Meringue Styling Tips

[Panaderia Canadiense]

So, I've got really excellent recipes for Lemon, Lime, Mandalime, and other citrus pies (and I'm dying for blood orange season to come around), but I need some help with how to style the meringue. I generally use French-style meringue for my pies (with the exception of Key Lime, which takes Italian-style meringue and which sort of styles itself.)

I'd love for my pies to come out resembling this (click), but more often than not they come out looking like this. (click)

What am I missing? Do I need to beat my whites longer? Is there a point at which pie-topping French meringue becomes too stiff to be used on pie? Can I put this stuff in a piping bag and apply it that way?

Thanks for all help.

[Chris Hennes]

The two techniques I've used to style meringue both start with just laying down your meringue like normal. Then, I use a small spatula to either tap at the surface to make little spikes, or to sort of scoop at the surface to make wave shapes. The example you link to there seems to have a swirl mixed in with a wave, I guess it's all in the wrist! It looks to me like the meringue in that second photo is underwhipped, but maybe that's just the photo.

[runwestierun]

I have piped mine and I really like the look. I used a large star tip. I hit it with a torch for maximum contrast, so the edges were very dark, not soft brown. I liked the contrast. Alas, no pictures...

[Kerry Beal]

So, I've got really excellent recipes for Lemon, Lime, Mandalime, and other citrus pies (and I'm dying for blood orange season to come around), but I need some help with how to style the meringue. I generally use French-style meringue for my pies (with the exception of Key Lime, which takes Italian-style meringue and which sort of styles itself.)

I'd love for my pies to come out resembling this (click), but more often than not they come out looking like this. (click)

What am I missing? Do I need to beat my whites longer? Is there a point at which pie-topping French meringue becomes too stiff to be used on pie? Can I put this stuff in a piping bag and apply it that way?

Thanks for all help.

Your picture does indeed look like French meringue - whereas the desired picture looks more like an Italian meringue. I'm not sure how you get the swirls though.

[SniderJW1263]

The first link could possibly be a French meringue... the second picture is of an improperly made meringue. When making meringue for tarts I use equal parts egg whites and sugar and lightly whisk them together before whipping. It takes slightly longer to whip but you will get a very stable meringue this way and it has enough sugar to properly caramelize. On the other hand, you could just use an Italian meringue and you will get great results, just takes more time...

The swirls, as mentioned by another poster, would be created using a spatula. It's definitely all in the wrist and just takes practice. I would think, get your meringue the way you want and the decoration is the easy part

[Lisa Shock]

The first picture isn't of a baked pie. The browning is from a torch, that's why you see so much glossy white underneath. It's food stylist food, not real food. (years of grading cheating students comes in handy on occasion...)

[janeer]

For the average thrown-together home pie, I use very little sugar. I do not like a torch. But I do like the tips to be very dark. I think the secret is optimal whipping; when you start to see the lines of your whisk in the mixture, stop the machine and lift the beater--you are looking for a hawk's beak. Continue beating only until you get it and the mixture is still shiny. Pile it on, then pull it with a spatula.

[Chris Hennes]

The first picture isn't of a baked pie. The browning is from a torch, that's why you see so much glossy white underneath. It's food stylist food, not real food. (years of grading cheating students comes in handy on occasion...)

This is true (well, probably...) but it's still possible to get something like that look doing it for real: janeer's looks pretty close to me, it just needs more styling with the spatula to be a pretty good match.

[Mjx]

I've used a small whisk to get fairly similar forms to those in PC's dream image – with a spatula, I got a sort of clumsy, slab-like effect, perhaps a narrow one would do the trick – although I've never attained that level of browning (I've never even considered the possibility, but now I'm intrigued).

[Panaderia Canadiense]

OK, following MJX's technique of the small whisk and SniderJW's whipping instructions (I've also upped the sugar to 2 tbsp confectioners' per egg), I'm approaching the ideal shapes. I think I'll need to get out the torch if I want the extreme browning, but my pie-loving clients prefer a more toasted colour on their meringues so it's kind of moot anyhow.

[lironp]

I'd say it still looks a bit foamy compared to janeer's picture- her meringue is smooth and shiny, I think yours might be under whipped.

