Baked Alaska

{{For|the far-right media personality|Baked Alaska (influencer)}}

{{Infobox food

|image = Baked Alaska.jpg

|caption = Baked Alaska at Delmonico's in New York City's Lower Manhattan

|alternate_name = glace au four, omelette norvégienne (Norwegian omelette), omelette surprise, debil sibérienne (Siberian omelette)

|creator =

|course = Dessert

|served =

|main_ingredient = strawberry cake, sponge cake or Christmas pudding, and meringue

|variations = Bombe Alaska, flame on the iceberg

|calories =

|other =

}}

Baked Alaska, also known as Bombe Alaska, omelette norvégienne, omelette surprise, or omelette sibérienne depending on the country, is a dessert consisting of ice cream and cake topped with browned meringue. The dish is made of ice cream placed in a pie dish, lined with slices of sponge cake or Christmas pudding, and topped with meringue. After having been placed in the freezer, the entire dessert is then placed in an extremely hot oven for a brief time, long enough to firm and caramelize the meringue but not long enough to begin melting the ice cream. Another common method of browning the meringue is to torch the dessert, sometimes even lighting it on fire for presentational purposes.

Etymology

The name "baked Alaska" was supposedly coined in 1876 at Delmonico's, a restaurant in New York City, to honor the acquisition by the United States of Alaska from the Russian Empire in March 1867.{{cite web|title=Baked Alaska|url=http://www.foodreference.com/html/artbakedalaska.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160617020608/http://www.foodreference.com/html/artbakedalaska.html|archive-date=17 June 2016|work=Foodreference.com|access-date=27 August 2016}} However, the restaurant's original recipe was called "Alaska Florida" (suggesting extremes of cold and heat), not "Baked Alaska".{{cite web|last=Hubbell|first=Diana|date=18 May 2023|title=Meet Baked Alaska's Prototype, 'Alaska, Florida' - Gastro Obscura|url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/baked-alaska|access-date=21 August 2023}}

The dish is also known as an omelette à la norvégienne, or "Norwegian omelette", which similarly refers to the cold climate of Norway.{{cite book|author=John Ayto|title=The Glutton's Glossary: A Dictionary of Food and Drink Terms|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vAQOAAAAQAAJ&q=baked+alaska+origin&pg=PA14|location=London; New York, N.Y.|publisher=Routledge|year=1990|page=14|isbn=978-0-415-02647-5}} During the Paris World's Fair in 1867, the chef of the Grand Hôtel decided to create a "scientific dessert" by using Benjamin Thompson's discovery of the low thermal conductivity of egg whites. Thompson lived in Bavaria at the time of his discovery; as the chef thought Bavaria was in Norway, he decided to name the dish "Norwegian omelette".{{Cite web|url=https://www.caminteresse.fr/culture/lomelette-norvegienne-un-parfum-dalaska-1175880/|title=L'omelette norvégienne : un parfum d'Alaska – Ça m'intéresse|date=2016-12-30|website=Ça m'intéresse – La curiosité en continu|language=fr-FR|access-date=2019-08-03}}{{Cite web|url=http://du-sacre-au-sucre.blogspot.com/2010/02/histoire-de-lomelette-norvegienne.html|title=Histoire de l'omelette norvégienne|date=2010-02-01|website=Du sacré au sucré|language=fr|access-date=2019-08-03|archive-date=2019-08-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190803185107/http://du-sacre-au-sucre.blogspot.com/2010/02/histoire-de-lomelette-norvegienne.html|url-status=dead}}

Variations

In 1969, the recently invented microwave oven enabled the Hungarian gastrophysicist Nicholas Kurti to produce a reverse baked Alaska (also called a "Frozen Florida")—a frozen shell of meringue filled with hot liquor.{{cite web|author=Martin Lersch|title=Molecular gastronomy: History|url=http://blog.khymos.org/molecular-gastronomy/history/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160501154708/http://blog.khymos.org/molecular-gastronomy/history/|archive-date=1 May 2016|work=Khymos|access-date=1 May 2016}}

A variation called Bombe Alaska calls for some dark rum to be splashed over the baked Alaska. The whole dessert is flambéed while being served.{{cite web|author=Geoff Jansz|author-link=Geoff Jansz|title=Bombe Alaska|url=http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/factsheets/Food-Health-and-Nutrition/Bombe-Alaska/2028|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306113307/http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/fact-sheets/food-and-recipes/food-health-nutrition/bombe-alaska/2028/|archive-date=6 March 2016|work=Burke's Backyard|date=19 September 2013 |access-date=6 March 2016}}

Flame on the iceberg is a popular dessert in Hong Kong that is similar to baked Alaska. The dessert is an ice cream ball in the middle of a sponge cake, with cream on the top. Whisky and syrup are poured over the top and the ball set alight before serving.{{cite web|author=Gorilaz|title=另类雪糕冰山大火/火焰雪山|language=zh|url=http://www.flyker.cn/space.php?uid=6794&do=thread&id=27155|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304134410/http://www.flyker.cn/space.php?uid=6794&do=thread&id=27155|archive-date=4 March 2016|work=Flyker.cn|date=23 June 2009|access-date=4 March 2016}}{{unreliable source?|date=August 2016}} Decades ago, the delicacy was served only in high-end hotels, but today it is commonly served in many Western restaurants and even in some cha chaan teng. {{citation needed|date=September 2023}}

File:Bombe Alaska, Shashlik Restaurant, Singapore - 20140125.jpg|A bombe Alaska which has been flambéed with alcohol at a restaurant in Singapore

File:Flame on the iceberg.jpg|Flame on the iceberg from Hong Kong, made with ice cream, sponge cake, cream, syrup, and whisky

File:Baked Alaska at Downtown Grille in NC.jpg|Toasted meringue of a baked Alaska at a restaurant in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

File:Baked Alaska (5097717743).jpg|A cherry baked Alaska