On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 215

Meringue Problems: Weeping, Grittiness,
Stickiness Meringues can go wrong in a
numberofways.Under-oroverbeatenfoams
may weep syrup into unsightly beads or
puddles. Beads also form when the sugar
hasn’t been completely dissolved; residual
crystals attract water from their surroundings
and make pockets of concentrated syrup.
Undissolved sugar (including invisibly small
particlespresentinanundercookedsyrupthat
then slowly grow at room temperature) will
give a gritty texture to a meringue. Too high
an oven temperature can squeeze water from
the coagulating proteins faster than it can
evaporateandproducesyrupbeads;itcanalso
causethefoamtoriseandcrack,andturnits
surfaceanunappealingyellow.
RoyalIcing
A given weight of egg whites can’t
dissolve more than about double that
weight in sugar. Yet royal icing, a


traditional decorative material in pastry
work,ismadebywhippinga4to1mixture
ofpowderedsugarandeggwhitefor10or
15 minutes. Royal icing is not a simple
foam—it’sacombinationofaverydense
foam and a paste. Much sugar remains
undissolved, but it’s so fine that we can’t
feelitonthetongue.

Acommonproblemwithmeringuepie
toppingsisthattheyweepsyrupontothebase
anddon’tadhereproperly.Thiscanbecaused
bothbyrelativeundercookingofthefoam
bottomwhenthepiebaseiscoldandtheoven
hot,orbyrelativeovercookingonahotpie
baseinamoderateoven.Preventivemeasures
includecoveringthepiebasewithasyrupabsorbinglayerofcrumbsbeforeaddingthe
meringuetopping,andincludingstarchor
gelatininthefoamtohelpitretainmoisture.
Humidweatherisbadformeringues.Their
sugarysurfaceabsorbsmoisturefromtheair
andgetssoftandsticky.It’sbesttotransfer