Cooked and Italian Meringue

Italian meringue is made by beating hot sugar syrup, boiled to the hard ball stage, into stiffly whipped egg whites. The egg whites are cooked by the heat of the syrup so that they hold up well for as much as two days without further cooking. Close-textured and shiny, Italian meringue bakes to be more melting, less crisp and frothy than simple meringue. Cooked meringue is even stiffer. It is made by whisking unbeaten egg whites with sugar over a pan of steaming water, until a smooth fluffy paste is formed. Cooked meringue is hard work to whisk by hand, but has the advantage that it can be stored for a week or more.