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Dessert

Meringues

Meringues are sweet, airy confections made from sugar, water, egg whites, salt, vanilla, and cream of tartar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Meringues

Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Meringues

24 to a pan

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. Cook the sugar, salt, and water to 240°F (soft ball stage) or until it spins a thread.

  2. Cover for a few minutes after boiling to dissolve all crystals.

Make the meringue

  1. Beat the egg whites in a large bowl until foamy.

  2. Add cream of tartar and beat until stiff but not dry.

  3. Pour the hot syrup slowly in a pencil-like stream between the bowl and beater. Pour faster after one-fourth has been added.

  4. Beat until cool and stiff.

Shape and bake

  1. Line baking sheets with brown paper.

  2. Using a pastry bag with a star tube or a spoon, shape the meringues about 3 inches in diameter (24 to a pan).

  3. Bake at 225°F (107°C) for 45-50 minutes or until dry.

  4. Loosen the meringues from the paper by brushing the back with warm water or placing the paper on a damp towel for a few seconds.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Vanilla + creamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  4. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + vanillatop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together27,347 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Whipped into a foam that traps air and sets into the meringue's structure.
Sugar
Dissolved into a hot syrup that gives the meringue its sweetness and crisp, dry structure.
Cream of tartar
Acid that stabilizes the egg white foam so it holds its volume.
Vanilla
Adds aroma and flavor to the sweet meringue.

The step that matters

Pouring the hot syrup into the whites. The syrup must go in as a thin, slow stream while the whites are beating. Hot syrup partly cooks the egg white proteins and sets the foam; pouring it in a rush can deflate the foam or leave cooked lumps, so the meringue loses volume and stability.

“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.

More meringues recipes

Italian 23Cream 9Apple 8Dry 7Spanish 4Egg-Shaped 3 See all 42 →

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