Last week, I gave some tricks of the trade on the basics of meringues. I also described a French Meringue, which is whipped raw and then baked. This week we’re moving on to an Italian Meringue. With this meringue, the egg whites are slowly cooked with the addition of sugar that has been cooked to the soft-ball stage and therefore needs no further cooking.
Italian Meringue
Italian Meringue is made by whipping your egg whites while simultaneously cooking sugar to what is known as the soft-ball stage; start with adding just enough water to the pan to make your sugar the consistency of wet sand, it will be at the soft-ball stage when it reaches 234° – 240° on a candy thermometer. Another way of finding out if your sugar has come to temperature is to get a small bowl with ice water, very carefully* use a spoon to drizzle a drop of the cooked sugar into it, then hold the sugar between your fingers, if you can make a tiny ball with it that you can also squish like putty it’s ready. If the sugar is hard and breaks, it has overcooked and you’ll need to start over. If the sugar is too hot it will scramble the delicate egg whites and the meringue will be doomed!
You need to have your whipping egg whites slightly past the frothy stage when you start pouring in the soft-ball sugar. At that point you slowly and carefully pour it into the egg whites while they whip up at low to medium speed, then you continue to let it whip at medium speed for about seven more minutes until the mixture is cool, voluminous and shiny.
Now, you might be wondering how you time this correctly because that’s where this gets tricky. It takes about 2 – 3 minutes at medium speed on a typical stand mixer or hand held mixer** to have your egg whites ready for the sugar and if you are using about 1 cup of sugar it should also take about 2 – 3 minutes for it to come to a softball stage. You will need to be paying attention to both the egg whites and the sugar to get this right! Here’s a tip – if your sugar is coming up to temperature too fast, add about a tablespoon of water to the pan – this will cool it down and slow the process. It’s more important that your sugar be the right temperature than if the egg whites are a whipping a little longer than might be desirable. Also remember that the sugar will keep cooking even after you take the pan off the heat, so once it comes to temperature you want to get it to the egg whites quickly. Once the sugar is added, let it continue to whip on medium high speed for about 7 minutes more until it’s voluminous, shiny and cool.
Italian meringue is often used in making a buttercream frosting. There are also similar variations, such as a 7 minute frosting, in which some corn syrup is added to the sugar. If you add a small amount of dissolved gelatin to an Italian meringue after the sugar has been added, you can add some flavor extracts to your own taste, such as almond, orange or cherry, spread it on a sheet pan and cool it overnight for homemade flavored marshmallows! This is a very versatile meringue and my personal favorite.
*I’m dead serious about the careful part. Hot sugar can take your skin off and leave you with second degree burns! I didn’t just read this in a book or get that advice in culinary school. Unfortunately, I learned about how hot sugar feels when it comes in contact with flesh the hard way!
**Yes, you can whip the egg whites by hand, but I don’t recommend doing so. If you have strong wrists, then by all means go for it with a French meringue, but it’s very difficult to watch the temperature of the sugar while you’re concentrating on whisking the eggs and even more difficult to pour the sugar in slowly with one hand while you vigorously whisk the egg whites in the other!
