Focus on the Meringues
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What is a Meringue
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Confection or Cake
Based on egg whites and sugar, never
yolks
• An egg white foam stabilized by sugar
• Delicate mixture
• Session 2:
• Used to aerate mixtures like mousses
• Used to leaven by trapping air in a baked item
(i.e. soufflés)
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Making a Meringue
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Clean and grease-free utensil
Egg whites only
Bowl and a balloon whisk or whip
attachment
Whip white to soft peak or to 4x volume
Add sugar gradually
Whip until not gritty but shiny and wet
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Acids help
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Types of Meringues
 French
or common
 Swiss
 Italian
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French or Common Meringue
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Whites are whipped up and
sugar is slowly added
Generally not very stable
Must be cooked further
Hard or soft: ratio of sugar to
whites, page 413
Pipe and bake: what temp.???
Classic Australian Dessert:
Pavlova
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Swiss Meringue
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Egg whites and sugar
are heated together to
140˚ F
Meringue is then
whipped to the desired
peak
Heating makes the
whites more elastic and
allows the sugar to
dissolve
Why is this meringue is
“egg safe”?
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Italian Meringue
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Hot (~245 F) sugar
syrup is poured over
the whipping whites
•
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May not be egg safe if
only a small amount of
sugar is added
Stable
As topping, as aerator
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Other Uses of Meringue:
As a cake
As a layer
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Dijonnaise
(Japonaise)
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Light, crisp almond
meringue
Named after Dijon,
• capital of Burgundy,
France
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Layered with filling or
serve as a layer in a
cake
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Succès like meringue but cake-like
texture with high % ground almond.
Progrès same but with hazelnut.
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Dacquoise
A nut meringue cake filled with cream:
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Lab:
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Make Pavlova
Make nut meringue stacked napoleon
dessert
Make filling(s) for Pavlova and nut
meringue and assemble.
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