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May 06, 2006
Meringues: Take II
I woke up obscenely early (for a Saturday) this morning. And in my morning stupor, I decided that the three leftover egg whites in the fridge could best be used to make a proper batch of meringues, baked at the proper temperature and not made into dry little caramelized bits.
So I poured the whites into the bowl and, because I am still without an electric beater (I know, I know, I'll buy one soon), I set about whisking whilst reading food blogs. I whisked and whisked. My arm got sore. I stopped to type in a URL. Derek woke up, and I was still whisking. I considered passing off the task, but was too proud of the whisking I'd done so far to forego the glory of attaining soft peaks. I moved to the living room with my soft hills and valleys and continued to whisk, but never quite got to the peak stage. I'm not sure why. Maybe the whites were old? Maybe I stopped for too long in the middle of whisking?
At some point, I stopped and decided to proceed with the addition of sugar. Since I'm still not clear on what superfine sugar is (one recipe calls for some granulated and some superfine sugar, so I know it's different), I went with a mix of half confectioner's and half regular. By the time I had finished incorporating it, I definitely no longer had peaks of any sort. I had suggestions of waveforms, but really I was working with marshmallow fluff. Not even -- it was like marshmallow fluff soup.
Determined to get something edible out of this, I lined a sheet with foil and poured a bit of the mixture on it. It spread out like maple syrup. Fine, I'll have flat meringue-like cookies, I thought. When I poured the third puddle, it ran into the second one and I ended up with a huge meringue lake. Still determined, I threw the whole thing into the oven -- at the right temperature this time, at least. What emerged much later was a very large, thin, toffee-like meringue, if you can even call it that. I was too embarrassed to take a picture of it. I broke it into bits and have been eating it stubbornly.
Note to self: No baking of any kind before coffee.
Posted by csageday at May 6, 2006 09:44 PM
Comments
I have done some research for you. [I recommend two food science books: Cookwise, by Shirly Corriher, and On Food and Cooking, by Harold McGee.]
I'm not certain, but I think you might have overwhipped the egg whites. This is hard to do by hand, but there are a few clues: You "whisked and whisked," and you were at it long enough that your "arm got sore." Your goal in whipping egg whites is to incorporate air, to make a foam, but that foam is somewhat unstable, and long exposure to air can cause it to deflate. If you are whipping for too long without bringing the foam to stiff peaks, you might not ever be able to.
You mention that you added the sugar kind of late in the game. [Side note: Superfine sugar is just granulated sugar that's been pulverized. The reason it's recommended in meringues is because it dissolves faster. You can use regular sugar and it'll be fine.] If you add the sugar at the beginning, it can take longer to get peaks, but the sugar will be fully dissolved and there won't be any major problems. If you add the sugar late, it can dry out the foam, it can not dissolve fully, and it can (if you use regular granulated sugar) break up the little egg-white bubbles, causing the foam to deflate. I think that might be what happened here.
To do this by hand, you want a great big bowl and a balloon whisk, not a compact one, and it also works best if the egg whites are at room temperature. You can add cream of tartar to help stabilize the foam: 1/8 tsp. per egg white.
Hope this helps! I'd be happy to play with egg whites with you! We can make flan to use up the yolks, right?
Posted by: Rose at May 7, 2006 01:56 PM
Thank you thank you thank you!! Derek's always telling me to do research online but I'm way to lazy. That sounds exactly right -- I got to a good point and then stopped, and then went back to whipping, and the egg whites weren't quite the same then, and it did seem a little dry on the sides of the bowl. Interesting. That's also interesting about adding the sugar early -- I was a little afraid to add it early for fear of never getting it whipped enough. And thank you soooo much for explaining the sugar thing. I think an evening of flan and meringue-making is in order.
On a side note, the meringue toffee I made isn't half bad.
Posted by: Cindy at May 7, 2006 04:11 PM
I try to never substitute anything when it comes to baking. Maybe I'm a sucker, but I'd rather just run out for some superfine sugar. Half confectioner's sugar and half regular is not going to make the regular any finer!
Posted by: melissa at May 8, 2006 11:49 AM
In my defense, I didn't just make it up -- Joy has a meringue recipe with half of one and half of the other. Besides, I didn't know what superfine sugar was! But you're right about the general stick-to-the-recipe baking rule. I think this is why I'm not so good at baking. I like to cheat, cut corners, and generally avoid recipes altogether.
Posted by: Cindy at May 8, 2006 01:37 PM