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Dessert

Italian Meringues

A sweet dessert made from boiled sugar and water with whipped egg whites, baked until crisp.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,679 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓

Italian Meringues

Oven, in the book's wordsA very slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the syrup

  1. Boil the sugar with water until it whitens and falls in flakes from the skimmer.

Whip and combine

  1. Whisk the egg whites to a solid froth and have them ready.

  2. After the sugar has stood for 2-3 minutes, gradually mix it with the egg whites quickly until smooth.

  3. Continue stirring until the mixture is firm enough to hold its shape when spooned.

Bake

  1. Lay the meringue on paper or tins.

  2. Bake in a very slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for 20 to 30 minutes or longer until lightly browned and crisp.

  3. For variation, mix in pounded almonds with part of the meringue before molding.

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. Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

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

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

  3. Egg + almondtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Forms the boiled syrup that sets the meringue and makes it sweet and crisp.
Egg whites
Whipped into a foam that gives the meringue its airy structure.
Pounded almonds
Optional addition that adds flavor and texture to part of the meringue.

The step that matters

Gradually mixing the hot syrup into the egg whites. Pouring the hot syrup in slowly while whisking cooks the whites gently and keeps the foam stable. Adding it too fast can deflate the foam or leave the meringue grainy.

Swap the almond

The recipe marks almond as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg):

  1. Pecansfits about as well
  2. Almondthe original
  3. Chestnutfits about as well
  4. Milletfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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