Ingredient

Meringue

Meringue is egg white beaten full of air and stabilised with sugar, and it is the preparation where cleanliness genuinely decides the outcome. A trace of fat anywhere in the bowl and it will not whip at all.

What is actually happening

Whisking unfolds the proteins in egg white so they link into a network around air bubbles. Sugar dissolves into the water between the bubbles and makes it syrupy, which slows the drainage that would otherwise collapse the foam. That is the whole trick: protein makes the bubbles, sugar makes them last.

Fat wrecks it because fat molecules insert themselves into the protein film and stop it forming. A speck of yolk, a greasy bowl or a plastic bowl that has held oil is enough. Use glass, metal or ceramic, wipe it with vinegar or lemon juice if in doubt, and separate the eggs one at a time into a cup so one broken yolk does not contaminate the lot.

The three methods

French

Raw whites whisked, with sugar added gradually. The simplest and the least stable. Right for pavlova and for baked meringue shells, where it goes straight into the oven.

Swiss

Whites and sugar warmed together over a pan of water until the sugar dissolves, then whisked. Denser, glossier and much more stable. Right for buttercream and for piping.

Italian

Hot sugar syrup poured into whisking whites. The most stable of all and the most work. Right for anything that will not be baked — mousses, marshmallow, lemon meringue topping.

French meringue, properly

1. Bring the whites to room temperature. Cold whites whip, but slowly and to less volume.
2. Whisk on medium until foamy and opaque, then to soft peaks — a peak that flops over when the whisk is lifted.
3. Now start adding the sugar, a spoonful at a time, whisking between each. Adding it all at once collapses the foam and gives a grainy result.
4. Keep going to stiff peaks: the peak stands up straight and the whole mass holds when the bowl is tipped.
5. Test for undissolved sugar by rubbing a little between finger and thumb. If it feels gritty, keep whisking — grittiness now means weeping later.
6. Bake low and slow. Meringue is dried more than cooked, and a hot oven browns the outside before the middle has dried.

What goes wrong

• It will not whip — fat contamination, almost every time. Start again with a clean bowl and fresh whites.
• Grainy and weeping syrup — sugar that never dissolved. Add it more slowly, and use caster rather than granulated.
• Beads of syrup on the surface after baking — over-whipped, or baked too hot. The protein has been stretched past its limit and is squeezing out water.
• Collapsed and shrunken — the oven was too hot, or the door was opened early, or it was cooled too fast. Turn the oven off and leave it inside to cool.
• Chewy inside — often deliberate, as in a pavlova, and controlled by how long you dry it. Longer and cooler gives crisp all the way through.

Getting the best from it

• Older whites whip to greater volume; very fresh ones give a more stable foam. Neither difference is large enough to worry about.
• A pinch of cream of tartar, or a few drops of lemon juice, makes the foam noticeably more tolerant of over-whisking.
• Caster sugar dissolves far better than granulated. Icing sugar is for finishing, not for the foam.
• Humidity matters. Meringue is hygroscopic, so on a damp day it will soften; store it in a properly airtight tin the moment it is cool.
• Do not make meringue in a bowl you have just washed up in unless it is bone dry — water thins the foam.

Common questions