How to Beat Eggs

Eggs are a very common ingredient in our lives, not only because of their high nutritional value, but also because they are special. When making pastries, we add some eggs in the process of kneading the dough, so that the pastries will be very fluffy. However, many people will naturally only add egg whites without adding egg yolks, so how should eggs be beaten?

Principle of Beating Egg White

There are many long papers on the Internet explaining the principle of whipping egg whites, so as a layman I won’t go into details. In short, the main components of egg white are protein and water. When we use a whisk to stir the egg white, the metal wire of the whisk disturbs the protein molecules as it moves in and out of the egg white. These molecules are constantly stretched and expanded, forming a dense network where water and air come into contact, which is the protein foam we see. The longer you whip it, the more foam will form. We see that the color of egg white changes from transparent to white not because of pigment, but because of light.

Classification of meringue

Depending on the production method, meringue can be roughly divided into three categories.

1 French meringue

The most classic and most commonly used one.

Texture: Less stable, light.

Method: egg white + whipped + white sugar.

Applicable desserts: Stir into the mixture to make finger biscuits, sponge cakes, soufflés, macarons, dacquoise, etc. It can also be used in mousse and whipped cream.

2 Italian meringue cream

Texture: stable, dense

Method: Egg white + whipping + boiling syrup

Applicable desserts: Usually used to cover the surface of desserts, such as hot baked Alaska, lemon meringue pie, and butter meringue (squeezed on the cake as frosting). It can also be used as a leavening agent for Italian macarons, mousse, marshmallows, and ice cream.

3 Swiss Meringue Cream

Texture: stable and dense.

Method: Egg white + sugar + heat and beat

Suitable desserts: Butter meringue (squeeze on cake as frosting), marshmallows, hot baked Alaska, lemon meringue pie.

Due to its high usage rate and easy to use, we will talk about the production of French meringue next. The other two will be slowly discussed in the future. Please continue to pay attention~

Notes on beating egg whites

sugar

If you want to make stable and smooth meringue, you must add a certain amount of sugar. Sugar not only gives the meringue its flavor, but also acts as a stabilizer. Egg whites without sugar can be whipped, but they are extremely unstable and prone to collapse. You can also add sugar to the egg whites at the beginning, but it will prolong the beating time.

Depending on the amount of sugar used, whipped egg whites are also divided into soft egg whites and hard egg whites (this is different from the soft foaming and hard foaming discussed later).

The amount of soft egg whites and sugar is 1 egg: 2 tablespoons of sugar (25 grams).

The amount of eggs and sugar for hard egg white is 1 egg: 4 tablespoons of sugar (50 grams).

Desserts made with hard foam

The less sugar there is, the smaller the overall volume of the meringue will be, and it will be weaker and more prone to collapse. Therefore, soft egg whites are usually mixed into the mixture to make various desserts and cakes. Hard icing refers to icing that is squeezed out and put into the oven alone, mixed with custard sauce, or moved into icing and squeezed onto desserts for decoration.

When adding sugar, make sure the egg whites have reached a certain volume. Add sugar slowly in batches from one side of the bowl while beating. Do not pour it all at once as it will easily defoam.

Acidic substances

Cream of tartar

Add a little acidic substance, such as tartar powder, to the egg white before beating. If you don’t have it, you can also use lemon juice or white vinegar. This can make the beating stable and prevent over-beating. In addition to its stabilizing effect, cream of tartar can also make the final color of the egg white purer.

For regular-sized eggs, you can add 1/8 teaspoon of cream of tartar or 1/4 teaspoon of lemon juice/white vinegar to each egg white. For a more accurate conversion, please refer to: The amount of tartar powder used is 0.05% of the amount of egg whites needed to be beaten.