Meringue

Meringues are whipped egg whites sweetened with sugar. They are frequently used for pie toppings and cake
icings. They are also used to give volume and lightness to buttercream icings and to such preparations as
mousses and dessert soufflés. Another excellent use for meringues is to bake them in a slow oven until crisp. In
this form, they can be used as cake layers or pastry shells to make light, elegant desserts. To add flavor to
meringues, chopped nuts may be folded into them before forming and baking.

Basic Meringue Types

Meringues may be whipped to various degrees of stiffness as long as they are not over beaten until they are too
stiff and dry. For most purposes, they are beaten until they form stiff, or nearly stiff, moist peaks.

Common meringue, also called French meringue, is made from egg whites at room temperature, beaten with
sugar. It is the easiest to make, and it is reasonably stable due to the high percentage of sugar.This uncooked
meringue is the one most people are familiar with. The sugar is gradually beaten into the egg whites once they
have reached soft peaks, and then the mixture is whipped to firm peaks. (it's best to use superfine or a mixture of
superfine and confectioners' sugar for this because they dissolve quickly. ) This type of meringue is the least
stable but also the lightest, which makes it perfect for soufflés.
Swiss meringue is made from egg whites and sugar that are warmed over a hot-water bath while they are beaten.
This warming gives the meringue better volume and stability.Firm and slightly denser than the others, a Swiss
meringue is made by stirring sugar and egg whites together over a pot of simmering water until they are very
warm to the touch before whipping them. The early addition of the sugar prevents the egg whites from increasing
as much in volume as they do in the other meringues but adds to its fine texture. Swiss meringue is particularly
good for baking crisp meringue cake layers and for topping pies.

Italian meringue
It is made by beating a hot sugar syrup into the egg whites. This meringue is the most stable of the three because
the egg whites are cooked by the heat of the syrup. When flavored with vanilla, it is also known as boiled icing. It
is also used in meringue-type buttercream icings.The most stable of all the meringues, this is made with a sugar
syrup that has been heated to the soft-ball stage (236°F to 240°F). The hot sugar syrup is gradually beaten into
the egg whites after soft peaks have formed and then whipped to firm glossy peaks.Its stability and smooth texture
make it great for egg white buttercreams and mousses.
The amount of sugar used in meringues may vary. Soft meringues, those used for pie toppings, may be made with
as little as 1 pound of sugar per pound of egg whites. Hard meringues, those baked until crisp, are made with up
to twice as much sugar as egg whites.
Unless made with pasteurized egg whites, uncooked meringue should not be considered safe to eat, because of
the danger of salmonella (see the Meringues and Food Safety sidebar). However, such meringues may be used
as components of products that will be cooked, such as cake batters and baked soufflés.
Guidelines for Making Meringues

1. Fats prevent whites from foaming properly. This is very important. Make sure all equipment is free of every
trace of fat or grease, and that the egg whites have no trace of yolk in them.

2. Egg whites foam better if they are at room temperature than if they are cold. Remove them from the cooler 1
hour before whipping.

3. Do not overbeat. Beaten egg whites should look moist and shiny. Overbeaten meringues look dry and curdled;
they are difficult to fold into other ingredients and have lost much of their ability to leaven cakes and soufflés.

4. Sugar makes egg white foams more stable. Meringues are thicker and heavier than unsweetened egg white
foams, and they are more stable. However, egg whites can hold only a limited amount of sugar without sacrificing
volume. For this reason, when making common meringues, many cooks prefer to whip the egg whites with no
more than an equal weight of sugar. Additional sugar can be folded in after the meringue is whipped.

5. Mild acids help foaming. A small amount of cream of tartar or lemon juice is sometimes added to egg whites for
whipping in order to give them more volume and stability. This is especially helpful when the whipped whites are
folded into other ingredients to provide lightness or leavening, as in the case of angel food cakes. Use about 2
teaspoons cream of tartar per pound of egg whites (15 g/kg).
Crème Anglaise

Crème anglaise also known as vanilla custard sauce, is a stirred custard. It consists of milk, sugar, and egg yolks
stirred over very low heat until slightly thickened, then flavored with vanilla.

Crème anglaise is used not only as a dessert sauce but also as a component of many other preparations.
The recipe that follows gives the method for preparing custard sauce. Special care is necessary in preparing this
sauce because the eggs curdle easily if overcooked. The following guidelines will help you succeed.

Guidelines for Preparing Custard Sauce

1. Use clean, sanitized equipment and follow strict sanitation procedures. Egg mixtures are good breeding
grounds for bacteria that cause food poisoning. Observe the sanitation guidelines discussed for pastry cream,
page 266.

