Almond Meringues

Hi all,

I also thought it was great that food has been a central topic in many of these blogs! To continue with the trend, I decided to focus on one of my favorite dessersts: meringues.

I was out in Cambridge this week and as a little treat to myself, I stopped by Flour and ordered a small almond meringue. I normally have a set order when it comes to Flour, but most anything you can get there is equally delicious. The meringue was no exception!

One reason why I am so fond of this light, sweet, and air treat is its unique texture – a crunch, and a delight of weightlessness. (Economically, it’s a very smart product to sell. I spent $2.00 on a whole lot of nothing!)

Egg whites are the main “magical” ingredient in meringues – and it’s whipped into a frothy mixture. Perhaps we didn’t fully realize this but denaturation can occur by physical breakdown as well. (I also remember Prof. Oakes talking about being careful when pipetting our protein solutions, and how frothy solution meant we had damaged our proteins in some way.)

When you beat the egg whites, you are introducing air into the system of proteins, which causes the egg proteins to rearrange itself into a more favorable state. The hydrophilic parts of the egg protein immerse themselves in water, but hydrophobic parts are more attracted to air and thus stick out. This rearrangement then forms more bonds with each other in their current arrangement, which can trap the air bubbles in place, resulting in a bubbly, frothy, protein network.  More details are in the link posted below!

Whenever I saw my mother make meringues, I would see the frothiness rise forth, but I had never considered what was happening on a protein-scale level.  I feel as though from our discussions on this blog, we will never be able to look at anything with same mindset ever again…

Source: http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/icooks/11-03-03.html