So lately I had to make Chocolate Mousse and one of the ingredients is egg white whipped to soft peaks. in my earlier baking years, I've always struggled to make the perfect meringue but it always flopped, obviously leaving me despondent and miserable. but as the saying goes, practise makes perfect so in the end or shall i say after millions of practises it finally came right ;-)
because of my struggles and my recent order, I've decided to check if i can get tips on making the perfect meringue and lo and behold i found a site who's tips are so easy to follow. Follow their tips to the T and i promise you, you'll get meringue that's so glossy and stiff everyone will ask for more!!
Click on this link to see tips -
How To - Meringue
I've pasted the tips here, should you not have the time to follow the link:
''At its simplest, meringue is made up of just egg whites and sugar. Sometimes salt and an acid, like lemon juice or cream of tartar, is added to stabilise 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 but if that's the only bowl you have wipe the inside with a cut lemon, this will remove all ínvisible oil...
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.
Cream of tartar, white vinegar, or lemon juice can all be used to stabilise 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 discolour 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 and slowly in the beating process results in a firmer, finer-textured meringue.
Common Problems
Beading, weeping, and shrinking are common complaints. Overcooking causes beading, the formation of water droplets on the surface. Weeping--loss of water between the meringue and the pie filling--is caused by under cooking. 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.
I hope this makes meringue more easier and enjoyable, so if at first you don't succeed, get some more eggs and try again...
happy baking
:-)
