Bombe Pompadour

Bombe Pompadour (an asparagus-lined pomegranate frozen bombe) teaches the nerve required to balance two unlikely flavors without disguising either one. Its center is a pomegranate pâte à bombe, a hot-syrup yolk foam folded with cream, while the shell is unmistakably asparagus, cooked tender, sieved to silk, and sweetened decisively. The one true thing is this: cold dulls both sweetness and aroma, so each component must taste a shade too vivid before it enters the freezer.

The original entry needs only one sentence because it assumes a pâtissier with prepared ices, a professional bombe mould, and deep freezing ready at hand. It sends the cook to Another Method of Preparing Aspics de Filets de Soles (No. 916) for chemiser, to clothe the mould evenly; no sole or aspic belongs in the dessert. Here, a 1-liter metal bowl, a fine sieve, and a household freezer replace the brigade equipment. Separate workers and stores of ready-made ice are scaffolding and can go. The asparagus shell around the pomegranate center is the dish and must stay. One cook, one stove, one evening of active work, then the freezer keeps watch.

Cut properly, the bombe shows a clean spring-green ring around a pale garnet center, the shell fine-grained and the filling soft enough to yield under the fork. Taste the asparagus mixture cold before you line the mould. If it tastes timid now, it will disappear once frozen, and this strange, splendid dessert has no reason to whisper.