prematurely limits the trapping of air.
However, they offer several advantages.
Because sugar is more soluble in hot liquid
than in cold, they more readily absorb a large
proportion of sugar. Like the dense automatic
meringue (above), they’re less brittle when
dried down. Partial coagulation of the egg
proteins stabilizes these foams enough to sit
without separating for a day or more. And for
cooks concerned about the safety of raw eggs,
some cooked meringues get hot enough to kill
salmonella bacteria.
There are two basic kinds of cooked
meringues. The first (“Italian”) is the syrup-
cooked meringue. Sugar is boiled separately
with some water to 240 or 250ºF/115–120ºC
(the “soft-ball” stage, around 90% sugar, at
which fudge and fondant are made), the
whites whipped to stiff peaks, and the syrup
then streamed and beaten into the whites. The
result is a fluffy yet fine-textured, stiff foam.
It has enough body to decorate pastries and to
barry
(Barry)
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