2. Before beginning the cooking process, set a stainless steel bowl in a larger pan of ice water. Place a strainer
over the bowl. This setup will enable you to cool the custard the instant it is cooked, to avoid any danger of
overcooking the eggs.
3. When combining the egg yolks and sugar, whip the mixture as soon as the sugar is added. Letting sugar and
egg yolks stand together without mixing creates lumps that cannot be beaten out (see photo). This is because the
sugar absorbs water from the yolk, leaving lumps of dehydrated yolk. Using a stainless steel bowl for this step
makes the cooking and stirring easier in step 5.

4. Heat the milk to scalding (just below simmering) before combining with the egg yolks. This makes the final
cooking much shorter. To avoid scorching the milk, you can set the pan of milk in a pan of boiling water. Although
this takes longer than using direct heat, the pan can be left unattended for a few minutes while you perform other
tasks.

5. Slowly beat the hot milk into the beaten eggs and sugar. This raises the temperature of the eggs gradually and
helps prevent curdling.

6. Set the bowl containing the egg mixture in a pan of simmering water and stir constantly to prevent curdling.

7. To test for doneness, two methods are possible. Keep in mind that this is a very light sauce, so don't expect a
lot of thickening.

• Check the temperature with a thermometer. When it reaches 180°F (82°C), the sauce is cooked. Do not let the
temperature go higher, or the sauce is likely to curdle (see
photo). (In fact, it is possible to cook it as high as 185°F (85°C) without curdling, but it is safer to stop at a slightly
lower temperature.)

When the mixture lightly coats the back of a spoon, instead of running off it like milk, the sauce is cooked.

8. Immediately pour the sauce through the strainer into the bowl set in ice water to cool the sauce quickly. Stir
occasionally to coolit evenly.

9. Ilfthe sauce accidentally curdles, it is sometimes possible to save it. Immediately stir in 1 to 2 ounces (30 to 60
mL) cold milk, transfer the sauce to a blender, and blend at high speed.

Double Boiler or Direct Heat?

There are three possible ways to cook crème anglaise: in a double boiler above simmering water, in a bowl set
directly into simmering water, or in a bowl over direct heat. Cooking in a double boiler above simmering water is
the best way to avoid overcooking, but this method takes a long time. The guidelines above advocate cooking the
crème anglaise in a bowl set in simmering water. This method is reasonably quick and still offers some protection
against over- cooking. Nevertheless, the mixture must be watched closely to avoid getting it too hot.

Some experienced bakers prefer to cook the custard over direct heat rather than in a double boiler, feeling that the
stronger heat cooks the sauce faster, and their experience enables them to avoid overcooking. It is best to use
one of the hot-water methods until you have some experience cooking this sauce.
APPLICATION AND USES

Meringues eaten like biscuits are baked at a very low heat for a long time.One name for them is forgotten cookies
as they can be left in a gas Oven for long periods of time after the cooking is done. They are not supposed to be
"tanned" at all, but they need to be very crisp and dry. They will keep for at least a week if stored in an airtight
container. Meringue can be used as the basis for various desserts including baked Alaska, bruttiboni, dacquoise,
Esterházy torte, Eton mess, floating ) island, key lime pie, Kyiv cake, lemon meringue,pie, macarons, merveilleux,
pavlova, Queen of Puddings, sans rival, silvana, Spanische Windtorte, and Zuger Kirschtorte. In some recipes,
the meringue may be cooked at a higher temperature for a shorter amount of time, resulting in a soft meringue
with slightly browned peaks on top.

Another dish is meringue de angel, which consists of shortbread biscuits layered with meringue and lemon curd,
topped off with drizzled lemon glaze. Variations include assorted fruits such as raspberries, peaches, mangoes,
cherries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, pineapple, papayas, honeydew, oranges,cantaloupe.

Meringue may be used for embellishment. It can be formed into whimsical shapes, such as that of a mushroom, or
piped into a crisp basket that is baked and filled later with cake, fruit, or flowers.
Factors affecting the stability of Meringues

1 The speed of whisk, length of time whisking, cleanliness of egg (i.e. no yolk), state of the bowl (e.g. needs to be
clean and dry) etc.

Factors affecting the stability of Meringues are as follows: Only absolutely clean and dry bowls preferably ceramic,
glass or stainless steel to be used for making meringues. Fat inhibits foaming. Mild acid like lemon juice or cream
of tartar helps to foam. Egg whites foam better at room temperature. Do not overbeat egg whites for they will look
dry and curdled. Sugar makes the foam stable, but it can also cause weeping because of the absorption of water.