It's amazing how something as simple as air can transform a bowl of viscous, translucent egg whites into feather-light, bright white meringue, ready to be piped in. Sweet confections Or onto the dollop Pie – or even shaped in a round to make a stunning pavlova, like this fun and festive one Chocolate Peppermint Pavlova. And the process is as easy as 1-2-3: beat the wheat, add sugar, and continue beating until stiff and glossy.
In addition to egg whites and sugar, most recipes call for a stabilizer, something acidic that will build your meringue more quickly and keep it fluffy longer. Cream of tartarLemon juice, and vinegar are the most common stabilizers called for in meringue recipes. But do they really make a difference? And if so, is one better than the other? We tested to find out.
The meringue tests
Using different stabilizers in an identically controlled process, we performed four meringue tests:
- No stabilizer: 2 large room temperature egg whites, 113 g granulated sugar (the control)
- Cream of tartar: 2 large room temperature eggs, 113 g granulated sugar, 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- Lemon juice: 2 large room temperature egg whites, 113 g granulated sugar, 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
- Vinegar: 2 large room temperature egg whites, 113 g granulated sugar, 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar
PJ Hamel
The process
We used an electric hand mixer set at high speed to beat the egg whites and the selected stabilizer (if using) for 45 seconds. The sugar is gradually added over the next 30 seconds of beating. Once all the sugar is added, the mixture is beaten for another 30 seconds.
The resulting meringue is piped into a dozen 1 1/2″ kisses and a 5″ round and baked as directed in This meringue recipe. After 90 minutes, the meringues are removed from the oven. They are covered with a cake cover (still on the baking sheet) and left at room temperature overnight.
PJ Hamel
The meringue results
All the tests produced suitable meringue. But there was a marked difference between using no stabilizer at all versus lemon juice or vinegar; And another leap in quality when using cream of tartar.
No stabilizer: The meringue, although bright and glossy, was soft and didn't hold a really stiff peak when piping. Later tests showed that beating it more helped, but never to the level of adding a stabilizer. The baked meringues are pretty crunchy just out of the oven, but soften noticeably overnight, pretty chewy rather than crisp.
Lemon juice or vinegar: The two acids produced identical results. The meringue was white, glossy, and fairly stiff, settling softly after piping, the top of its peaks curling over. Crunchy right out of the oven, they lost a bit of their crispiness overnight.
cream of tartar (recommended): The meringue was bright white, very shiny, and kept its shape without settling; Her tips were straight up without curling. The process also took less time overall. The whites are noticeably more voluminous after the first 30 seconds, and the meringue reaches its final glossy finish more quickly than with lemon juice or vinegar. The finished meringues were light and crunchy, rose slightly higher than their competitors, and retained almost all of their crisp texture the next day.
PJ Hamel
The verdict: What's the best way to make meringue?
Use 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar per large egg white to stabilize the egg white and sugar mixture. The addition of cream of tartar makes a stiff, glossy meringue that whips up more quickly, holds a little more air, retains its shape perfectly when piping, and stays crunchy more compared to meringue made with other stabilizers.
Photography by Rick Holbrook; Food styling by Kaitlin Wayne
So, is it worth adding cream of tartar to your pantry? For recipes using beaten egg whites, from angel food Or Chiffon cake to Macarons, Meringue-topped pie or an air PavlovaYes!
But that's not all: for a complete guide to making the best meringue, see our post: Meringue rules: what to keep and what to let slide.
Cover photo and food styling by Liz Neily.