- 2 hours ago
Turn a single egg into a spectacular, restaurant-quality treat with this classic French recipe. In this video, Chef John shows you how to make "Floating Islands," featuring light-as-air poached meringues resting on a pool of chilled vanilla crème anglaise. This elegant, gluten-free dessert is easy to prepare and sure to impress at your next dinner party.
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00:00Hello, this is Chef John from Foodwishes.com with how to turn one egg into a Michelin star dessert.
00:09That's right, I'm going to show you how to make the classic French dessert, floating islands.
00:14And other than sugar, vanilla, and a little bit of dairy, all we need is one egg.
00:19And to get started, we'll take one vanilla bean and we'll cut it in half.
00:23And yes, we can just use vanilla extract, and it will still be amazing.
00:27But using a fresh vanilla bean really does make it extra special.
00:32And once that's halved, we'll take the tip of our knife, and we'll split that pod right down the center.
00:37And once that's been accomplished, we'll take the back of our knife, and we'll scrape out all the vanilla seeds,
00:43which kind of look like a black tar, but it's actually a sticky mass of thousands and thousands of tiny
00:49seeds.
00:50And by the way, we're going to use the seeds and the scrape pods.
00:53So once both halves are done, we'll transfer that into a saucepan.
00:57And then to that, we will add some whole milk and some heavy cream.
01:01And we'll give that a quick swirl for no apparent reason.
01:04Before we head to the stove, where we will place that over the burner.
01:08But we won't turn on the heat yet.
01:10Because before we do, we have to make our meringue, which as promised only requires one egg.
01:16And what we'll do is crack that over a bowl, and we will pass that yolk between the two shells,
01:22catching all the white below.
01:24And do not, under any circumstances, get any yolk into the whites.
01:28Otherwise, this is not going to work.
01:30And then what we'll do is pop that yolk in the fridge, since we're going to use that to make
01:34an amazing vanilla custard sauce.
01:37And then what we'll do is add the tiniest, tiniest pinch of salt to the whites.
01:41Like an eighth of a pinch, like just a few grains.
01:44And then we'll grab our white sugar and a whisk.
01:47And by the way, if you have options, a narrow whisk will work.
01:51But if you have a larger, rounder, what we call in the business, balloon whisk, that's always going to work
01:56better for making a meringue.
01:58And what we'll do is start whisking, and we will keep whisking, until our egg whites get nice and foamy
02:03like this.
02:04And then we'll start adding our sugar in small additions, whisking for about 20 to 30 seconds, in between each.
02:12And yes, of course you can use an electric hand mixer for this.
02:15But I just don't think it's a great look.
02:17And if the person we're making this for is watching, we want to look like we're putting a little bit
02:21of effort into this.
02:23And also, it's a proven scientific fact that by whisking, you're going to produce a lot more pheromones.
02:29But either way, once we mix in that last addition of sugar, we're going to continue whisking until we've achieved
02:35stiff peaks,
02:37but not stiff overworked, grainy, dry peaks.
02:40All right, what we're looking for is something like this, where the egg white will hold its shape,
02:45but it's still nice and shiny and supple looking.
02:49And once we get to that point, we're going to want to stop.
02:52Otherwise, our floating islands won't have as perfect of a texture.
02:55And once that's set, we'll take a spatula and scrape down the bowl.
02:59And then we'll clean off our spatula with a spoon.
03:02And then we'll grab a second spoon with which to shape the meringue.
03:06And in a fancy French restaurant, we would scoop some meringue with one spoon.
03:11And then we'd pass that to the other spoon like this, and back and forth, shaping it into the classic
03:17Quinnell shape.
03:18And we could do like four small ones like this.
03:20But here, I think we're going to scoop half for each portion and do two big ones.
03:25And what we'll do is head to the stove and turn our heat under our cream and milk mixture to
03:29medium-high.
03:30And then as soon as this just barely starts to simmer, we'll reduce the heat to the lowest setting.
