes like Spring

Eton Mess tastes like a cream, dreamy cloud of strawberry sweetness, punctuated with crunchy bits of sweet meringue. Plus, this recipe makes more cookies than you need, so you can have more Eton Mess another day!

Yummm…

You’re not limited to just strawberries and whipped cream either! Here are some flavor alternatives to try (thanks to The Guardian):

• Substitute 2 to 3 ripe bananas for the strawberries. Slice half and toss with the granulated sugar. Mash the other half into a pureé and fold into the whipped cream.
• Substitute other fruit for the strawberries, like other berries, apples, or peaches, or plums. Hard fruit may need to be cooked down to a chunky compote with the sugar adjusted to taste.
• Add a tablespoon or two of your favorite wine or liqueur to the macerating fruit and/or the whipped cream for an adults-only dessert.
• Add ¼ to ½ teaspoon (or to taste) of spices to the whipped cream. Try a hint black pepper for strawberries, crushed cardamom, cinnamon or nutmeg for bananas, and ginger for stone fruit such as plums.