Meringue (/məˈræŋ/,[1] mə-RANG; French pronunciation: [məʁɛ̃ɡ]) is a type of dessert or candy, often associated with Swiss, French, Polish and Italian cuisines, traditionally made from whipped egg whites and sugar, and occasionally an acidic ingredient such as lemon, vinegar, or cream of tartar. A binding agent such as salt, flour, or gelatin may also be added to the eggs. The key to the formation of a good meringue is the formation of stiff peaks by denaturing the protein ovalbumin (a protein in the egg whites) via mechanical shear. Its flavorants are vanilla, a small amount of apple juice, or orange juice, although if extracts of these are used and are based on an oil infusion, an excess of fat from the oil may inhibit the egg whites from forming a foam.
They are light, airy and sweet confections. Homemade meringues are often chewy and soft with a crisp exterior, while many commercial meringues are crisp throughout. A uniform crisp texture may be achieved at home by baking at a low temperature (80–90 °C or 176–194 °F) for an extended period of up to two hours.
It has been claimed that meringue was invented in the Swiss village of Meiringen and improved by an Italian chef named Gasparini between the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century.[2] However, this claim is contested; the Oxford English Dictionary states that the French word is of unknown origin. The name meringue for this confection first appeared in print in François Massialot’s cookbook of 1692.[3] The word meringue first appeared in English in 1706 in a translation of Massialot’s book. The first documented recipes recognizable as meringues are found in two considerably earlier seventeenth-century English manuscript books of recipes which give instructions for confections called “white biskit bread” in the book of recipes written in 1604 by Elinor Fettiplace (c.1570 – c.1647) of Gloucestershire[4] and called “pets” in the manuscript of collected recipes written by Lady Rachel Fane (1612/13–1680) of Knole, Kent.[5] Slowly baked meringues are still referred to as “pets” in the Loire region of France due to their light and fluffy texture.[6]
Meringues were traditionally shaped between two large spoons, as they are generally at home today. Meringue piped through a pastry bag was introduced by Antonin Carême.
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