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Dessert

White Meringues

A light dessert made by whipping egg whites with sugar and baking until crisp.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Why it works: Egg and syrup are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 32% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,995 recipes. The science ↓

White Meringues

Oven, in the book's wordsA very moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the meringue

  1. Boil the syrup to the 'Small Feather' stage and remove from heat.

  2. Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks.

  3. Rub a little syrup against the inside of the pan; if it turns white, add the egg whites and stir until glossy and white.

Shape and bake

  1. Lay out the mixture on paper in your preferred shape.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until set.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Egg + syruptop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,995 recipes

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Whisked into a foam that traps air, giving the meringue its light, airy structure.
Syrup or clarified loaf sugar
Sweetens the meringue and, cooked to a set stage, helps it hold its shape and turn glossy.

The step that matters

Adding the egg whites to the syrup. The test for the syrup's temperature is whether a little turns white against the pan. If the syrup is not ready, the whites will not set firmly; if it is overcooked, the meringue can turn grainy or brittle. Stir until glossy and white so the foam is evenly stabilised.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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