# Pavlova. Is it popular in Australia? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 4, 2013, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953 "2013-09-04T02:03:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/61 "2013-09-10T13:21:15Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > I bought this up a while back and was roundly told to fuck off by a lot of people, including one of the mods, IIRC. But I agree with you - a kiwi is a small flightless bird native to NZ, or a friendly term for someone from New Zealand. The delicious green fruit is a Kiwifruit and it actually bothers me quite a bit that people in the US seem wilfully ignorant of this or even choose to persist with the incorrect name when informed of their error. Aren’t enough kiwis around in the US to make the distinction worthwhile. If someone says kiwi, barring any other contextual information, we assume they mean the fruit. ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/62 "2013-09-11T01:42:59Z")
Not really a cause for concern or confusion in Australia, either. One’s a small, round, hairy thing that is found in many Australian houses despite not really being popular, and one’s a fruit. Awaiting incoming 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/63 "2013-09-11T01:50:02Z")
Well, the same thing can be said for tuna and tuna fish. No one in Canada says “tuna fish.” It’s kinda given that it’s a damned fish. So, over here we simply say “kiwi” since there’s no other item we could possibly be referring to. That’s just how it works. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/64 "2013-09-11T10:58:31Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Well, the same thing can be said for tuna and tuna fish. No one in Canada says “tuna fish.” It’s kinda given that it’s a damned fish. > > So, over here we simply say “kiwi” since there’s no other item we could possibly be referring to. That’s just how it works. The thing is, there are other things known as a “Kiwi”. Sure, it’s highly unlikely they’re in a supermarket in Manitoba, but even so. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/65 "2013-09-11T13:19:46Z")
There’s other things known as tuna, too and probably with about the same average relevance to a given conversation as the kiwi bird. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/66 "2013-09-11T13:26:34Z")
> [@Wallaby](#): > > One’s a small, round, hairy thing that is found in many Australian houses despite not really being popular, and one’s a fruit. > > Awaiting incoming 🙂 I only have one response - **Bledisloe Cup** 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/67 "2013-09-25T14:12:11Z")
So, I made a pavlova last weekend for a get-together with friends and it was delicious and my friends ate it all. But I was slightly disappointed because despite cooking it at a low temperature for about an hour and 45 minutes and leaving it to cool in the oven with the door ajar overnight, the next morning when I took it out, the entire center had cracked and fallen into the softer center and during transport the sides began to crack off as well. I realize it’s a delicate dessert to begin with but I would have preferred the top, at least, to have stayed up and not have become a floating island on a sea of marshmallow. I’ve heard of some people leaving the door to the oven completely closed. Is that a worthwhile thing to attempt or would I risk overbaking the pavlova if the heat doesn’t dissipate quickly enough? ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/68 "2013-09-25T16:41:59Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > I’ve heard of some people leaving the door to the oven completely closed. Is that a worthwhile thing to attempt or would I risk overbaking the pavlova if the heat doesn’t dissipate quickly enough? Dude, it is just eggs and a few other pretty inexpensive ingredients [going by memory vanilla, sugar, lemon juice and a thickener like cornstarch or arrowroot] so get a couple dozen eggs and try several different things until you get good at them. At best you will have some nummy desserts, at worst you have a ‘doggie treat’ [broken meringue pieces to snack on.] I hate to think of how many damned eggs I went through learning to do certain desserts in the kitchen I worked in back in the day. I know one saturday morning I started with a crate of eggs [1 gross, 12 dozen] and did nothing but meringues and zabaglione. I don’t even like zabaglione. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/69 "2013-09-25T17:29:49Z")
I see no need to re-invent the wheel if it’s at all possible to pick someone else’s brain. I don’t do binge baking because at the end of the day it’s just a hobby and I don’t need to eat or force upon others that many sweets. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/70 "2013-09-25T21:17:00Z")
My oven is not the one I trained upon, and it is not your oven, or the person who wrote the recipe that you used oven. Binge baking is exactly how you teach yourself to make many things. Baking is a science, not an art in many cases, and egg whites are exactly that case - they are very twitchy when it comes to pollution with fat, reaction to added ingredients, and oven temperature, environmental humidity and disturbing the oven/shaking the kitchen floor - all influence the final product. Until you actually have gotten the ‘feel’ for the meringue, you will have fallen pavlovas, scorched pavlovas, perfect pavlovas at random. Go ask on a baking forum. ---
