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Julia Child's Favorite Dessert Is A Forgotten French Treasure

Celeb chef Julia Child's book "Mastering The Art of French Cooking," was first published in 1961 and introduced millions of people to classic French cuisine, including Child's favorite French dessert, oeufs à la neige. Her reputation for using simple ingredients, such as those in her classic soup recipe, is apparent here but, while the dessert may have a pared-down ingredients list, it comes together using a complex process.

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Oeufs à la neige, otherwise known as snow eggs, consists of a meringue baked with crushed candied almonds and surrounded by a rich crème anglaise. The only ingredients are eggs — specifically, whites for the meringue and yolks for the crème — along with almonds, sugar, salt, vanilla, and milk. It sounds simple (try this empty water bottle hack for separating the eggs while you're at it), but the cooking instructions must be followed precisely to get the best results. 

To that end, the meringue should be whipped to stiff peaks and carefully poured into a pan that's placed on a baking tin. Water is added to the pan and the meringue is then poached in the oven. Once that's over, the tricky part really begins. The meringue must be carefully inverted onto a serving plate and crème anglaise is poured around the meringue to give the impression of a floating dessert.

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The history of snow eggs

The history of snow eggs, at least as we know them today, starts with James Hemings, the enslaved head chef for Thomas Jefferson. Hemings was also the older brother of the enslaved woman, Sally Hemings, with whom Jefferson had several children. James Hemings and Jefferson spent many years living in France, where Hemings honed his craft, bringing French cuisine (including oeufs à la neige) to Jefferson's dining room at his Virginia estate of Monticello.

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On the plate, snow eggs are traditionally surrounded by crème anglaise. However, chefs often present the dessert differently. Prue Leith of "The Great British Baking Show" pours the crème into martini glasses and tops it with balls of meringue made with round molds. Master Chef Christophe Gregoire of restaurant Le Tres Bon in France forms the meringue into more obvious egg shapes.

If you'd like to try making snow eggs, Ina Garten, who is known for occasionally using store-bought items like pasta sauce as a shortcut, has a hack for making crème anglaise that can take some of the work out of the dessert. Garten simply melts good-quality vanilla ice cream in any recipe calling for crème anglaise. If you can get the meringue part of oeufs à la neige right, perhaps Garten's hack will take care of the rest.

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