Have you ever struggled with getting meringue right? Maybe it weeps, or its texture is not smooth and shiny but more rough and clumpy? Meringues are the base of many recipes such as macarons, mousse, soufflés and others, so it is important to understand what is happening and be able to troubleshoot problems as they happen.
The first thing to understand is that making a meringue consists of emulsifying air into the egg whites. Egg whites have a high viscosity, making it possible to imprison tiny bubbles of air inside; these bubbles stack on top of each other, building the architectural structure of the meringue. Sugar increases the viscosity of the egg whites, further strengthening its structure. Forming small bubbles of air is much better than large bubbles because small bubbles stacked on top of small bubbles is architecturally more stable than large bubbles on top of large bubbles. Does this make sense?
Big, big tip: Whip egg whites on medium speed, not on high.
The problem is that we get impatient and want to get the thing done, so we crank up the speed. Whipping the egg whites on high speed forms large bubbles of air, which are structurally unstable. These large bubbles pop very easily, creating a meringue that is grainy and has a tendency to separate.
Important tip: remember that the colder heavy cream is, the better it whips. As for egg whites, the warmer they are, the better the whip!
Did you know that there are three types of meringue?
French meringue – this is the meringue most often made at home. Sugar, either granulated or powdered, is added to egg white while it is being whipped. French meringue is innately the most unstable meringue of them all, because no heat is used during its preparation.
When making a French meringue, begin whipping the egg white on medium speed. Once the egg whites begin to become foamy, add the sugar, pouring it in a steady stream. If the recipe you are using calls for both powdered sugar (icing sugar to my UK readers) and granulated sugar, begin with the granulated sugar, which needs more time to dissolve. Stop whipping when the desired consistency or stiffness is reached.
For my US readers, especially from the south, this is the most common meringue made, usually crowning chocolate and coconut cream pies.
Another common mistake is to brown the meringue in an oven that is too hot, causing the meringue to be perfectly brown on the outside but still raw on the inside. I recommend cooking a meringue on a pie or tart for 12-15m at 320F/160C and then, if necessary, increasing the temperature to 360F/180F until browned to your liking. This will allow the meringue to be cooked thoroughly, avoiding weeping.
Italian meringue – the most stable meringue of the three, thanks to a hot sugar syrup that is whipped into the egg whites. A mixture of sugar and water is cooked to soft ball stage, then poured over the egg whites while they are being whipped.
Does this method sound familiar to you? Personally I grew up with my grandmothers making coconut pineapple cakes and chocolate cakes covered with this icing. They didn’t call it Italian meringue though, they called it 7 minute icing. I have also heard it called marshmallow icing.
My Granny Ward, my father’s mother, was a quite well known as a cook in my hometown. I vividly remember accompanying her once to an event where she took her famous chocolate cake covered in this icing. When she placed the cake on the serving table, a gentleman standing nearby said, “Oh, a cake with marshmallow cream icing!”. I remember my grandmother indignantly responding, “No, that is 7 minute icing!”, thinking that he was implying that she had opened up a jar of industrially made marshmallow cream and spread it over her cake. She was so offended!
I recommend using a thermometer to make this, at least until you’ve gotten the hang of it. My grandmother, however, would cook the sugar until it made an “angel’s hair”, meaning that she would take a spoon of the cooking syrup, and continuously pour it back into the pot, until the syrup falling off the spoon would form a very thin string. She knew then that it was ready to be poured into the egg whites which she had already began whipping a few minutes before.
Swiss meringue – this method of making meringue is the least used, and is somewhat of a hybrid of the two proceeding methods. Raw uncooked sugar is added to the egg whites just as in the French meringue method, but as the egg whites and sugar are being beaten together, the bowl that is being used is heated, thus cooking the mixture.
In Switzerland, where this method is historically more popular, short gas burners on wheels are rolled underneath the mixing bowls of the large floor mixers. When doing this method at home, a torch is used to heat the mixing bowl of a stand mixer, or you can beat the meringue with a hand-held mixer while cooking over a hot water bath, or bain-marie.
Stay tuned for meringue-based recipes such as blueberry lemon meringue tart, macarons, real butter cream and more!
