Pastry is like a science, everything has to be done meticulously for it to work. There are many details that, if overlooked, can make your recipe fail.
Beating the cream too much turns it into butter, boiling the yolks too much makes your cream cut, water too hot makes kills yeast, mixing the caramel sauce before correct time make the sugar crystallize … These are just a few examples, but they are lots and lots of details that can ruin a perfectly balanced recipe.
Therefore, this channel has a much greater objective than just passing you on recipes. I want to teach you techniques so that you can understand each step of a process and how to correctly interpret each part of the recipes, thus being able to correct any mistakes.
So let’s start with one of the most important foundations of traditional pastry school: THE MERINGUE!????
They say that the meringue was invented by a Swiss, improved by an Italian and super dominated by a Frenchman. But this is a funny story because the truth is that nobody really knows its origin.
We only know that without meringue our sweets would not be SO DELICIOUS! A cheer for the people who invented this delicious delicacy!! VIVAAA!
We only know that without meringue our sweets would not be SO DELICIOUS! A cheer for the people who invented this delicious delicacy!! VIVAAA! ????
Basically, meringues are a mixture of egg white and sugar. In pastry, we use three types of meringues: French, Swiss and Italian.
Each of them is prepared in a different way for different uses. Basically the main differences between them are: Technique (the way it is prepared), texture and shelf life. Let’s see all in detail.
FRENCH MERINGUE
Preparation time: Fast (the easiest of meringues)
Texture: Lighter, aerated and unstable
Shelf life: Short, as it is a raw preparation
Usage: Pie tops, aerated cake bases, pavlovas (all need to be baked)
Proportion: 1 to 2 – 1 measure of clear for 2 measures of sugar
For this technique you should beat your egg whites (SLOW, PLEASE), when they are doubled in volume, start adding your sugar little by little and SLOW PLEASE, until all the sugar is incorporated and you have a meringue.
The finer your sugar (castor, icing, etc.), the better the result of your meringue. Because we do not cook egg whites in the process of preparing this style of meringue, it necessarily needs to be baked before being served. Whether in the form of mine meringues, pavlova or as a finishing on baked pies.
For a better result, always also use the ratio of 1 clear to 2 sugar. For example: 100 grams of egg whites, for 200 grams of sugar.
SWISS MERINGUE
Preparation time: Medium
Texture: better shelf life and more stability
Shelf Life: better then the french one
Usage: pies, cakes, mousses. Because its cooked, it can be consumed without baking
Proportion: 1 to 2 – 1 measure of clear for 2 measures of sugar
To prepare the Swiss meringue, you must put your egg whites with sugar in a metal bowl and cook in a water bath, always stirring with a fouet to prevent the egg whites from coagulating.
You will cook this mixture until all the sugar has dissolved. To know if you are at the right point, just feel a little bit of the meringue between your fingers, and if you are not feeling the sugar grains anymore, it is because you are at the right point.
If you prefer, if you can and I RECOMMEND, you can use a thermometer and in this case, cook your egg whites up to 60/65 degrees Celsius .
After that, take this mixture directly to the mixer and beat until the meringue is formed. To know the right point of the meringue, touch the bowl of the mixer on the outside and check the temperature. It must not cool down completely as we do not want to overwork the meringue.
Depending on your recipe you will use your whipped meringue at: soft pics, medium pics or hard pics.
ITALIAN MERINGUE
Preparation time: A bit longer
Texture: More stable of the three meringues
Shelf Life: longer shelf life
Usage: macaroon, pies, marshmallow, and many more
Proportion: varies
To prepare Italian meringues, it is essential that you have two utensils: a mixer with a glass, ceramic, stainless or steel bowl and a kitchen thermometer. Without these two utensils, the chance of your meringue going wrong and not being in the right place is very high.
It is a meringue made from a hot syrup, so you will have to be very precise when preparing. Take your mixture of sugar and water over a medium-high heat. Your egg whites should be placed in the mixer bowl and wait for the syrup to be prepared.
Cook your syrup up to 110 degrees Celsius, at this point turn on the mixer and when your syrup reaches 120 degrees Celsius , pour the syrup over the whites in small quantities and without interruption while carry on beating. Beat until you reach the desired point for your recipe.
Because water content in the recipe, its proportion varies.
PLEASE NOTE: The temperature of food pasteurization with eggs is determined by the institution: The American eggs Board and the orientation is to cook between 56 degrees for 3.5 minutes.
