Finally, I can compete with the kiwis
Only 2 years too late.
My previous attempts at meringue generation have failed, and I really wanted to learn better, because I LIKE MERINGUE and it's frustrating to always have a crunchy crust of sweet egg white when I either want a delicious pie or a delicious puff or a delicious little macaroon. Eton mess is all well and good....the first time...but afterwards, it begins to have a sad patina of fail all over it.
Courtesy of the internet, it turns out my problem is I'm not beating the egg whites long enough. One must beat them into stiff peaks, add sugar, and then continue to beat them for 10 minutes. At that point, they completely change texture, from stiff egg whites to marshmallow fluff. Something about the sugar in it makes the chemical structure change.
Since I'm not a fan of fruit out of season anymore (except pineapple which I will eat all year round, no questions asked), which is also something I learned in NZ when the cost of out-of-season fruit was so astronomical, I'm not going to go with the kiwifruit-and-strawberry variety. Instead, I made a custard with the egg yolks, plus saffron, orange peel, clove, and cardamom. It's very rich, extremely delicate, and because custard is also something I fail at, it curdled. My mother suggested putting it in the freezer, so we will have very delicate, extremely rich, very delicious saffron ice cream with the pav. I'm bringing clementines to be the fruit on top--hopefully their acid can cut the sweet and rich without overpowering the rest of it.
I suppose it should go without saying at this point that my family is not into traditional thanksgiving dinners.
My previous attempts at meringue generation have failed, and I really wanted to learn better, because I LIKE MERINGUE and it's frustrating to always have a crunchy crust of sweet egg white when I either want a delicious pie or a delicious puff or a delicious little macaroon. Eton mess is all well and good....the first time...but afterwards, it begins to have a sad patina of fail all over it.
Courtesy of the internet, it turns out my problem is I'm not beating the egg whites long enough. One must beat them into stiff peaks, add sugar, and then continue to beat them for 10 minutes. At that point, they completely change texture, from stiff egg whites to marshmallow fluff. Something about the sugar in it makes the chemical structure change.
Since I'm not a fan of fruit out of season anymore (except pineapple which I will eat all year round, no questions asked), which is also something I learned in NZ when the cost of out-of-season fruit was so astronomical, I'm not going to go with the kiwifruit-and-strawberry variety. Instead, I made a custard with the egg yolks, plus saffron, orange peel, clove, and cardamom. It's very rich, extremely delicate, and because custard is also something I fail at, it curdled. My mother suggested putting it in the freezer, so we will have very delicate, extremely rich, very delicious saffron ice cream with the pav. I'm bringing clementines to be the fruit on top--hopefully their acid can cut the sweet and rich without overpowering the rest of it.
I suppose it should go without saying at this point that my family is not into traditional thanksgiving dinners.