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Meringues
One pound granulated sugar, whites of nine eggs. Whip eggs until dish can be inverted without their falling off, and then simply add the sugar, incorporating it thoroughly, but stirring as little as possible. Prepare boards three-fourths of an inch thick, to fit oven, and cover them with strips of heavy brown paper about two and a half inches wide; on these drop the mixture from the end of a dessert-spoon (or use the meringue-bag described in recipe for lady's fingers), giving the meringue the form of an egg, and dropping them about two inches apart on the paper, and bake till a light brown. Take up each strip of paper by the two ends, turn it gently on the table, and with a small spoon take out the soft part of each meringue, strew over them some sifted sugar, and return to oven bottom side up to brown. These shells may be kept for weeks. When wanted for table, fill with whipped cream, place two of them together so as to inclose the cream, and serve. To vary their appearance, finely-chopped almonds or currants may be strewn over them before the sugar is sprinkled over, and they may be garnished with any bright-colored preserve. Great expedition is necessary in making them, as, if the meringues are not put into the oven as soon as the sugar and eggs are mixed, the former melts, and the mixture runs on the paper instead of keeping egg-shape. The sweeter the meringues are made the crisper will they be; but if there is not sufficient sugar added they will be tough. - Miss Sarah Gill, Columbus, O.
A classic hard meringue shell, sandwiched around whipped cream — what a French kitchen would call meringues Chantilly. The proportions are sound; the oven instructions are the part that needs translating.
- The hinge: low and slow"Bake till a light brown" is misleading by modern standards — meringue shells should dry rather than colour. Bake at 225-250F for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, then turn the oven off and let them cool inside. A hotter oven browns the outside before the interior sets and the shells weep.
- QuantitiesOne pound of granulated sugar is about 2 1/4 cups; whites of nine eggs is roughly 1 1/8 cups, or 270 g, from large eggs. That works out at about 50 g of sugar per white, or roughly 1 2/3:1 sugar to white by weight -- a little under the classic double-weight meringue, which is why the recipe promises crispness while warning that too little sugar gives a tough, leathery shell.
- Adding the sugarThe instruction to add the sugar all at once and stir as little as possible explains the warning about "great expedition." Modern practice is to beat the sugar in a spoonful at a time once the whites hold soft peaks, which dissolves it and gives a stable, glossy mixture that will sit a few minutes without slumping. Rub a little between your fingers; no grit means it is ready.
- Boards and brown paperThe three-quarter-inch boards were most likely insulation against the fierce floor heat of a range oven, though the recipe does not say so. Use heavy baking sheets lined with parchment, and if your oven runs hot from below, double up the sheets.
- A dessert-spoonAbout two teaspoons, or 10 ml — smaller than a modern tablespoon. Pipe or spoon ovals roughly the size of a large egg, two inches apart.
- Hollowing the shellsScooping the soft centre out while the shells are still warm, then returning them cut side up to dry, is the traditional way to get a cavity for the cream. If they are baked long enough to be dry through, skip this and simply sandwich two flat bases together.
- Keeping them"Weeks" is optimistic in a damp climate. In an airtight tin in a dry place they hold a week or more; they go soft and sticky in humidity. Fill with the whipped cream only at the moment of serving, or the shells dissolve from within.
- YieldNine whites give roughly two dozen shells, so a dozen filled meringues.
Baked sugar-and-egg-white confections appear in English and continental cookery from the late seventeenth century onward, and the word meringue is recorded in French by the end of the seventeenth century; the popular story crediting a Swiss pastry cook in the town of Meiringen is traditional rather than documented. The egg-shaped, hollowed shell filled with whipped cream is the form usually credited to Antonin Carême and his successors, and by the 1870s meringues of this sort were a common American company dessert — cheap in ingredients, showy on the table, and useful because the shells could be made days ahead. The attribution to Miss Sarah Gill of Columbus is typical of the book, which was assembled from contributions by Ohio housekeepers and named its sources.