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Meringues
Beat the whites of six eggs until stiff and dry, that is, until the bowl containing the whites can be turned upside down without losing any of the egg. Add gradually, while continuing to beat, 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar and beat until the mixture will hold its shape. Drop from spoon on cookie sheet or paper. Place on the grate in a very slow oven and bake 40 to 45 minutes, leaving the oven open during the last 10 minutes. The meringues should be but slightly colored and firm to the touch. Remove from oven, scoop out soft insides and return shells to oven to dry out.
A standard French-style hard meringue, written before home ovens had reliable thermostats. The proportions are sound; only the oven language needs translating.
- "Very slow oven"Read this as roughly 200-250F. Meringues are dried rather than baked, and higher heat tends to color them and encourage cracking.
- Egg whites and sugarSix large whites run about 3/4 cup. With 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar the ratio is on the lean side for a modern hard meringue; if the mixture looks slack, an extra 2-3 tablespoons of sugar will help it hold shape without turning it sticky.
- Powdered sugarToday's confectioners' sugar contains cornstarch, and commercial powdered sugar of the period generally did as well. It dissolves quickly, so add it in a slow stream rather than all at once or the foam will deflate.
- "Stiff and dry"The upside-down bowl test is a real one, but stop there. Beaten past that point the whites break into grainy curds and weep syrup during baking.
- Room-temperature whites, clean bowlA trace of yolk fat or a damp bowl will keep the whites from reaching full volume. Glass or metal beats better than plastic, which holds grease.
- Opening the oven at the endThis vents steam so the shells dry instead of softening. Propping the door with a wooden spoon for the last 10 minutes does the same job in a modern oven.
- Scooping the centersDo this while the shells are still warm and pliable; a small teaspoon or grapefruit knife works. Return them hollow side up for another 10-20 minutes at the same low heat.
- Yield and storageSix whites give roughly 18-24 spooned shells, depending on size. They keep a week in an airtight tin but collapse in humid air, so fill only at serving time.
Meringue as a stiff, sugared egg-white foam appears in European cookery from the seventeenth century onward, and the hollowed shell filled with whipped cream or ice cream was familiar on American dessert menus by the late nineteenth. What dates this particular version is the oven instruction: with no numbers to give, the writer relies on "very slow" and on the cook's own judgment of color and touch, the same shorthand used through the wood- and coal-range era and carried over into early gas-oven books. The direction to scoop out the soft interior and dry the shells again produces an empty case for cream, preserves or a scoop of ice cream, a form sold under names like meringue glacee.