Italian Meringue Recipe:

Meringues are fundamental to all sorts of recipes, whether its a baked Alaska or sponge cake, ladyfingers (a form of sponge) or macarons, they all involve a basic procedure, whipping egg whites to stiff peaks with sugar. This varies, of course, with the type of meringue made. The "French Meringue" consists of mostly egg whites and sugar, without any heating. The Swiss meringue involves a double boiler as a heat source, which dissolves the sugar completely.

Now, the Italian meringue is whipped egg whites with a boiling sugar syrup poured in. This pasteurizes the meringue, making it safe to eat without further cooking, and cooks the egg whites, making for the most stable of all meringues. As the boiling sugar hits the egg whites and is whipped throughout them, steam erupts, further volumizing the meringue, which also makes it the fluffiest of all the meringues. It can also be used as a base for Italian meringue buttercream frosting, which is the absolute fluffiest of the buttercreams, creating an ethereally light frosting which almost melts in the mouth. This is also one of the situations where a stand mixer is ideal. Sure, you could make it by hand with a balloon whisk, or a hand mixer, but a stand mixer is perfect as it requires like, no energy to use and is great at keeping about 95% of the mass moving at all times, with a dependently high speed.

As with sugar syrups, as I go into great detail on the caramel post, I do mine with one part water to 3 parts sugar. Being a supersaturated solution, you run the risk of crystallization. Many people combat this by saying not to stir once it boils, only to swirl the pan by the handle, or to wet the sides of the pan with a pastry brush to dissolve the crystals. I don't do either of these things, but once again, do what works best for you!

People also say to use "aged" egg whites, due to their ability to whip "higher." I have found no difference, except that they whip faster. Probably due to the fact that due to being in contact with the air, the proteins have denatured a bit more then a fresh egg white. Use fresh or whatever you have, the only difference is a minute.

Something that has much more impact, however; is the amount of acid and fat. I would add about a teaspoon of lemon juice or half that of cream of tartar to the egg whites before I start to whip the meringue. Also, there can not be a TRACE of fat in the bowl or a drop of yolk in the egg whites. Ever. Please.

Because of this, I use a stainless steel bowl instead of plastic. It is porous and can trap fat. Glass works too, but it is very slick ,and doesn't give the meringue something to hold on to. It just isn't as good as metal.

Above my stainless steel bowl, is the copper or copper lined bowl. I don't know how this works, but BOY does it make a good meringue, Just a thing it does.

You'll probably also need a candy thermometer too. They're cheap, indispensable for candy making, and make things so much easier. Just invest the $6.

But, in the case that you can't, you're in luck. Italian meringues use sugar syrups boiled to the "soft ball" stage, which is a point that the properties of sugar change. It's at 238 F (119 C), which is hotter than boiling water, so

Be. Careful!

When the syrup starts to thicken, place a drop or two in some ice water. It should hold most of its shape, and be malleable, or flatten when you squish it. Do this every minutes or so, over a medium heat.

Once it's reached this stage, dribble, as if making a hollandaise or mayonnaise, the syrup slowly into the meringue, over the course of about 30 seconds. Avoid hitting the whip, as it may fling syrup over the sides of the ball, outside of the meringue, or onto you. Then just let it mix.

I have a stand mixer, which makes this step easy. Just sit back until the bottom of the bowl is cool to the touch. If you're doing this with a hand mixer, you'll have to stir the ~10 minutes it takes to cool down completely. Italian meringues are basically impossible to overwhip at this stage, so don't worry about that right now. Just mix it, incorporating as much air as possible, while keeping the whole mixture moving. Once it's cool to the touch, it can be used to ice cakes (I recommend toasting it), folding it into mousses or pastry creams, piping baked meringues (they bake in half the time!), or using it in place of a meringue in macarons (I find the italian meringue method in macarons is much more reliable, but it's much sweeter.) It, as I said earlier, can also be used as a base for a wonderful frosting.

Now, of course, we have to get to the recipe.

For a Perfect Italian Meringue:

• 2 cups of sugar

• 2/3 cup of water

• 1/2 tsp lemon juice

Stir the ingredients gently and slowly in a saucepan, making sure to not let the syrup boil before all of the sugar is dissolved. Clip on the candy thermometer, and start preparing the meringue ingredients. Cook it over medium-high heat until it reaches 238 F (119 C).

• 3/4 cup of egg whites, roughly six.

• 1 tsp lemon juice, or 1/2 tsp of cream of tartar

• a large pinch of kosher salt

• 1 tsp of vanilla extract

Put the meringue ingredients in a mixer bowl, thoroughly cleaned and/or wiped down with lemon juice, and whip at a medium speed (3-4 strokes a second, if by hand) until soft peaks are reached.

Meringue will be thick, but will fall almost flat in a few seconds. Stir slowly until sugar syrup reaches the soft ball stage. Whip at a medium-high speed, while slowly dribbling in the sugar syrup over a 30 second period. Turn the mixer up to a high speed, and mix until the bottom of the bowl is no longer warm to the touch, it should be at stiff peaks (pictured). And add the vanilla.

Woo! You've made a meringue that's smooth, glossy, and incredibly stable. Now go, my dearest child, and fold it into mousses, use it as frosting, do whatever you can dream of! The world is your oyster, now.

#meringue #frosting #candy #candythermometer #sweet #pastry