Meringues: two ingredients and an oven that only dries
Meringues are egg white and sugar, and nothing else — and yet they are easy to ruin. The usual culprit is fat, which stops the foam from forming, so the bowl must be spotless and the whites free of any trace of yolk. The second is undissolved sugar, which weeps out as sticky beads of syrup in the oven. The baking itself is not baking at all but drying at 90 °C for two hours.
Your own work in that: 30 min.
- Whipping 30 min
- Drying 120 min
- Cooling 40 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneDegrease the bowl and whisk
Wipe the bowl and whisk with half a lemon or vinegar and dry with kitchen paper. Separate the eggs one at a time over a separate bowl. A single yolk in the whites makes the whole batch unwhippable — fat destroys the bubbles.
Ingredients: 4 pcs egg whites · 280 g caster sugar · ¼ tsp citric acid · 1 pinch salt · 1 tsp potato starch
TipPlastic bowls hold traces of fat in their pores and are the worst choice for meringue. <b>Metal or glass</b> works best.
A bowl wiped with lemon, yolks kept awayWhip the whites to stiff peaks
Whip the whites with the salt and citric acid at medium speed for 4 minutes, until stiff: the whisk should leave a peak that does not fold over. The acid stabilises the foam and stops it collapsing as the sugar goes in.
Add the sugar a spoon at a time
Without stopping the mixer, add the sugar one tablespoon at a time, waiting 15 seconds after each. The whole amount takes 8–10 minutes. The foam turns dense, heavy and glossy as lacquer. Fold in the starch at the end if using.
TipSugar tipped in at once sinks and presses water out of the foam. Meringues made that way "weep" in the oven, leaving sticky syrup underneath.
Spoon by spoon, until the foam is glossyTest between your fingers
Rub a little of the mixture between thumb and forefinger. If you feel grains, whip another minute and test again. Finished meringue is completely smooth to the touch. It is the simplest and surest way to know the sugar has dissolved.
Smooth between the fingers, no grainsPipe onto a tray
Heat the oven to 90 °C. Load the mixture into a piping bag and pipe walnut-sized mounds onto paper, 3 cm apart. Meringues do not spread, so the spacing is only for air circulation. Two spoons work just as well.
Mounds 3 cm apartDry two hours and cool in the oven
Dry 2 hours at 90 °C with the door propped open on a wooden spoon — the moisture must escape. They are done when they lift off the paper without resistance. Switch the oven off and leave them inside until completely cold, at least 40 minutes. Serve with softly whipped cream and raspberries.
TipTaken abruptly from a warm oven into cool air, meringues crack along their sides. Cooling in the switched-off oven is the surest way to keep them whole.
Door ajar, then cooled inside
Before you start
The ratio to remember
Twice as much sugar as egg white, by weight. Four whites are about 140 g, so 280 g of sugar. The ratio holds whatever the size of the eggs — which is why weighing the whites is worth it.
Crisp or soft inside
Without starch and with the full two hours they are crisp all through. With starch and vinegar and 100 minutes they stay soft in the middle, like pavlova. Both are correct; it is a choice.
Don't make them in the rain
Meringues absorb moisture from the air. On a humid day they soften before they have even cooled. That is not superstition but the hygroscopy of sugar — the best meringues are made on dry, cold days.
Storing
Two weeks in an airtight container somewhere dry, never in the fridge. Gone soft? Give them 30 minutes at 90 °C and cool them — they crisp back almost entirely.
