Suspiro a la limeña recipe: Lima's caramel and meringue

Suspiro a la limeña layers a slow-cooked milk caramel under a port-wine meringue, finished with a dust of cinnamon, in the dessert Lima has kept on its tables since the 1880s.

The story credits Amparo Ayarza, wife of the writer José Gálvez, with the name: she is said to have called the dessert as sweet and as light as a sigh, suspiro, from a young limeña. The base is a close cousin of manjar blanco, Peru's milk caramel, cooked down until it holds its own weight rather than running off a spoon.

Ingredients

A caramel that holds its shape and a meringue that doesn't: the whole dessert is two kinds of patience, not one trick.

• 4 egg yolks
• 1 tin (395 g) condensed milk
• 1 tin (375 ml) evaporated milk
• 1½ tsp vanilla extract
• 6 egg whites
• 500 ml ruby port
• 200 g sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon, plus extra to finish

Method

1. Whisk the egg yolks in a heavy saucepan, then stir in the condensed milk, evaporated milk and vanilla. Low heat is the whole technique here: cook gently, stirring constantly, for 15–20 minutes until the mixture thickens into a caramel-coloured cream that coats the back of a spoon.
2. Divide the manjar base among six glasses or small bowls and chill for at least one hour. A cold base keeps the meringue from weeping once it goes on top.
3. Pour the port into a small pan and simmer until reduced by half, about 10 minutes, then set aside to cool slightly. Reducing it first concentrates the flavour so the meringue doesn't taste thin against the dense caramel underneath.
4. Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks, then add the sugar a spoonful at a time, whisking to stiff, glossy peaks. Pour in the warm reduced port in a thin stream while whisking, the way an Italian meringue takes hot syrup, so the alcohol cooks into the egg whites instead of sitting raw on top.
5. Spoon or pipe the meringue over the chilled caramel. Dust with cinnamon and serve the same day; the meringue loses its structure if it sits in the fridge overnight.

A dessert that travels on memory, not technique

Suspiro keeps turning up on tasting menus well outside Lima's traditional dining rooms, including kitchens that otherwise work in a register closer to Virgilio Martínez's native-ingredient cooking than to colonial-era desserts. The reason is practical: the two components can be made separately and assembled to order, which suits a service kitchen as well as a home one.

Serve it after something sharp and cold, the way Lima's own ceviche opens a meal: the port meringue reads lighter after acid than another rich course.

Can it be made ahead? The caramel keeps three days chilled; whisk the meringue only once you are ready to serve, since it will not hold overnight.