[Sca-cooks] beating egg whites

[Pixel, Queen of Cats]

On Fri, 22 Jun 2001, Mark.S Harris wrote:

> Alban commented:
> > Hey! No-one's mentioned using very, very clean and very, very dry
> > copper bowls!
>
> Argh. A "dry" bowl???
>
> I rinsed out both mixing bowls as they'd been sitting on the shelf
> for awhile. But since there was just a sprinkling of drops on the
> bowls, I didn't bother drying the bowls off, since I didn't think
> a few drops of water would make much differance.
>
> I was using one stainless steel bowl and one thick plastic
> (melamine?) bowl.

You can get away with driplets of water with either egg whites or cream. I
have. ;-)

I don't like using plastic bowls for cream, as you can't get them very
cold, and they are very hard to de-grease. I don't particularly like using
them for egg whites, because they are very hard to de-grease, but unlike
my glass mixing bowls (a present--I did ask for stainless) they won't
shatter into bits if I drop them on the floor. [Some days having
fibromyalgia *really* sucks. Ask the shards of what used to be a very nice
Corningware casserole.]

If they get washed in a dishwasher or in very hot tap water, it's usually
not a problem, unless you have really beat-up bowls with lots of
scratches, like the one bowl I have that I can't whip egg whites in
anymore. ;-)

Plastic will work--I used it for years when I didn't have anything
else. However, stainless steel works better.

 >
> I also apparently did a few other things wrong. More in a later
> message.
>
> So, those who have made this "snow", how light and fluffy is
> it supposed to get? Like meringue? Or fluffier, like a foam?
> Or like a thick cream, which seems to be closer to what I've
> got?
>
> Unless I go to the store again, and get more "heavy" whipping
> cream, we're going to have wafers and cream. Even if I do, I've
> still got a bowl of the failed snow to use somehow. Although
> licking the bowl was nice....
>
> Thanks for the help, everyone. Some of this cooking stuff is
> definitely an art and not a science.

According to Her Majesty Artemisia, it's *all* art. ;-) But yes, it's
art. I still can't figure out how my grandfather's meringues came out so
ethereal, and both Mom and I have repeatedly followed his recipe and
instructions to the letter. Sigh.

Margaret FitzWilliam