Suspiro a la limeña

Ingredients

The manjar blanco

• 400 gcondensed milk
• 400 mlevaporated milk
• 5egg yolks
• 1 teaspoonvanilla
• a pinch of salt

The meringue

• 3egg whites
• 200 gcaster sugar
• 80 mlport
• or sweet sherry
• a pinch of salt

To finish

• ground cinnamon
• for dusting
• over the meringue
• just before serving

Equipment

• a sugar thermometer
• or a bowl of cold water
• an electric whisk
• small glasses

Directions

1. Stir constantly and keep the heat low. Thick milk caramel bubbles heavily and spits. Use a long spoon and stand back a little. Hot syrup is poured into whipping egg whites. Pour it down the side rather than onto the whisk. Keep your hands and face clear of it. Leave it out and use water for a version without. Put both milks in a heavy saucepan together.
2. Use a genuinely heavy based saucepan. Thin pans scorch condensed milk instantly. Use one considerably larger than it seems to need. Simmer the milks gently, stirring constantly. Keep the heat low rather than moderate. Stir with a wooden spoon without stopping. Give it about forty minutes over a low heat.
3. Take it off at pale golden caramel. Whisk the yolks and temper them into the mixture. Beat the yolks in a separate bowl first. Whisk a ladleful of hot mixture into them. Whisk constantly as you pour it in. That gradual warming stops the yolks scrambling.
4. Pour the tempered yolks back into the pan. Pour them in slowly while stirring hard. Cook it gently for a further five minutes. Keep stirring constantly throughout. Keep the heat genuinely low at this stage. The yolks set into lumps if it gets too hot. Take it off as soon as it thickens. Divide the manjar blanco between glasses. Spoon it into small glasses or bowls. Fill them about two thirds full.
5. Leave room for the meringue on top. The custard must be cold before meringue goes on. Warm custard melts the meringue immediately. Refrigerate them for at least two hours. Boil the sugar with the port in a small pan. Warm it gently until the sugar dissolves. Stir only until it is clear, then stop.
6. Boil it to about a hundred and twenty degrees. That is the soft ball stage in old terms. Drop a little syrup into cold water. It should form a soft pliable ball. Whip the egg whites to soft peaks.
7. Start whipping when the syrup is nearly ready. They should reach soft peaks as it hits temperature. Pour the hot syrup into the whipping whites. Keep the mixer running the whole time. Pour it in a thin steady stream.
8. Pour it down the side of the bowl. Never pour it onto the moving whisk. Keep your hands well clear as you pour. Keep whipping after all the syrup is in. Whip until the bowl is cool to the touch. That takes about eight to ten minutes. Warm meringue slides off the custard. Keep whipping until the bowl feels cool. Do not rush that stage at all.
9. Pile it generously on top of the custard. It should be a thick layer rather than thin. Dust ground cinnamon over the meringue. Use a small sieve for evenness.
10. Serve the glasses chilled from the refrigerator. It is served cold rather than at room temperature. Serve small portions, since it is genuinely rich. It keeps two days refrigerated. Add the cinnamon only at serving. It keeps two days refrigerated and covered. Dust the cinnamon on only at the last moment.

Technique

• The port syrup reaches around 120°C, far hotter than boiling water, sticks to skin and keeps burning — never touch or taste it hot. Pour it into the running mixer down the side of the bowl and never onto the moving whisk, which throws scalding sugar around the kitchen, and keep hands and face clear.
• Condensed milk burns extremely easily and catches within seconds, so use a heavy pan, keep the heat low and stir constantly, scraping the base and corners. It also bubbles heavily and spits, and those spits stick to skin — use a long spoon and stand back.
• Hot syrup heats the egg whites considerably but does not necessarily pasteurise them fully, so the risk is genuinely reduced rather than eliminated — the atlas states that plainly rather than reassuring. Pasteurised whites remove it entirely and work perfectly well. The dessert also contains port: some alcohol cooks off in the boiling but a real amount remains, and the common claim that it all does is not accurate.

Substitutions

• Sweet sherry replaces port in the meringue syrup, and water replaces it entirely for a version without alcohol.
• Manjar blanco is the Peruvian and Colombian name for milk cooked down with sugar, the relative of dulce de leche made across Latin America; the versions differ slightly in method and richness, and the atlas records them as related rather than identical.

Variations

• Temper the yolks: whisk a ladleful of the hot milk mixture into the beaten yolks, then another, before returning them to the pan — adding cold yolks straight in cooks them instantly into lumps, and that step cannot be skipped.
• Cook the milks about forty minutes on low heat until a spoon drawn across the base leaves a trail holding a second or two, and take it off at pale golden caramel rather than deep brown. The custard must be completely cold before the meringue goes on, since warm custard melts it.
• Boil the syrup without stirring, since stirring causes crystallisation, to about 120°C — soft ball stage, where a drop in cold water forms a soft pliable ball. Start whipping the whites so they reach soft peaks just as the syrup is ready, then keep whipping after the syrup is in until the bowl feels cool, about eight to ten minutes, for a thick glossy stable meringue that holds for hours without weeping.

History

Manjar blanco under a port meringue, named by the poet Jose Galvez Barrenechea, who called it soft and sweet as a woman’s sigh.

Frequently asked questions

What is Suspiro a la limeña?

Suspiro a la limeña is a dessert from Peru: manjar blanco custard under port-scented meringue. Manjar blanco under a port meringue, named by the poet Jose Galvez Barrenechea, who called it soft and sweet as a woman’s sigh.

How long does Suspiro a la limeña take to make?

Suspiro a la limeña takes 30 minutes of preparation and 1 hour of cooking. The recipe makes serves 8. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Suspiro a la limeña?

Yes, within limits. Sweet sherry replaces port in the meringue syrup, and water replaces it entirely for a version without alcohol. Manjar blanco is the Peruvian and Colombian name for milk cooked down with sugar, the relative of dulce de leche made across Latin America; the versions differ slightly in method and richness, and the atlas records them as related rather than identical.

What is the most important thing to get right in Suspiro a la limeña?

Stir constantly and keep the heat low. Thick milk caramel bubbles heavily and spits. Use a long spoon and stand back a little. Hot syrup is poured into whipping egg whites. Pour it down the side rather than onto the whisk. Keep your hands and face clear of it. Leave it out and use water for a version without. Put both milks in a heavy saucepan together.