On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 213

suitably colorful: except that the French
writer Massialot had already published a
recipefor“Meringues”in1691.
ThelinguistOttoJänickehastracedthe
wordmeringuebacktoanalterationofthe
Latin wordmerenda, meaning “light
evening meal,” intomeringa, a form that
was found in theArtois and Picardie near
what is now Belgium. Jänicke cites many
variationsonmerendathatvariouslymeant
“evening bread,” “shepherd’s loaf,” “food
taken to the field and forest,” “traveler’s
snack.”
What do breads and road food have to
do with whipped egg whites? Early baked
sugar-egg pastes were called “biscuits,”
“breads,” and “loaves” because they were
miniature imitations of these baked goods
(biscuits, being thoroughly dried and
therefore light and durable, were standard
traveler’s fare). Perhaps such a confection
was calledmeringa in northeast France.


Then, when cooks from that region
discovered the advantage of beating the
eggs thoroughly with the new straw whisk
before adding sugar, the local term spread
with their invention, and in the rest of
France served to distinguish this delicate
foamfromitsdensepredecessors.

Betweenthetwoextremes—addingall
thesugarafterthefoamhasbeenmade,or
addingitallatthestartoffoaming—area
hostofmethodsthatcallforaddingcertain
portionsofthesugaralongtheway.There’s
plentyoflatitudeinmeringuemaking!Just
remember:theearlierthesugarisaddedinthe
courseofbeating,thefirmerandfinertexturedthemeringue.Sugarfoldedinafter
thebeatingstopswillsoftenthetexture.
Cooked Meringues Cooked meringues are
more trouble to make than uncooked
meringues, and are generally denser because
heat sets the albumen proteins and