Pavlova (pronounced pav-luh-vuh, pahv-loh-vuh, pav-luh-vuh or pah-vluh-vuh (Russian)).
A meringue cake, topped typically with whipped cream and
fruit or confections.
Circa 1930: Named after Russian ballet ballerina Anna (pronounced ah-nuh) Pavlova (1885-1931). Pavlova
is a transliteration of the Russian surname Па́влова (Pávlova), the feminine
variant of Па́влов (Pávlov). Pavlova is
a noun (pav the usual contraction); the noun plural is pavlovas.
Although coined at much the same time, the adjective Pavlovian
is unrelated Ms Pavlova or meringue cakes. It
refers to the theories & experimental work of Russian physiologist Ivan
Petrovich Pavlov (Ива́н Петро́вич Па́влов; 1849-1936), especially in connection
with the conditioned salivary reflexes of dogs in response to the mental
stimulus of the sound of a bell (in the West, his work was in 1911 originally
referred to as the “Pavloff method” because of a misunderstanding by editors). His work was a landmark in experimental
behavioralism, inducing a dog associatively to link a biologically potent
stimulus (food) with a previously neutral stimulus (a bell). The phrase “Pavlov’s dog” entered English to describe
a conditioned response (reacting to a situation on the basis of taught behavior
rather than reflectively). One
interesting aspect of comrade Pavlov’s career is that he made no secret of his
opposition to many aspects of communism in the Soviet state built by comrade
Stalin (1878–1953; leader of the USSR 1922-1953), on occasions making his views
plain even to the general secretary himself.
Despite that, no action appears ever to have been taken against him and after
he died (at 86 of natural causes), he was granted a grand funeral.
Anna Pavlova with Jack.
Anna Pavlova was famous for her interpretation of The Dying Swan, a solo dance choreographed by Mikhail Fokine (1880-1942) to Camille Saint-Saëns's (1835-1921) Le Cygne (The Swan) from Le Carnaval des animaux (The Carnival of the Animals (1922)), commissioned as a pièce d'occasion (an artistic work produced for a special event) for the ballerina who performed it on some 4000 occasions. It's a short, intense piece which follows the last moments of a swan. Ms Pavlova for years kept a pet swan called Jack.
New Zealand is a small country in the remote South
Pacific which has over the years produced some notable figures such as (1) Lord
Rutherford (1871–1937) who, although a physicist who regarded other branches of
science as mere forms of engineering which worked within the laws of physics,
was awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize in chemistry and is most remembered for his work
which led to the atom being split in 1932, (2) Sir Edmund Hillary (1919–2008)
who, with the Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay (1914–1986), was the first to
ascend Mount Everest and (3) Sir David Low (1891–1963) who was among the most
noted and prolific political cartoonists between the troubled 1930s and the
early Cold War years. The country has also for
more than a century fielded what has been usually the world’s most successful rugby
union side (the recent inconsistency of the All Blacks not withstanding) and memories
are long, the try disallowed by a Scottish referee in a 1905 test against Wales
at Cardiff Arms Park still a sore point.
Mango, passion fruit & limoncello pavlova.
Less bitter but
no less contested than the matter of the disallowed try is the origin of the
Pavlova, the invention of which is claimed by both Australia and New Zealand. What all agree is the cake is a mixture of
egg whites and sugar, topped usually with cream and fresh fruit, named after
the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova who toured both countries during the
1920s. Researchers on both sides of the Tasman
Sea (referred to by locals as “the ditch”) have long trawled cook books and
newspapers to find the earliest entry but according to the Oxford English
Dictionary (OED), New Zealand appears to hold the evidential advantage, a recipe
from there having been verified as published in 1927 while the oldest claimed entry from Australia dates from 1935. That
however resolves only the use of Ms Pavlova’s name as the description, pastry
chefs adding cream to meringue known even in the nineteenth century and the
1927 recipe in the book Davis Dainty
Dishes, published by the Davis Gelatine company, was a multi-colored jelly concoction. New Zealand’s historians of food concede the culinary
point but cite recipes from 1928 & 1929 which are definitely of meringue, cream
and fruit. Strangely perhaps, the OED
remained on the lexicographical fence, listing the origin as an ambiguous "Austral. and N.Z."
Espresso martini pavlova
Preparation: 1 hour
Cooking: 2 hours:
Serves: 10-12
Ingredients
8 egg whites
Pinch of cream of tartar
1 tablespoon ground coffee powder
430 gm (2 cups) caster sugar
2 tablespoons of corn-flour
1 teaspoon white vinegar
600 ml (l carton) thickened cream
125 ml (½ cup) coffee liqueur
2 teaspoons cocoa powder
Chocolate-coated coffee beans (to decorate)
Dark chocolate curls (to decorate)
Coffee vodka syrup
2 tablespoons vodka
2 teaspoons arrowroot
100 grams (½ cup, firmly packed) brown
sugar
125 ml (½ cup) prepared espresso
coffee
Instructions
(1) Preheat oven to 120oC (100 oC
fan forced) (250oF (210 oF fan forced). Draw a 200 mm (8 inch) circle on 2 sheets of
baking paper. Place each sheet, marked
side down, on a baking tray.
(2) Use an electric beater with a whisk attachment to
whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar in a clean dry bowl until firm peaks
form. Gradually whisk in the coffee
powder. Add the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a
time, whisking constantly until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is thick
and glossy. Beat in the corn-flour and
vinegar.
(3) Divide meringue mixture among the 2 marked circles on
the prepared trays. Use a palette knife to spread mixture into 2 evenly shaped
discs. Bake for 2 hours or until
meringues are dry and crisp. Turn off
oven. Leave meringues in the oven, with the door slightly ajar, until cooled
completely.
(4) Meanwhile, to make the coffee vodka syrup, combine
the vodka and arrowroot in a small bowl. Combine the sugar and coffee in a small
saucepan. Bring to the boil over high
heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes
or until the syrup has thickened slightly. Stir in the vodka mixture and return to the
boil, boiling for 1 minute or until thickened. Remove from heat and transfer to a small bowl
and set aside to cool. Place in the
fridge until required.
(5) Use electric beaters to beat the cream in a bowl
until soft peaks form. Beat in the coffee liqueur and cocoa until firm peaks
form.
(6) Place 1 pavlova disc on a serving plate. Top with half the cream mixture. Drizzle with a little coffee vodka syrup. Scatter with coffee beans and chocolate curls. Repeat with the remaining disc, cream mixture, syrup, coffee beans and chocolate curls. Serve.
Auckland Airport, New Zealand, December 2023.
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