The blog of cooking-ez.com

The 3 kinds of meringue


51K 21 4.5
Grade this page:

Last modified on: June 14th 2013

The 3 kinds of meringue

meringue

Meringue – what could be simpler? Just beaten egg whites with sugar added. This makes a fairly stiff mixture which can then be cooked in a cool oven to create those lovely, light confections.

But in the world of professional patisserie, meringue comes in three different kinds. Even if the principle is the same (egg whites + sugar), the results are quite distinct and lend themselves to different uses.

French meringue

french meringue


This is the simplest, the easiest to make, your basic meringue. The egg whites are beaten until stiff, then caster sugar (50 g per egg white) is folded in. It's not difficult, you can let children help (they love it) and this makes very light, fluffy meringues.

Swiss meringue

swiss meringue


The method for this is a bit different: the egg whites and caster sugar are mixed together at the start , then heated to 50°C over a bain marie before beating. This makes rather denser meringues, the sort often used to make decorative items (mushrooms, etc.) to add a finishing touch to desserts and cakes (Christmas logs, for example). If you buy meringues from a French baker, they are generally the Swiss type.

Italian meringue

italian meringue


Italian meringue is the most complicated: the egg whites are beaten as usual, but the sugar is cooked to the hard-ball stage (120°C) before being added to the egg whites. This makes a very smooth meringue, often used as the base for other recipes, such as nougat glacé (frozen nougat) or a pear and lime meringue pie.

To sum up


As you can see, it's all a matter of temperature (well, almost), as the basic mix of egg whites and sugar is the same. Do remember, though, that even if a particular meringue is better suited to certain recipes, in practice, you can choose whichever type suits you.


Back to top of page

Lasts posts
How easy is it to chop herbs?
How easy is it to chop herbs?
Whenever you have fresh herbs - parsley, chervil, coriander, mint, etc. - to incorporate into a recipe, we tell you to chop them up. In this case, "chopping" means separating the leaves from the stems, keeping only the leaves, and chopping them more or less finely. It's not very complicated,...
1,0835 September 12th 2023
The softness of sandwich bread
The softness of sandwich bread
You're probably familiar with what's known in France as "pain de mie", a very white, molded and rather soft bread, widely used in cooking, particularly for croque-monsieur. Let's find out what it's all about.
1,207 September 5th 2023
Cooking cauliflower
Cooking cauliflower
Dramatic observation: cauliflower when cooked has a bad reputation ("it doesn't smell good!" and the like), and yet it's an excellent vegetable, very Breton, that deserves to be treated well, to give the best of itself.
1,5145 August 29th 2023
The 3 secrets of Parisian flan
The 3 secrets of Parisian flan
A flan Parisien, or boulanger, is a simple yet delicious cake. A cream, a mixture of milk, eggs and sugar, is poured into a raw pastry base and baked in the oven until the pastry and cream are cooked. This is the simplest version of the recipe, probably the original one, but nowadays the cream...
2,7575 July 21th 2023
Vitamin C against blackening
Vitamin C against blackening
You've probably heard of this tip: to prevent fruit or vegetables from turning brown or black, simply add or sprinkle lemon juice over them. It's very effective, but why does lemon juice have this effect?
2,005 15 July 14th 2023
Other pages you may also like
Candied fruits: don't get ripped off
Candied fruits: don't get ripped off
Do you like candied fruit? You might like to nibble a handful or add it to a recipe, like a classic fruit cake or delicious Italian specialities like panettone or sicilian epiphany pie.
48K 24.2 June 21th 2017
What is the difference between bakery and patisserie?
What is the difference between bakery and patisserie?
This is a question that you may well have asked yourself and which I will attempt to answer. In France the two trades of "boulangerie" (bakery) and "pâtisserie" (patisserie and confectionery) have always been quite distinct, but where exactly do the boundaries lie? .
113K 14.2 February 7th 2017
The power of sayings and beliefs in the kitchen
The power of sayings and beliefs in the kitchen
One day, in the comments on the recipe for beaten egg whites, a young woman asked if you could beat egg whites stiff while having a period, as a friend had told her it wasn't possible. Sometime later another person commented that for mayonnaise it had been (get this!) scientifically proven that a...
45K4.4 February 6th 2011
A few tips for effective kneading at home
A few tips for effective kneading at home
When you have to knead dough for bread or some other recipe, you may well use a food processor or the type of machine known as a stand mixer. The best-known brands are Kenwood and KitchenAid. They are useful tools, but here are a few tips to help you get the best out of them.
259K 23.7 June 23th 2021
The baker always gild twice
The baker always gild twice
I've already told you about gilding, the beaten whole egg that is spread with a brush on anything that needs to brown in the oven: puff pastry, pastries, etc. and that professionals use a lot, I'm going to come back to this to clarify a bit how to do it, and give you a professional tip.
24K4.3 June 9th 2019
Follow this page (as 3 people already do)
If you are interested in this page, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the page is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
I am not a leaving thing
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.

Back to top of page