Do you use regular sugar or confectioners sugar? Regular sugar is added when whipping, and confectioner's sugar can be added at the end if you want to bake it (it will be whiter, smoother, firmer and shinier). If you substitute the regular sugar for confectioner's sugar, I don't think you will be able to add a lot of volume to the egg whites.

Do you add the sugar right from the start, or when the egg whites already start foaming? If you add it right from the start, then you also won't be able to whip them to full volume.

You also shouldn't be scared of over whipping- you can whip egg whites for quite a long time, even after they have reached stiff peaks (when you hold the bowl upside down, and nothing moves), without ruining them. It is also very important to use the whipped egg whites straight upon completion- otherwise they start shrinking and losing texture.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

I use confectioner's sugar (I generally don't have granular white on hand), which I generally have been adding at the beginning along with a pinch of cream of tartar, and I never let my meringue stand (ooh, that's just asking for disaster!). I'll try adding the con.sug later in the process and see what that gets me. Is there any particular point in the whipping process that's optimal for sugar addition?

[bmdaniel]

Like runwestierun, I prefer a piped meringue like this. I am not a baker (just an eater), but it seems like that may be easier to execute.

[andiesenji]

Like runwestierun, I prefer a piped meringue like this. I am not a baker (just an eater), but it seems like that may be easier to execute.

When I was catering I also used the piped meringue technique. I first spread a thin layer of meringue on the pie surface for an adhesion base, right to the edges of the crust to seal it and the base hides any gaps you may leave when piping.

I used a large open star tip (mine has a #4 on it) and made a little twist as I drew it up.

A favorite pattern was a pinwheel spiral from a center rosette to the edges.

A local bakery makes shell patterns on the top of some of their pies - the chocolate cream - then lightly dusts the top with cocoa.

This site was featured in an email last month from a favorite blog list.

[janeer]

I'd say it still looks a bit foamy compared to janeer's picture- her meringue is smooth and shiny, I think yours might be under whipped.

Funny, I actually thought it looked like it was overbeaten--dry and beginning to break down. Perhaps it is the 10x, which generally contains a starch. If you don't have cane sugar, maybe try a liquid sweetener? A little maple syrup?

I add my sugar, sparingly and gradually, about mid-way--when the whites are foamy and light. No cream of tartar.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Janeer, check my location. I live about 30 km from some of the best cane-producing land in the world. Not having white death on hand is a personal choice.

[janeer]

Then I'm puzzled as confectioners sugar is sugar. what's your point

[Panaderia Canadiense]

My point was granular white sugar, and if I missed yours, please accept my apologies. I probably also shouldn't post when I'm grumpy. Incidentally, my confectioner's sugar is 100x, and I have to keep it in a hermetic bucket with sachets of silica gel to keep it from going rock hard and clumpy on me.

I do keep confectioner's on hand (it's a necessary evil) but I don't generally have granular white - for health, ethical, and flavour reasons I prefer panela (raw sugar), but sadly panela doesn't work well in meringues. I can however purchase some granular white and try using a simple syrup in place of the powdered sugar, to see if that improves results (moving more towards Swiss style meringue, but so be it if that's what works).

The cream of tartar is a necessary stabilizer at this altitude - whipped whites without it get almost too airy and collapse very easily in my low atmospheric pressures - the exact thing that makes breadmaking so easy for me makes meringues of any sort a real challenge (which is also why y'all will never see me make macarons). I also have to stabilize all of my whipped creams, or they lose their volume very quickly.

As for maple syrup, I hoard that jealously! I have visitors from Canada about once every two years, and they bring me a gallon that has to last that whole time (very tough for me, since I'd drink it neat given a large enough supply!)

[janeer]

I share your passion for maple syrup. I, not to rub it in, have a steady supply, including from my sister's trees.

Anyway, thanks for the comments about sugar, although I still don't understand. I get preferring panela. But what do you see as the difference between granular and pulverized, from an ehtical, health, or flavor reason? I'm truly curious.

I've never tried honey but that might be worth a shot.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

No difference, really - it's more that I'll keep pulverized sugar on hand because it's useful to me vis a vis icing for cakes and other assorted pastry uses, while in any recipe calling for white sugar, I'll substitute panela because I have almost no practical use for granular sugar (aside from coating crystallized ginger) - and I've found that it often improves the recipe flavour wise.

Incidentally, if I could source micropulverized panela, I'd buy it in a second.