Meringues
Whites of three eggs, one-half pound of granulated sugar, vanilla to flavor. Grease some baking pans just enough to prevent sticking. Beat the whites of eggs very stiff and then continue to beat a few minutes. Stir in the sugar gently as possible, beating no more than absolutely necessary. Flavor. Drop at once on buttered pans, from the side of a tablespoon, until the size of a small egg. Leave ample space to spread. Bake at once in a very slow oven about thirty minutes. When done, remove from the oven, loosen them with a sharp pointed knife and arrange on a plate. Serve cold. Success depends on beating the whites of eggs stiff and having the oven a slow, even, regular heat, which must not vary.
A plain hard meringue of the kind meant to be dried rather than browned. The recipe is sound, but the sugar is heavy and the stated baking time is short by modern standards.
- The sugar, in cupsHalf a pound of granulated sugar is about 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons, roughly 225 g. Against three whites (about 90 g) that is around 75 g of sugar per white, more than the 50-60 g most modern meringue formulas use. The result is very sweet and prone to beading syrup on the surface.
- "Very slow oven"Set the oven to 225-250F. Anything hotter colours the meringues and cracks them; the point is to dry them out, not bake them.
- Thirty minutes is not enoughAt 225-250F, egg-sized meringues need 1 to 1.5 hours, then an hour or more with the oven off and the door shut to finish drying. The book's half hour will leave them soft and sticky inside, which may be what was wanted, but they will not keep.
- Add the sugar gradually"Stir in the sugar gently as possible" risks undissolved grains, which is what makes meringues weep and go gritty. Add it a spoonful at a time to the beating whites and stop when the mixture is glossy and no grit is felt between finger and thumb.
- Parchment instead of greaseParchment or a silicone mat releases far more reliably than a greased pan and removes the need to pry the meringues off with a knife point.
- An acid helpsA quarter teaspoon of cream of tartar, or a few drops of lemon juice, added once the whites are frothy stabilises the foam considerably.
- Weather mattersMeringues pull moisture from the air. On a humid day they will stay tacky no matter how carefully the oven is managed.
- YieldAbout 16 to 20 meringues the size of a small egg. Store airtight the moment they are cold.
Meringue reached English and American cookbooks from France, where beaten-egg-white confections appear as "snow" in seventeenth-century texts and under the name meringue in François Massialot's cookery book of 1692; the popular story tracing the word to a pastry cook in Meiringen, Switzerland, is traditional rather than documented. What made the dish domestic rather than professional was the wire whisk and, later, the rotary egg beater, which turned twenty minutes of arm work with a bundle of twigs or a fork into something a household cook would attempt on an ordinary evening. By the turn of the twentieth century meringues were a standard use for whites left over from custards, boiled dressings and yellow cakes, which is why they turn up in general household manuals like this one rather than only in confectioners' books.