Sambuk (самбук, apple meringue mousse)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •A baking dish
• •A sieve or blender
• •A stand mixer or electric hand mixer
• •Small glass cups or one serving bowl

Instructions

1. 1

   Bake the apples

   Heat the oven to 190C. Put the apples in a baking dish and bake until the skins split, the flesh slumps, and the kitchen smells rounded and honeyed instead of sharp. If juice collects in the dish, leave it behind for tea or porridge; sambuk wants the thick apple flesh, not the watery tears.

   Baking matters. Boiled apples bring too much water, and watery puree makes a mousse that weeps instead of standing politely in the spoon.
2. 2

   Make the puree

   When the apples are cool enough to handle, scrape the flesh from the skins and cores. Push it through a sieve or blitz it smooth, then measure about 500g thick puree. It should mound softly on a spoon. If it runs like sauce, cook it in a pan for a few minutes, stirring, until it thickens and the spoon leaves a brief path.

3. 3

   Bloom the gelatin

   Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water in a small bowl and let it swell until it looks like wet sand. Warm it gently over a pan of hot water or in short microwave bursts until fully liquid, never boiling. Boiled gelatin loses its manners.

4. 4

   Whip the apples

   Put the apple puree in a large bowl with the sugar, egg whites, salt, and vanilla if using. Whip until the mixture grows pale, glossy, and much larger than you expected, with soft peaks that hold for a breath before folding over. Taste it now; if your apples were gentle rather than sour, add the lemon juice.

5. 5

   Set the mousse

   With the mixer running on low, pour in the warm liquid gelatin in a thin stream. Beat just until it disappears into the mousse and the bowl looks even from edge to edge. Spoon into glass cups or one serving bowl, smooth the top without fussing, and chill until set, at least three hours. It should tremble, not bounce.

   Do not overdo the gelatin. The set should be tender enough for a spoon to slide through cleanly, with the apple and air still in charge.
6. 6

   Serve cold

   Serve straight from the fridge, with smetana or softly whipped cream if you want a richer plate. A few spoonfuls of baked apple juices over the top are lovely if they are syrupy, not thin. This is dessert after the big table: light, cold, and gone before anyone admits they wanted seconds.

Chef Tips

• •Use sour apples if you can find them. Antonivka is the dream, Bramley or Granny Smith work well, and any sharp baking apple will behave.
• •Pasteurized egg whites are sensible if you're serving pregnant guests, elderly guests, very young children, or anyone immunocompromised. The texture is a little less billowy, but the dish still works.
• •The apple puree must be thick. That is the step that doesn't forgive you. Sweetness, vanilla, and lemon all flex around your apples.
• •If you set it in one large bowl, give it longer in the fridge. Small cups set faster and are easier for a holiday table.
• •Leftover sambuk keeps covered in the fridge for two days. After that it can loosen, so make it the day before, not a week before.

Advance Preparation

• •Bake the apples up to two days ahead and keep the thick puree covered in the fridge.
• •The finished sambuk needs at least 3 hours to chill and set, and it is best made the morning of serving or the night before.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 140g)