Italian Meringues

A historical recipe from Modern cookery for private families, by Eliza Acton (1882).

No ratings yet

A historical recipe

Modern cookery for private families, by Eliza Acton (1882). Project Gutenberg eBook #72482.

From an old book: a historical recipe, not current advice. Its methods, additives and storage may be unsafe by today's standards.

Known as an Italian recipe, with similar versions prepared across other nations.

Ingredients 2 ingredients

Keep children and pets away from the hob and the oven, and keep oven gloves and a lid within reach.

Oven and hot trays. Use dry oven gloves for trays and dishes: a hot tray looks just like a cold one. Open the oven door away from your face and let the first rush of heat out.
Boiling water and steam. Turn pan handles inward, away from the edge of the hob. Lift lids away from you, and pour hot water away from your body: steam burns too.
Hot sugar. Hot sugar sticks to skin and burns far hotter than boiling water: don't touch or taste it. Keep a bowl of cold water close, and keep children away while it cooks.

Take for these the proportion of whites of eggs and sugar already indicated in the receipt for Nesselrôde pudding, page 491, that is to say, six to the pound, or half that quantity for a small number of meringues.
Boil the sugar with a pint of water until it whitens, and begins to fall in flakes from the skimmer;
have the eggs whisked to a perfectly solid froth quite ready at the proper moment, and when the sugar has stood for two or three minutes, and been worked well from the sides of the pan, mingle them gradually, but very quickly, with it, that the mass may be quite smooth;
continue to stir them until they become firm enough to retain their shape perfectly when moulded with a teaspoon;
lay out the cakes on paper, and place them in an oven so slow as to harden without giving them colour.
As they are not to be filled, but merely fastened together, they may be baked on tins.
Part of them may be varied by the addition of three or four ounces of pounded almonds mixed thoroughly with the remainder of the eggs and sugar, when a portion of the meringues have been moulded: these, however, will require to be much longer baked than the others;
but they will be excellent.
They should be lightly browned, and crisp quite through.
Sugar, 1 lb.;
water, 1 pint;
whites of eggs, 6: very slow oven, 20 to 30 minutes, or longer.