Making the Perfect Meringue
Because of its light, airy and sweet characteristics, the meringue can either be eaten by itself or be the basis of other desserts. Thus, you have recipes for Eton mess, Pavlova, meringue pie and cookies, to name a few possibilities.
And since meringue is but a combination of whites and sugar with a binding agent like cream of tartar thrown in, it should be an easy recipe to whip up. Sadly, many chefs still have to perfect the art of making meringue mainly because the ingredients and the equipment were not handled as well as they should have been.
Eggs
As previously mentioned, eggs and sugar are the two main ingredients of meringue. To handle them very well and, hence, come up with the perfect meringue, here are some tips.
Let's start with the eggs:
Separate the eggs right out of the refrigerator. However, wait for 30 minutes before beating the egg whites at room temperature.
Make sure that no trace of egg yolk, not even a speck, will be mixed in with the whites. You should separate each egg in a smaller bowl and then mix it in with the rest of egg whites in the bigger bowl. Also, never ever dip your finger to separate any egg yolk from the egg whites as the oils from your finger will affect the consistency of the meringue. You can use a piece of bread to fish out the yolk but that can also affect the final results. It's often better to just reuse the whole egg in another recipe.
Depending on your purpose for the meringue, you can use either days-old eggs or fresh eggs. If meringue volume is desired, then older eggs (about 3-4 days old) are the way to go. If stability is the more important meringue quality, then fresher eggs are better to use.
Make your meringue on a dry day to ensure that additional humidity will not ruin the recipe.
Sugar
As for the sugar:
Add the sugar by small increments preferably at one tablespoon at a time especially at the soft peak stage. It is more labor-intensive, yes, but do keep in mind that sugar attracts moisture, thus, dumping it all at once will ruin the meringue.
Make sure to add the sugar only at the last part when the egg whites have transformed to soft peaks. You must continuously beat the egg whites while you are adding the sugar.
Substitute superfine sugar for table sugar if you want to achieve faster results. This is because superfine sugar dissolves faster and, hence can be incorporated, faster, too.
Always use 2 tablespoons or more of sugar to one medium egg white. Any recipe calling for less than that amount of sugar will shrink and be flat. You can, of course, vary the amount of sugar so as to achieve the desired softness or hardness.
These tips will not be complete without mention of the need for the integrity of the equipment. You must ensure that only metal (copper and stainless steel) or glass mixing bowls are used and that these are immaculately clean as any dirt, oil and grease can affect meringue quality.
And since meringue is but a combination of whites and sugar with a binding agent like cream of tartar thrown in, it should be an easy recipe to whip up. Sadly, many chefs still have to perfect the art of making meringue mainly because the ingredients and the equipment were not handled as well as they should have been.
Eggs
As previously mentioned, eggs and sugar are the two main ingredients of meringue. To handle them very well and, hence, come up with the perfect meringue, here are some tips.
Let's start with the eggs:
Separate the eggs right out of the refrigerator. However, wait for 30 minutes before beating the egg whites at room temperature.
Make sure that no trace of egg yolk, not even a speck, will be mixed in with the whites. You should separate each egg in a smaller bowl and then mix it in with the rest of egg whites in the bigger bowl. Also, never ever dip your finger to separate any egg yolk from the egg whites as the oils from your finger will affect the consistency of the meringue. You can use a piece of bread to fish out the yolk but that can also affect the final results. It's often better to just reuse the whole egg in another recipe.
Depending on your purpose for the meringue, you can use either days-old eggs or fresh eggs. If meringue volume is desired, then older eggs (about 3-4 days old) are the way to go. If stability is the more important meringue quality, then fresher eggs are better to use.
Make your meringue on a dry day to ensure that additional humidity will not ruin the recipe.
Sugar
As for the sugar:
Add the sugar by small increments preferably at one tablespoon at a time especially at the soft peak stage. It is more labor-intensive, yes, but do keep in mind that sugar attracts moisture, thus, dumping it all at once will ruin the meringue.
Make sure to add the sugar only at the last part when the egg whites have transformed to soft peaks. You must continuously beat the egg whites while you are adding the sugar.
Substitute superfine sugar for table sugar if you want to achieve faster results. This is because superfine sugar dissolves faster and, hence can be incorporated, faster, too.
Always use 2 tablespoons or more of sugar to one medium egg white. Any recipe calling for less than that amount of sugar will shrink and be flat. You can, of course, vary the amount of sugar so as to achieve the desired softness or hardness.
These tips will not be complete without mention of the need for the integrity of the equipment. You must ensure that only metal (copper and stainless steel) or glass mixing bowls are used and that these are immaculately clean as any dirt, oil and grease can affect meringue quality.
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