Italian meringue runny

[Pastrylove]

Does anyone know the optimum temperature of sugar syrup for italian meringue.

I took mine to 119 degrees but it was still a runny meringue

 

[Siouxie]

Hello
What is the going rate to charge for a lemon sponge with cream and strawberries ( what customer wanted) ? Does anyone know please

 

[Pinkaholic]

Does anyone know the optimum temperature of sugar syrup for italian meringue.

I took mine to 119 degrees but it was still a runny meringue

Hello, I think the temp is ok - I didn't remember off the top of my had but a quick look at my go to bakers and they all have a range from 115 (centigrade) to 120 centigrade. Possible problems could be eggs weren't whisked enough before you put sugar in (should be soft peak stage), you didn't whisk enough when sugar added (keep whisking till it cools down), sugar not drizzled in slowly (also don't stop whisking while drizzling sugar). If none of these apply then apparently the problem could be your eggs - apparently the older the eggs the less they foam up although this is not something I've ever taken any notice of when making meringues so no idea if fresher eggs do make for better meringue.

Finally, was the meringue runny from the beginning or did it go runny after sitting for a bit? If it got to the requisite stiffness and then went runny, you might be able to rescue it by whisking it up again. It might go runnier before it gets stiffer but if it's already fairly unusable it wouldn't hurt to try. It's not uncommon for Italian meringue to lose volume because it's not stabilised by baking so maybe add a little lemon juice or cream of tartar when you start whisking if you don't already do so.

If you do all of the above anyway then I'm afraid it's beyond my baking knowledge and can't offer any other suggestions!

 

[Pastrylove]

Hello, I think the temp is ok - I didn't remember off the top of my had but a quick look at my go to bakers and they all have a range from 115 (centigrade) to 120 centigrade. Possible problems could be eggs weren't whisked enough before you put sugar in (should be soft peak stage), you didn't whisk enough when sugar added (keep whisking till it cools down), sugar not drizzled in slowly (also don't stop whisking while drizzling sugar). If none of these apply then apparently the problem could be your eggs - apparently the older the eggs the less they foam up although this is not something I've ever taken any notice of when making meringues so no idea if fresher eggs do make for better meringue.

Finally, was the meringue runny from the beginning or did it go runny after sitting for a bit? If it got to the requisite stiffness and then went runny, you might be able to rescue it by whisking it up again. It might go runnier before it gets stiffer but if it's already fairly unusable it wouldn't hurt to try. It's not uncommon for Italian meringue to lose volume because it's not stabilised by baking so maybe add a little lemon juice or cream of tartar when you start whisking if you don't already do so.

If you do all of the above anyway then I'm afraid it's beyond my baking knowledge and can't offer any other suggestions!

Thanks a lot, very useful to read all this info. I will try again taking my egg whites to soft peak before adding the syrup. They weren't quite they're yet only foaming consistency. And yes it was runny from the beginning, i whisked it for about 15minutes and there was no change in consistency. I will keep practicing !

Thank you

 

[Pinkaholic]

Good luck!

 

[baumgrenze]

This is thanks to Harold McGee. Early on he demystified the chef's recommendation that egg whites be beaten in a copper bowl.

If you've not tried it, purchase a copper supplement from a health food store and add a pinch to the whites as you start to beat them. The albumin protein forms a stable complex with copper and the result is more a stable whipped egg white. It does make the white slightly yellow. I no longer use cream-of-tartar. According to McGee, iron supplement also works and the whites are pink. If you search the terms 'copper, egg white, McGee, and On Food and Cooking' you will retrieve more information.
Here is what I did:

Scaled down to 8 oz coconut
Amount	Units	Ingredient
8​	oz	coconut (1 pkg from TJ - an appropriate looking product)
8​	oz	nuts
4.7​	oz	powdered sugar
0.25​	cups	eggs (or 1 egg)
1.2​	grams	salt

+ 1/4 t coffee, VRR, 2 drops lavender paste (VRR=vanilla-rum-rose, mix a good bourbon vanilla, a flavorful rum like Mount Gay Eclipse, and 2 drops of rose water shaken from a skewer - Dad taught me that this is what makes sweet products 'taste like bakery.'

240-250° oven (plenty warm for 60-90 min

Blend the egg with a whisk, add slowly to the powder sugar to avoid lumps, add the salt, then the flavorings. The nuts should be roughly chopped (< half a nut pieces) then hand mixed with a stirring tool until fully wetted. The last ingredient is the coconut as it is fragile.

Bars for chocolate can be shaped with 2 small poly hand scrapers (one curve on a small rectangle) on parchment.

The remaining mix is spread out evenly on parchment on a baking pan and placed in an oven at 240-250° F . It should be tossed a few times to even the drying. This mix browned significantly in 90 minutes. The resulting product is crisp but still 'moist' when ground with the KA5 meat grinder on the C-100 Hobart.

This made 10 small bars and 13.9 oz of ground crunch for crunch cake.

baumgrenze

 

[chassis]

Italian meringue is quite easy. I taught my daughter over the phone and she was successful on the first try.

Bring egg whites to foamy stage, let the mixer run. The egg whites will stay at the foamy stage quite some time.

Cook the sugar to 248 deg F.

Turn the mixer to high speed, pour the cooked sugar in a thin stream into the egg whites. Whip on high speed until room temperature is achieved. Glossy, silky Italian meringue is the result. Can be spread onto a plastic film-covered baking sheet and put in the freezer to cool. It will not freeze solid.