The Magic of Meringues

Whipped egg whites with sugar become a wondrous ingredient of pies, candy and icing

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, making meringue is a whole lot easier than you might think. Any home cook with a set of electric beaters — or a balloon whisk and perseverance — can whip one up in a matter of minutes. It’s well worth the work, whether you’re looking to impress your friends and family, your sweetheart on Valentine’s Day or yourself any time you crave something sweet.

Because while perfecting something as special as meringue is a thrill, the real enchantment happens when you eat it.

The three 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 (as in the recipes here), and baked Alaska, as the base for buttercreams and as a frosting for cakes on its own. (Pastry chef Stella Parks says seven-minute frosting is just a Swiss meringue in disguise.)

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.

Making the best meringues

Humble and mysterious, an unbroken egg is “one of the most private things in the world,” the food writer M.F.K. Fisher wrote. But once cracked open, it reveals itself to be a flamboyant shape-shifter.

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 your eggs are cold … 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.

… And fresh. 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 silver-plated 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.

Photos by Kate Sears / New York Times Meringue, an impressive pie topping, may seem difficult to make, but it’s easy to whip up.