Perfect Meringues
Source of Recipe
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Perfect Meringues
By: Allrecipes Staff
Whether soft and fluffy on a pie, or as a crispy base to Pavlova, snowy white meringue is an ethereal delight.
A meringue at its simplest is made up of egg whites and sugar. Sometimes salt and an acid, like lemon juice or cream of tartar, is added to stabilize the egg foam.
The Basics
Use a clean, dry bowl. The bowl must be grease-free, because any trace amount of fat will wreck a meringue. Glass, ceramic, stainless steel, and copper bowls are all suitable. Plastic bowls may appear clean, but may still have trace amounts of oil, so do not use them.
Cold eggs separate easily, but eggs whip to a higher volume when at room temperature. The solution is to separate the cold eggs, and then set them aside for 10 or 15 minutes.
Separate each egg into two small bowls, one for the white and one for the yolk, and then add the white portion to the larger bowl. This allows you to reserve any with broken yolks for another purpose. Even a small amount of yolk can deflate the egg whites, so be careful.
Basic Meringue
Cream of tartar, white vinegar, or lemon juice can all be used to stabilize a meringue.
Add 1/8 teaspoon of cream of tartar per egg white to the unbeaten eggs. (If you're using a copper bowl to make your meringue, don't add any acid: it can react with the copper and discolor the egg foam.)
Whip to medium-soft peaks. Beat in 2 tablespoons white sugar per egg white. Continue to beat until egg whites are glossy and hold a firm peak.
Adding sugar early in the beating process results in a firmer, finer-textured meringue.
Common Problems
Beading, weeping, and shrinking are common complaints. Overcooking causes beading, formation of water droplets on the surface. Weeping--loss of water between the meringue and the pie filling--is caused by undercooking. Shrinking is a loss of volume during baking.
Meringue Pie tips
A never-fail method for producing the perfect meringue is one that uses a cornstarch and water mixture to form a gel: beaten gradually into a meringue, the thickener will prevent shrinking problems. See the Never-Ever-Fail Meringue recipe for an example of this technique.
Spread meringue over piping hot filling, and spread to the edges to seal. Hot filling is necessary to ensure that the inside of the meringue cooks, preventing weeping. Swiss or Italian meringues, since they are already cooked, are less prone to shrinking and weeping.
Fine cake crumbs, vanilla wafer crumbs, or soft white bread crumbs sprinkled lightly over the filling will absorb liquid between the layers, another preventative against weeping.
Bake your meringue pie at a high temperature with a short baking time. This prevents overcooking the outer layer of meringue, so beading is avoided. Bake at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) for 4 to 5 minutes.
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After separating, bring egg whites to room temperature to ensure volume when beating, as warmer eggs whip faster than cold eggs. Egg whites right out of the refrigerator will not whip well. The ideal temperature to whip a common meringue is room temperature, about 70 degrees F. (21 degrees C.). Usually 30 minutes is adequate to obtain room temperature.
A beaten egg white can foam to 6 to 8 times its original volume if the egg whites have been at room temperature for 30 minutes before beating.
Bowls and Utensils:
Copper, stainless-steel, or glass bowls work best for making meringues. Avoid using plastic bowls for whipping egg whites as they can often harbor traces of grease or fat, which prevents the whites from getting stiff. Whichever type of bowl you use, be sure it’s spotlessly clean.
Make sure that all your utensils are immaculately clean, completely grease-free, and completely dry. Meringues are very sensitive and they don't like any moisture. Don't make meringues on a rainy or really humid day (remember that they are mostly air and if that air contains a lot of water, it will have an effect).
Place the egg whites into a large, tall bowl and set your mixer to medium-high speed. NOTE: I would not hand beat a meringues (too much work). Beating or whisking causes the protein in the egg whites to unfold, forming films that trap the air bubbles, and the sugar stiffens the foam. As the mixing time increases, the bubbles become smaller and more numerous; this increases the volume and makes a more-stable structure.
Adding Sugar:
Do not add sugar before whipping the egg whites. Adding sugar at the beginning can double the time you have to whip the egg whites to get a foam. Add the sugar at the very end when the whites have formed soft peaks.
I like to use superfine sugar when making meringue because it dissolves faster than table sugar. When beating egg whites and the recipe calls for sugar, Gradually add the sugar, a few spoonfuls at a time, beating the whole time. As a general rule, add a total of 1/4 cup of sugar for each egg white.
Do not make meringues that have less than 2 tablespoons of sugar per egg white. If you use any less, the foam will not set and the meringue will shrink. To tell if the sugar is dissolved when you are beating egg whites for meringues, rub a bit of the foam between your fingers. If it feels gritty, the sugar is not dissolved, so keep beating for a few minutes.
By varying the amount of sugar in the final mix, you control how hard or soft the final meringue will be:
For soft peaks - place egg whites in a clean glass or metal bowl (not plastic), and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed or with a rotary beater until egg whites form peaks with tips that curl over when the beaters are lifted. For stiff peaks, continue beating egg whites on high speed until they form peaks with tips that stand straight when the beaters are lifted.
For stiff peaks - continue beating egg whites on high speed until they form peaks with tips that stand straight when the beaters are lifted.
Once you start a making whipped egg whites, continue it straight through and finish it off. Do not stop halfway to take a break.
The meringue is done when it is not runny and when you can hold a spoonful of it upside down and none of it drops off. Also when you swirl a spoon through it and the swirls hold their shape indefinitely.
Using Meringue:
Make the meringue first - then prepare the filling. Place meringue on the piping-hot filling to begin cooking the bottom of the meringue. The residual heat carried by the filling cooks the base of the meringue ever so slightly, making it less prone to leaking or shrinking.
Baking Meringue:
Meringues will become more done if you bake them at a lower temperature for a longer time. Bake at 325 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes.
Storing Meringue:
Meringue Pies should be stored under an inverted bowl at room temperature. Remember, meringue pies only last a day or two, and then the meringue starts breaking down. If you place any cooked meringue in the refrigerator, no matter how long you baked it, it will bead and weep.
To cut baked meringue into serving pieces, use a knife dipped in cold water.
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