2024-08-05 15:55:45
Unfortunately, handling egg whites properly is not that simple. Over-beating breaks down the structures and creates a grainy watery egg batter. Or there are times when, no matter how hard you whip, the magical transformation from yellow mass to white foam never happens. However, there are a few simple ways to (almost) guarantee a great result.
The first is to use a really clean bowl. Any remaining fat will bind the proteins and prevent them from combining with each other. The easiest way to avoid this is to run a cut lemon over the bowl. Acid removes fat residues. Using eggs at room temperature also makes it easier to form the necessary structures.
Keep a close eye on the whip. When whipping egg whites, you will go through three stages: soft, when the resulting mass melts when you pull back the whisk, stiff, when the mass keeps its shape, and the stiffest, when the mass keeps its shape both in the bowl and on the whisk.
Resist the urge to continue. Foam is fragile, and if you beat it too much, the bonds between the protein strands will begin to crack again, causing the structure to break down and water to leak out. This will also happen if you leave the foam in the bowl too long.
Experience shows that a copper bowl can increase the chances of achieving the perfect consistency. To verify this, in 1984 Harold McGee and his colleagues set about experimenting—and found that it took longer to whip egg whites in a copper bowl, but when the job was done, the whites were much more stable. Small amounts of copper from the bowl appear to react with the proteins in the protein to form a stronger combination, according to New Scientist.
2024-08-05 15:55:45