**Author:** ![Weedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/weedy/32/301_2.png) [@Weedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weedy)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/71 "2013-09-25T21:22:39Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > So, I made a pavlova last weekend for a get-together with friends and it was delicious and my friends ate it all. But I was slightly disappointed because despite cooking it at a low temperature for about an hour and 45 minutes and leaving it to cool in the oven with the door ajar overnight, the next morning when I took it out, the entire center had cracked and fallen into the softer center and during transport the sides began to crack off as well. I realize it’s a delicate dessert to begin with but I would have preferred the top, at least, to have stayed up and not have become a floating island on a sea of marshmallow. > > I’ve heard of some people leaving the door to the oven completely closed. Is that a worthwhile thing to attempt or would I risk overbaking the pavlova if the heat doesn’t dissipate quickly enough? I don’t have any answers for you, but in my experience this is pretty common, and one of the reasons why you cover the top with whipped cream. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/72 "2013-09-25T21:33:37Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Go ask on a baking forum. In point of fact, I did. Or have you forgotten what the focus of Cafe Society is? > [@Weedy](#): > > I don’t have any answers for you, but in my experience this is pretty common, and one of the reasons why you cover the top with whipped cream. Thanks. That’s the general response I got poking around the internet. Since it all got eaten and I don’t plan on making one for aruvqan any time soon, I’ll just leave it as is for the time being. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/73 "2013-09-26T03:53:42Z")
I think mum leaves the oven door open all night, and she recommends adding one more egg white then the recipe calls for. Every pav I’ve even made came out as flat as a pancake except one. I followed advice I found online and cooked it in a springform pan. It looked amazing as I took it out of the oven and I thought I’d finally solved my pav problem. As I carried out to the bench, somehow the base of the springform pan sprang from the pan and the pav went splat on the floor. It’s been a decade… I wonder if I’m ready to try again? ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/74 "2013-09-26T03:55:12Z")
… oven door CLOSED all night … ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/75 "2013-09-26T03:58:00Z")
Awesome, then I think I’ll try that next time. Springform? I just cut a circle out of parchment paper and heaped the meringue on that. I was nervous about it all puddling but it seemed to work. ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/76 "2013-09-26T07:34:19Z")
You can make a circle of parchment to help stop the pavlova spreading, but you still risk the top sinking. I echo the advise to make a number of pavlova’s using different methods - it does vary a lot on how your particular oven functions and I recall my mum doing the same thing when she got a new oven. You might also want to fiddle with the cornstarch/vinegar (but not by much!). I think the ratios can get out of whack depending on the size of egg you use (i.e. the amount of of egg white). ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/77 "2013-09-26T11:25:27Z")
The simple answer is to go to the supermarket or bakery and buy one of theirs. 😛 Especially since it’s going to have delicious cream, kiwifruit, strawberries and possibly even passionfruit added to it anyway. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ken001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/78 "2013-09-26T11:51:19Z")
I have no idea how to bake a successful pavlova but Weedy above is right - cover it with whipped cream and everybody will be impressed. My much loved grandmother made perfect pavs in her coal range. These were moist and delicious. That type of pav is rare in my experience because most turn out like meringue - but yummy too. ---
**Author:** ![toast\_pakora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@toast\_pakora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toast_pakora)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/79 "2013-09-26T22:17:24Z")
Years ago, there was a Backpacker’s Hostel in Auckland that advertised free pavlova on arrival for guests. It was on the flyers at the airport. I didn’t stay there but when I was curious about what the heck was a pavlova, the mother of the family I was staying with–I’d met the daughter while travelling in Thailand–she made one with strawberries and kiwifruit and whipped cream. It was lovely but I was never tempted to try and make one myself. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953.md?page=3)