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Meringues and Kisses
These are made simply of whites of eggs and powdered sugar; allowing one-half cup of sugar for every two eggs. Beat the whites adding a pinch of salt to make them stiffen well. Add the sugar gradually, and press through a pastry bag on to a board covered with an ungreased paper. Bake in a very slow oven for three-fourths of an hour. The kisses should then be very light brown and quite dry. If they adhere to the paper, turn and moisten the other side of the paper when they will slip off easily.
The halves of the kisses may be stuck together with a little white of egg, and the meringues, which are usually shaped larger, may be filled with ice cream or whipped cream.
These may be flavored with vanilla, chocolate, or lemon.
A two-ingredient recipe where nearly everything depends on the beating and on a genuinely low oven. The proportion given — half a cup of sugar to two whites — is on the lean side by modern standards, which makes the meringue softer and more fragile than the 1:2 by weight ratio most cooks use now.
- Very slow ovenSet 200-225F. These are dried rather than baked; anything above about 250F will color them before the centers are dry. Forty-five minutes is a minimum for small kisses, and larger meringue shells will want 1 1/2 to 2 hours, then a further hour with the oven turned off and the door ajar.
- Very light brownThat is the period standard and a useful cue, but a modern meringue is usually pulled while still ivory. If yours are browning at all, the oven is too hot; prop the door with a wooden spoon.
- "Powdered sugar"In books of this period the term usually means sugar ground finer than granulated, not today's cornstarch-laced confectioners' sugar. Superfine or caster sugar is the closest match and dissolves cleanly. Confectioners' sugar will work but gives a chalkier, more marshmallowy interior.
- Add the sugar graduallyThis is the hinge. Beat the whites to soft peaks first, then add the sugar a spoonful at a time over several minutes. Rub a little between your fingers before piping — if it feels gritty, keep beating or the finished kisses will weep syrup.
- Absolute cleanlinessAny trace of yolk, butter, or oily residue in the bowl will keep the whites from stiffening. Glass, stainless or copper, and a wiped-down whisk; plastic bowls hold fat film.
- The paperAn ungreased paper on a board means parchment on a baking sheet now. The trick of turning the paper and moistening the back was a workaround for the plain papers then in use; with parchment or a silicone mat, properly dried meringues lift off cleanly and no dampening is needed.
- HumiditySugar draws water from the air. On a humid day the meringues will stay tacky no matter how long they bake, and once cooled they must go straight into an airtight tin.
- FlavoringUse vanilla or lemon extract sparingly, added at the very end; oil-based flavorings and citrus zest oils can deflate the foam. Chocolate is easier as sifted cocoa folded in rather than melted chocolate, which carries fat.
- Yield and fillingTwo whites and half a cup of sugar make roughly 20 to 24 small kisses, or six to eight meringue shells. Fill with cream or ice cream only at the moment of serving; a filled meringue softens within the half hour.
Meringue reached English and American cookbooks from France and is generally traced to European court and confectioner's cookery of the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, though the origin of the word itself is disputed and none of the popular explanations is well documented. "Kisses" was a common American name for the small piped kind, and the French baiser carries the same sense, though whether the two names are connected is not established. The Butterick Cook Book appeared in 1911, by which time meringue was a familiar household use for leftover egg whites, in an era when custards, sponge cakes and mayonnaise were made with yolks alone. A very slow oven for three-quarters of an hour would have suited a coal or wood range on its falling heat, too cool for bread but still warm enough to dry sugar, though the recipe itself says nothing of this.