The magic of meringues
There are few transformations in cooking as miraculous as turning an egg into a meringue. With only some sugar, air and a small amount of effort, a bowl of modest egg whites can become extravagantly glossy and puffed, ready to dress up all manner of swoopy, fancy confections — festooned on cakes, piped into pavlovas and kisses, or swirled onto pies.
While it may seem difficult, you beat them, the thinner these making meringue is a whole lot proteins become and the more easier than you might think. Any air they’re able to capture as they home cook with a set of electric become aerated. Adding sugar beaters — or a balloon whisk and or heat, or both, to whipped egg perseverance — can whip one up whites helps stabilize them by in a matter of minutes. firming up the proteins so their
structure remains intact.
FROM FROTHY TO FLUFFY
Meringue at its most minimal consists simply of sugared, beaten egg whites. Sometimes it’s heated, sometimes not, and recipes date back to at least the 16th century. Before electric mixers, making meringue was an endurance test, a showy display of a pastry cook’s skill and upper-arm strength.
In reality, creating foam from a liquid isn’t hard: If you beat, shake or agitate it, you’ll incorporate air and end up with a temporary froth. The tricky part is getting the air to stay. Think of blowing bubbles with a straw into your glass of chocolate milk, then watching as they pop when you pause to take a sip.
But the specific proteins in egg whites (and aquafaba) allow them to inflate into a billowing mousse — and remain that way longer — before the air escapes and the whites collapse.
As they are beaten, the proteins in egg whites uncoil, trapping air in tiny bubbles. The more
3 FACES OF MERINGUE
There are three types of meringues, each with a different character.
The simplest, commonly called a French meringue, is made from beating uncooked egg whites and sugar, and it’s the lightest and most voluminous of the three. But it’s also the least stable, liable to break down fairly quickly unless baked until hard. French meringue is often folded into the batters of baked goods to lighten them, such as sponge cake and macarons, or formed into pavlovas and meringue kisses to make crunchy, brittle-sugary treats.
Swiss meringue is made from egg whites and sugar heated in a double boiler until the sugar melts, then beaten until buoyant and creamy. More stable than French meringue, Swiss meringue is thicker and not as light. You’ll find it used to top pies and tarts, and baked Alaska, as the base for buttercreams and as a frosting for cakes on its own.
The densest, smoothest and most stable of the three is Italian meringue, but it can also be the most challenging. It starts with a molten sugar syrup heated to 240 degrees, then carefully beaten into a bowl of whipped egg whites until the mixture cools, becoming silky verging on sticky. Italian meringues can be used more or less interchangeably with Swiss meringues but are preferable when increased stability is required, as in professional kitchens and candy making.
HOW TO MAKE THE BEST MERINGUES
Depending on how you handle them, egg whites can metamorphose from a dense, viscous liquid into various altered states: soft and spoonable; firm and sliceable; or a billowing froth that’s an essential building block of gastronomy. Beaten egg white is the airy foundation of countless mousses, souffles, cakes and — the sweetest of all — sugary, glossy meringue. Making meringue isn’t difficult, but there are some best practices that will yield the most cloudlike results.
Fat is the enemy of fluff: The presence of fat can hinder how an egg white’s proteins trap air. Always use a clean bowl for beating and be very careful when separating the eggs to avoid any yolks from tainting the whites.
Make sure eggs are cold and fresh:
Cold eggs are easier to separate than room-temperature ones. This will help keep the yolk intact, so it doesn’t bleed into the white. Older eggs inflate faster than fresher eggs, but meringue made from fresh eggs is more stable.
Use fresh (or previously frozen) egg whites: You can make meringue from pasteurized egg whites, but you have to beat them for a lot longer, and the results are never as voluminous.
Start low: For increased stability, always start beating your whites on low speed if using an electric mixer, then gradually increase the speed.
Add a little acid: Incorporating 1 teaspoon cream of tartar or 2 teaspoons lemon juice or vinegar to 1 cup of egg whites helps prevent overbeating, which causes them to denature and become lumpy. A chemical reaction between a copper- or silverplated bowl and egg whites can also prevent overbeating (this is why copper bowls are traditional for beating whites). If you whip your whites in copper or silver, you can skip the acid.
Save leftover egg whites: They last for weeks in the refrigerator and months in the freezer. Thawed frozen egg whites whip up perfectly.
Be mindful of moisture:
Meringues will weep and wilt when exposed to too much humidity. Try to make meringue on a dry day, and never store it in the fridge. An airtight container at room temperature is your best bet.
EXTRA-LEMONY MERINGUE PIE
Makes: 8 servings For the crust:
All-purpose flour, for rolling out dough
Dough for 1 (9-inch) pie
For the lemon filling:
4 egg yolks (save whites for the meringue)
1 large egg cup sugar cup plus 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (from 4 to 6 regular or Meyer lemons) 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest (from 2 lemons)
Pinch of salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces
For the meringue:
4 egg whites, at room temperature 1 cup sugar teaspoon pure vanilla extract teaspoon cream of tartar Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest (from 3 to 4 lemons), plus more for garnish
1. Prepare the crust: On a lightly floured surface, and using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll pie dough into a 12-inch circle, about ⅛-inch thick. Transfer to a 9-inch pie pan (not deep dish); fold the edges over and crimp them together. Prick crust all over with a fork and chill in freezer for 30 minutes until frozen. (Cover with plastic if freezing for longer than a few hours. Well wrapped, it will last in the freezer for up to a month.)
2. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Line chilled crust with foil, fill with pie weights or dried rice, then bake for 12 minutes. Remove foil, lower oven temperature to 350 degrees, and bake until pale golden, 10 to 16 minutes longer. Transfer to a rack to cool while you prepare the filling. (Leave the oven on if baking the pie immediately.)
3. In a heavy saucepan, whisk together egg yolks, egg and sugar. Stir in lemon juice, zest and salt. Add pieces of butter and cook, whisking constantly, over mediumlow heat until the mixture thickens enough to coat a spoon, about
7 to 9 minutes. An instant-read thermometer should register 180 degrees. Inspect the filling: If you think there are any coagulated bits of egg, strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl.
4. Pour filling into pie crust and return to the oven to bake until filling is set (it should jiggle only slightly in the center), about 18 to 25 minutes. Remove pie from oven and increase oven temperature to 400 degrees for baking the meringue.
5. As the filling bakes, make the meringue: Fill a medium pot with 1 inch of water and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Using a large metal bowl, whisk together egg whites, sugar, vanilla, cream of tartar and salt. Set the bowl with the egg white mixture into the pot above the water, and whisk constantly by hand until sugar dissolves and mixture is warm (160 degrees on an instant thermometer) and has thickened and lightened in color, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove bowl from heat. 6. Using an electric mixer, beat on medium-low speed and gradually increase speed to high, until mixture is thick and fluffy, and stiff peaks form, about 5 to 8 minutes. Be careful not to overbeat.
7. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in lemon zest. Mix with care to not deflate meringue: A few strokes should do it. Spread the meringue over the hot filling, making sure it meets the edges of the crust. Using a knife or spatula, swirl in a design, if you like, and bake until lightly browned, about 8 to 12 minutes.
8. Allow to cool completely and top with more lemon zest before serving.