SC - meringue

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Mark Harris wrote:
> 
> mar-Joshua ibn-Eleazar ha-Shalib declared today on June 14,
> 
> > we know that medieval people separated
> >eggs, we know that they beat eggs (sorta -- it's usually described as
> >"draw them through a strainer")
> 
> What do you think this "draw them through a strainer" means? If they
> meant to beat the egg, then it would seem much easier to beat it in
> a bowl and say so. I imagine someone pushing an egg through a strainer
> but that doesn't end up with a similar result as beating, unless I've
> got a mistaken idea of what beating an egg is supposed to do. So how
> do we get from "draw them through a strainer" to "beat the eggs"?
> 
> Stefan li Rous

Well, the acts of drawing the eggs through a strainer and beating them
are only similar inasmuch as they produce a similar effect. Both break
the egg "fibers" (Goo?) up into smaller pieces and mix them together,
until reaching the point where a homogeneous mass is produced. Taking it
still further, both processes introduce tiny air bubbles into the mass,
and when enough air bubbles are introduced, the characteristics of the
eggs change, generally getting lighter in color and going from what is
clearly a foam with visible bubbles, on to a sort of cream. This works
on egg whites, on yolks, and on whole eggs, although the phenomenon is
easiest to produce in whites in most cases.

Putting it another way, take apart your "balloon" wire egg whip. Weave
those wires into a sort of basket: you know, a strainer. Fix it so that
the basket passes through the eggs (or vice versa) repeatedly, and the
phenomenon described above will usually occur, barring certain variables
like high humidity, the presence of too much fat, the wrong pH, etc.
Let's just say for practical purposes it always happens.

Probably the easiest thing to do is to try it. It works. Ideally you
want a conical sieve (called, erroneously and shockingly non-PC in the
food service industry, a "China cap"). Pour in your eggs -- whites work
best for a simple demonstration -- and use some implement like a small
1-  or 2-ounce ladel like a plunger to pump the eggs through the
strainer, catching them in a bowl underneath. When the bowl is full and
the strainer empty, switch the eggs back into the strainer and repeat
the process. Depending on the variables mentioned previously, it usually
takes three or four passes to produce a meringue-like foam.

Adamantius