03:36And we'll give the pan a swirl.
03:38And we will transfer our two portions of meringue in.
03:41Again, using the two spoons to shape that into some kind of oval.
03:45Although you don't have to do an oval.
03:47Right, you pick any shape you want.
03:49But whatever you go with, try to make sure they're uniform so they cook evenly.
03:54And then we'll cover this.
03:55And we will cook it covered for 12 minutes.
03:58During which time, we will not remove the lid or try to touch these or try to flip them.
04:03We're simply going to let those very gently cook.
04:06Although once in a while, if you want to give the pan a little bit of a swirl, that's fine.
04:10But we're going to leave these covered untouched for, like I said, 12 minutes.
04:14And as you'll see, they're going to puff up magnificently.
04:18And after 12 minutes, if everything's gone according to plan,
04:21our floating island should look like this.
04:24Oh yes, those are now fully inflated.
04:26But they're not going to stay that way.
04:29Right, as soon as these are uncovered and the heat's turned off,
04:31they are definitely going to contract.
04:33But that's not a problem, as you'll see.
04:36And what we'll do is carefully transfer those onto a rack, and we'll let them cool.
04:41And yes, you can just use a plate.
04:43And as these cool, they're going to deflate even more.
04:46Which, by the way, is a good thing.
04:48Because that's going to give us that perfect, luxurious texture we want.
04:52Right, if these were too airy and foamy, it would not be as nice.
04:56Oh, and if a vanilla pot is stuck to the bottom of one,
04:58we'll go ahead and pull that off and throw it back in the pan.
05:01Since our next step is to make our vanilla custard sauce,
05:05which we'll do by tossing in some sugar.
05:07And then we'll grab that reserved egg yolk.
05:09And we'll take a spoon, and we'll grab a couple spoons of that hot liquid.
05:13And we'll mix that into the egg yolk to warm it up, and to thin it out.
05:17Which in the business we call tempering.
05:19And then we will transfer that in.
05:22And we'll turn our heat to medium-low.
05:24And we'll cook this whisking for about 3 or 4 minutes.
05:27Or until our sauce thickens up.
05:30And I know we have some chunks of meringue in there.
05:32And of course our vanilla bean pods.
05:35But that's fine.
05:36Everything's going to get strained out.
05:38And once that thickens to our liking, we will turn off the heat.
05:42And I'm going to go ahead and grab a spoon.
05:43So you can see exactly what we're going for.
05:47And that's it.
05:47Like I said, we'll go ahead and strain that into a bowl.
05:50Making sure we press every drop of precious goodness through.
05:54And as you can see, those vanilla seeds are so tiny.
05:56They actually pass through the strainer.
05:59Giving our creme anglaise.
06:01Which is what this sauce is called.
06:02That signature vanilla bean look.
06:05And that's it.
06:06We'll simply refrigerate that for about 20 minutes.
06:08To chill it down before we use it.
06:10Or if you're in a hurry, just do that over an ice bath.
06:13And then before we plate up, let me show you how to make the optional sugar cage.
06:18Which starts by placing white sugar in a dry pan over medium heat.
06:22And we will leave it there until it melts into a liquid.
06:26And we don't need to add water.
06:27And we certainly don't need or want to stir it.
06:30Although we are allowed to carefully swirl the pan.
06:32To sort of move things around.
06:35And once all those sugar crystals have disappeared.
06:37And it's turned into this classic caramel color.
06:40We'll turn off the heat and stir it with a spoon.
06:43At which point we will very carefully drizzle that over the bottom of a ladle.
06:47Which, by the way, has been generously oiled.
06:50And we'll make whatever kind of sugar cage design we want.
06:53Which, for me, is just totally random drips and drizzles.
06:56But there are a lot of videos online to show you how to do the extra fancy ones.
07:01And by the way, if you take too long making the first one.
07:03And your sugar mixture cools down and gets too thick to work with.
