[Sca-cooks] beating egg whites

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Stefan li Rous wrote:
>
> Okay, newbie cook question time.
<snip>
> My question is, how long should you have to beat the egg whites (I
> doubled the recipe) to get "stiff peaks"? I thought I was getting some
> peaks and kept beating (with a whisk and and egg beater), what peaks
> I thought I might have, went away. And no matter what I did after this
> it never did get thick. When spooned up it would quickly run off and
> fall back in the liquid, without leaving any evidence. Is it possible
> to beat the eggs 'too' much?

Yes, it is, but not in the sense of overkneading dough until the gluten
breaks down. Overbeaten egg whites become foamy to the point where they
quickly dessicate in the air, crumble, and blow away in the breeze. More
or less. The problem you seem to be having is more like whites that
aren't beaten enough. There's no set time that it takes; they're beaten
enough when they're beaten enough.

As has been mentioned by others, any trace of fat (including yolk) can
prevent the whites from inflating; fat is shortening and it affects the
ability of the protein molecules to form strands (polymers?), just as it
would in bread dough.

Here are some things you can do to stack the odds in your favor:

1. I remember where you live. It's humid. If possible, turn on the A/C.
2. Allow the egg whites to warm to almost room temperature before
beating (which is the opposite of what you want to do with the cream, BTW)
3. You might consider adding an acid component, such as a [very] few
drops of lemon juice, or even better, 1/8 teaspoon of Cream of Tartar.
Better living through chemistry.
4. As has been mentioned, you don't want to add sugar right away.
Remember the thing about yolks? Same deal. Wait until the whites are...
well... white... before adding sugar. Some people like to just loosen
them up a bit with the beater before adding sugar, but if there's any
doubt about it working successfully, I prefer to be on the safe side.
Once the sugar has been addded p[roperly, it will actually help you in
the later stages of the beating.

> The whipping cream and rose water did seem to thicken some. What I
> ended up with was sort of a thickish cream where waves and such would
> stay for awhile on the surface. I've put it in the refrigerator, where
> it was said to store it anyway, to see if it will thicken some more.

And if I can make a little side bet, I bet it returned to being cream
and rosewater, didn't it? There seems to be a point of no return for
cream (which, as I say, should be beaten cold, unlike the egg whites),
after which it is pretty stable. The trick is to reach that point
without either beating it too stiff (it becomes un-shiny and a little
grainy in texture), or turning it into butter, which, after that point,
is pretty easy.

> When the recipe says "stiff peaks" should that be like you see on
> meringue pie?

Yup.
>
> Oh yes, tommorow night I'll be trying Adamantius' recipe for the
> sweet wafers. I will probably decorate the "snow" with strawberries,
> since they are in season, or with sprigs of mint from my new herb garden
> and then arrange the wafers around the bowl of snow.

Remember these continue to brown after they come out of the iron; try
not to burn them.

A.
--
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com

"It was so blatant that Roger threw at him.  Clemens gets away with
things that get other people thrown out of games.  As long as they
let him get away with it, it's going  to continue." -- Joe Torre, 9/98