Simple Meringue

Appears in

Published 1989

About

To make simple meringue, egg whites are very stiffly whipped, then a tablespoon of sugar for every egg white is beaten in so that the whites turn glossy, forming characteristic short peaks. Then more sugar is folded in lightly. The first batch of sugar stabilizes the egg-white foam, but if the second, larger batch is overmixed, the egg whites will lose their volume and turn to syrup. Finally, a flavoring is added.

Simple meringue may be baked and sandwiched with cream to make meringues Chantilly, spread on a tart as a topping, as in lemon meringue pie, or spread to cloak ice cream as in baked Alaska. Mixed with ground almonds or hazelnuts, it forms the basis of delicious cakes. Most famous of all is vacherin, a pinnacled castle of meringue constructed in two stages. A pavlova is the intriguing New Zealand and Australian version; the meringue is softened with vinegar and cornstarch so that it bakes to resemble a marshmallow. Meringue may also be poached in water or milk, as for the popular snow eggs in which spoonfuls of it are floated in vanilla custard and topped with caramel trails; alternatively, the meringue is baked as one puff for Floating Island.