As I spend more time in the kitchen, I am trying to do a better job reducing the amount of waste. It is almost inevitable for me to throw away leftover rosemary, parsley, and cilantro, and to dump the remaining whipping cream for that recipe requiring two tablespoons. I've made ice cream now, roughly 7 or 8 times, and most recipes call for egg yolks. What I normally do is dump out the egg whites, but in my last recipe, which called for five yolks, it seemed like a waste. This time I decided to save the egg whites, and what better way to use them than make meringues.
The recipe for a basic meringue is simple: egg whites and sugar. If you wanted to add lemon or even a type of jam I'm sure they would be delicious as well. First thing, after separating the yolks from the whites is to make sure no yolk or even the small ball of fat next to the yolk has not been included. Any amount of yolk will interfere with the beating of the whites.
Next, turn the mixer on high for roughly five minutes and beat the whites until the egg whites are stiff and form peaks. Then continue to mix after you add the sugar; I used granulated sugar, which doesn't dissolve well. Superfine sugar seemed to be recommended, which I didn't have, but I definitely wanted to avoid powdered sugar, my new cooking pet peeve.
After all was done, I took my spoon and put dollops of the meringue on parchment paper, warmed the oven up to 200 degrees and let the meringues bake for an hour and forty-five minutes. Some recipes call for faster cooking, but the slow-cook approach created an interesting texture.
After cooking, voila! There are meringues ready to eat as a result of maybe ten minutes of work.
Comments