For the fabulous Miss Katie’s Christmas Eve party I decided to haul out one of my unused cook books (because what self respecting kitchen vixen uses recipes, right) and make something showy and impressive. I decided on a nougat terrine…. simple enough….just almond brittle, macerated fruit, whipped cream and whipped egg whites…. preparation time only 40 minutes – WOW factor in the high eighties. Except I haven’t whipped an egg white in ages and my whisk is in storage.
I disregarded every egg whipping rule in the book – YES that little speck of yolk WILL ruin the batch, NO you can’t use a hand blender if you don’t have a special whisk attachment and don’t bother using cold eggs from the fridge… so after I exhausted my arm and my supply of eggs, plus splattered the kitchen in egg white, the only thing left to beat was my retreat. With shiny face, sore arm and glass of consolation in hand….
I was sixteen decent eggs down but not prepared to give up. The next night I was armed to the hilt with another 18 unsuspecting eggs and adamant to succeed….
Bad blender, good bottle of wine....
Peak damn eggs! I cried as I whisked my way to show-stopping dessert splendour… with two forks in hand (my version of a proper whisk and surely how women used to do it before kitchen utensils?) I beat those little buggers – four at a time and in a glass bowl – into shape.
32 eggs down, 8 eggs up
And what do you know, I could whispa! What started out as a simple yet impressive looking nougat terrine turned into a 48-hour, 32-egg odyssey. The result: a light ice cream log with crunchy bits of almond brittle and a few macerated strawberries for festive colour. Was it worth it? Yes. And it served as a good reminder to follow tried and tested kitchen wisdom. And to find that whisk!
OK maybe it tastes better than it looks
That is nice to definitely find a site where the blogger knows what they are talking about.