How to make French, Italian, and Swiss Meringue — meringue cookies

hi I’m Doug this is Lisa our kitchenteacher extraordinaire and today and abit of a departure Lisa’s decided toteach us three Merengues no no youmisread my text I’m going to teach threeways to make meringueoh yeah that’s a bit more on brand sowhat is meringue anyway in its simplestform meringue is just egg whites andsugar that’s all egg whites are mostlyprotein and water when we whisk them werearrange the protein structure to trapair when we add sugar it becomes morestable and tastes a lot better so todayI’m going to make three different kindsof meringue for you French Italian andSwiss meringue we’re gonna turn theminto cookies and we’ll compare them whenthey’re done let’s bring this camera alot closer so you can see what’s goingon in the bowl we’ll begin with Frenchmeringue the simplest kind it’s oftenused for topping pies and folding intomousses and batters to make them lighterthe first step for all meringues is toseparate the egg whites from the eggyolk it’s very important that you notget any egg yolk into the whites or theywon’t whip up what about eggshell intothe yolks that’s no good either I’ll beusing three egg whites in each of ourrecipes today it’s easiest to separatecold eggs but it’s important that youregg whites be at room temperature sothey’ll whip to their maximum volume theratio for egg whites and French meringueis anywhere from one to one up to doublethe sugar the more sugar you use themore stable the meringue will be so forbaked applications like these cookies wecan use less sugar and for applicationslike on top of a pie we’ll need to usemore sugarmake sure the bowl and whisk that you’reusing is absolutely clean with no tracesof fat inside you can add the egg whitesto the bowl and begin whisking them at amedium low speedif you’re gonna add flavoring or fooddye this is the time to do it when theegg whites become frothy like this youknow that the protein strands areseparating from their usual bonds andare ready to trap air egg whites arenaturally acidic but as they age theybecome more alkaline but we add a littlebit of acid through either cream oftartar or lemon juice to enhance theprotein bonds if you have very fresheggs from your backyard chickens youwon’t need to do this stepbut you will need to feed the chickensso this is just froth or at the no peaksyet stage since this is you tube it maylook like I’m checking this every 10seconds but really there’s a minute ortwo between each time now we’re reachingthe beginning of the soft peak stagenotice how the peaks droop over to thesideat the soft peak stage we’re ready toturn up the speed a little and add thesugar with French meringue we add thesugar directly to the egg whites we wantto make sure that we add it very slowlyjust about a tablespoon at a time so ithas time to dissolve we don’t want anygritty sugar left in our egg whites atthis point the meringue is still shinywe have medium peaks that tilt over tothe side so we keep mixing and addingsugar now that all the sugar is addedwe’ll turn up the speed to medium highand keep whipping to stiff peaks I’mstarting to see distinct lines leftbehind by the whisk so I know we’regetting close this is really close I seea little curl so I’m gonna keep going[Music]now you can see when I lift the whiskthe peak stands straight up this isstiff peaks and you can really see itwhen you turn the whisk upside down I’mgonna load the meringue into a pipingbag with a round tip and pipe kissesonto parchment paper and here’s a protipdad a little meringue under the cornersof the paper to keep it from slidingaround on the cookie sheet[Music]I wouldn’t recommend filling your pipingbag as full as I did since all thatsqueezing pushes the air out and thelast few will have curled tops all rightthese are ready to go into a low heatoven for several hours to dry and nowwe’re onto the Italian meringue Italianmeringue is more stable and makes abeautiful silky buttercream andironically it’s used to make thosedelicate French macarons once again thisrecipe calls for three egg whites I’veseen a lot of recipes online that callfor eight or nine and I’ve never beensuccessful whipping that many egg whitesin my home mixer it’s just too much soif you see one of those that you likejust scale the recipe down to under fiveegg whites and you’ll be just funny themajor difference here is how we treatthe sugar our Italian meringue we’regonna use quite a bit more sugar anddissolve it in a syrup before adding itto the egg whites this part starts offidentically to the French we’re gonnawhip these egg whites into a foam beforewe add the sugar to make the sugar syrupwe’re going to combine water and sugaron the stove over medium-high heat andboil it until it reaches about 233degrees it should be completely clearwith large bubbles throughout if youhave any sugar crystals gathering on theside of the pan use a brush bite withwater to wipe it down you see how it’sbubbling around the edges of the pan butthere’s still that white section in themiddle it’s not done until the bubblesare all across the pan and the wholething is clear[Music]there are large clear bubbles throughoutso this is ready it’s important to getthe sugar syrup right in the bowl whileit’s still hot let’s quickly get our eggwhites moving again and drizzle thesyrup in slowlynotice how slowly I’m pouring it in justa drizzle at a time also notice that thesugar is still boiling it’s important tonot let it solidify before pouring it inI’m whipping this at medium speed forseveral minutes until it cools to roomtemperature at our first check we cansee this is soft peaks with a littlecurl on top glass bowls retain a lot ofheat but may need some assistance incooling down I use a flexible ice packfor this this technique is also good ifyour mixing bowl has sustained some sortof sports-related injury this is reallyclose but it’s still too warm so I’mgoing to turn down the speed to mediumto avoid overworking it this Italianmeringue is beautifully shiny with stiffpeaks it’s time to put it in a bag witha French star tip or pipingI really love the texture that this tipprovides[Music]once again these go into a low oven dryfor a long time the third type ofmeringue is my favorite it’s Swissmeringue and it’s made entirelydifferently Swiss meringue is more densethan the French in Italian but it’ssatiny texture is divine and good forcookies pavlova and pop topping Swissmeringue begins by combining egg whitesand sugar in a bowl over simmering wateruntil the sugar dissolves most recipesrecommend using your mixer bowl over theheat but I find that mine stays hot toolong so I use a different bowl on theheat and transfer to the mixing bowlafterward it’s important to keep the eggwhites moving so that they don’t cook inthe bowlyou are now a non-stop whisking machineuntil this sugar dissolves you can testfor doneness by pulling a little up witha whisk and rubbing it between yourfingers to test for grit if it’s grittyit’s not ready I believe you mean ifthere’s grit you’re not done with it[Music]keep testing it until all the sugarsdissolved once it’s smooth it’s time tomove back to the mixer now you got itperfect transfer the hot eggs to yourmixing bowl and begin whisking at mediumspeed until it’s cool and stiff peaksform like before the peaks are formingfaster than the bowl is cooling so I’mgonna use the ice packthose look like stiff peaks to me andI’m just gonna taste a little bit tomake sure it’s the right temperaturedelicious let’s load this into thepiping bag this time I’m using a saltand tip[Music]this is one of my favorite tips itcreates a unique ring shape with textureon the outside[Music]at Christmas time I make a brown sugarand cinnamon version of this cookie andhang them on a tree like the othersthese go in the oven slow and low afteran hour and a halfyou should check to see if yourmeringues are done touch the outside ifthey’re sticky they need more time ifthey aren’t sticky but they stick to thepaper give them some more time oncethey’re no longer sticky and they removefrom the paper easily turn off the ovenand leave them there to cool slowly ifthey cool too quickly they will crackwhen they come out of the oven theyshould all be deliciously light andcrispy the Italian will have theshiniest outside and a similar textureto the French while the Swiss will havea much smoother interior armed with thisnew knowledge give a new type ofmeringue a try and if you want more fromour kitchen click Subscribe