07:06Just simply put it back over the heat until it thins out again.
07:10Oh, and while this is actually very easy to do.
07:13It also can be very dangerous.
07:15Since if that molten sugar touches your skin.
07:17That's an instant severe burn.
07:19So please be careful.
07:21And once we decide we've drizzled down enough.
07:24We will let that cool for like 5 or 10 seconds.
07:27Or until it hardens up enough to push off the ladle like this.
07:30And once removed.
07:32We have about 3 to 5 seconds or so.
07:34To shape this while it's still flexible.
07:37So I sort of squeezed that into an oval.
07:39To match the shape of our floating islands.
07:42And yes, these can be made ahead.
07:44And that's it.
07:45Once we've made a couple of cages.
07:47We'll go ahead and plate up.
07:48Which I'm going to do by ladling a generous amount of creme anglaise.
07:52Onto these adorable heart shaped plates.
07:55And once those are sauced.
07:56We can transfer over our now fully cooled floating islands.
08:00Which by the way can be served hot, warm, room temp or cold.
08:03But room temp or slightly chilled is my preference.
08:06And then if we made them.
08:08We'll top those with our sugar cages.
08:10As well as some fresh raspberries to finish the scene.
08:13And that my friends.
08:15Whether it's Valentine's Day.
08:17Or date night.
08:18Or any other occasion.
08:20That my friends.
08:22Is a dessert that's definitely going to help get you lots of compliments.
08:26Speaking of which.
08:28Let me pass one over to Michelle.
08:29And then I'm going to grab a spoon and crack through that sugar cage.
08:33And I'll attempt to get all three of the main components on one spoon.
08:36That perfectly poached feather light meringue.
08:39That insanely delicious vanilla custard sauce.
08:42And of course that caramelized bittersweet sugar.
08:45Oh and while I love how they looked.
08:47These plates were a little bit too small.
08:48And I didn't really have enough room to operate.
08:51So I had to grab that piece of cage and move it out of the way.
08:54But despite that very small logistical issue.
08:57I absolutely loved everything about this.
09:00And while this might seem a little bit decadent.
09:02It is actually quite light in texture.
09:04Since those meringue islands are so light and airy.
09:07And the contrast between that.
09:09And that cold thick amazing vanilla sauce.
09:12Is nothing short of magical.
09:14And I think it's kind of mind blowing.
09:16That besides a little bit of sugar and dairy.
09:18We can make a dessert this gorgeous and spectacular.
09:22With just one egg.
09:24And yes the cage is definitely optional.
09:26And this would still be fantastic without it.
09:28So if you don't want to do it.
09:30Don't do it.
09:31I mean you are after all the bones highland.
09:34Of your floating island.
09:35Alright instead you could drizzle over some caramel sauce.
09:38Or a fruit sauce.
09:40Or just scatter over some chopped almonds.
09:42But they're actually pretty easy to make.
09:44And they really do elevate this.
09:47Plus if you do make it.
09:48You get to enjoy a raspberry sugar cage nacho.
09:52Which is really, really good.
09:54But whether you cage your islands or not.
09:56This is a visually stunning dessert.
09:59That's sure to impress.
10:01Which is why I really do hope you give it a try soon.
10:04So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts.
10:08A printable written recipe.
10:09And much more info as usual.
10:11And as always, enjoy.
10:15And as always, enjoy.
10:16And as always, enjoy.
10:20And as always, enjoy.
10:20And as always, enjoy.
10:21And as always, enjoy.
10:21And as always, enjoy.
10:22And as always, enjoy.
10:23And as always, enjoy.
10:23And as always, enjoy.
10:25And as always, enjoy.
10:26And as always, enjoy.
10:26And as always, enjoy.
10:26And as always, enjoy.
10:26And as always, enjoy.
10:26And as always, enjoy.
10:27And as always, enjoy.
10:27And as always, enjoy.
10:27And as always, enjoy.
10:27And as always, enjoy.
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