“A meringue is really nothing but a foam. And what is a foam after all, but a big collection of bubbles? We add sugar to this structure, which strengthens it. But things can, and do, go wrong.”

– Alton Brown.

The most stable of the meringues, Italian meringue requires hot sugar syrup trickled into whipped egg whites which results in gorgeous tall and fluffy peaks. Use to frost or pipe onto a cake, add as a topping for a pie, or fold into your macarons. Since I’ve started using Italian meringue with my macarons – see here and here – they’ve come out shinier and smoother than ever.

So, what is meringue, anyway? In short, it’s comprised of a foam of tiny air bubbles enclosed in egg white and stabilized by sugar. This Cook’s Illustrated piece gives a nice description and explains why sugar is so important to a meringue.

Tips

• Timing is everything – try to have your egg whites at the soft peak stage just before the sugar syrup is ready to pour at 240°F.
• When trickling the sugar syrup into the mixing bowl, try not to let it dribble down the actual side of the bowl as it will cool the syrup. And keep that mixer on low! Boiling hot sugar-water splatters hurt.
• After adding the sugar syrup, raise the speed and keep beating those whites until they’re stiff and glossy and the bowl is completely cool.