Egg Whites

Cooking Instructions

To Beat Egg Whites: Preliminaries: Be sure your beating bowl and beater are perfectly clean and free of oil or grease, which will prevent them from mounting. Before you begin it is useful to wipe bowl and beater with 1 tbsp each of salt and vinegar, which seem to provide a proper mounting atmosphere. If the egg whites are chilled, set beating bowl in hot water and stir for a few minutes until tepid.

Bowls and beaters: Egg whites mount best when almost the entire mass of them can be kept in motion at once. A beater on a stand should be equipped with a large whip that rotates as it circulates rapidly about the bowl, and the bowl should be narrow, and rounded at the bottom. A hand-held beater works well in a stainless-steel or unlined copper bowl - egg whites collapse down the slippery sides of glass and porcelain; again, choose a bowl with a rounded bottom, and not too big a bowl or you cannot keep the mass of whites circulating as you beat. A giant balloon whip beats egg whites beautifully in an unlined copper bowl, but be sure you have a big enough whip for your bowl.

Beating: Besides having a very clean, grease-free bowl, and room-temperature or tepid egg whites, you must also be sure that there is no particle of yolk in the whites, since this also will prevent them from rising.

For table-model beaters: Start at slow speed until egg whites are foaming throughout, then add a pinch of salt and a large pinch of cream of tartar for every 3 egg whites - these help stabilize the whites after they have risen. Gradually increase your speed to fast, standing right over the mixer to be sure you don't overbear the whites. Continue until egg whites form little mountains on the surface; stop and test them - the whites should stand up in stiff shining peaks as illustrated. If you are using the whites in a dessert, beat in 1/2 tbsp sugar per egg white, which will also help egg whites at once. Time: with an efficient beater, about 3 minutes.

For hand-held electric beaters: Use the same system as for table-model beaters, pretending you are an efficient whirling and rotating electric whip that circulates rapidly all about the bowl. Time: 3 to 4 minutes.

Beating by band in a copper bowl: Start at slow speed until egg whites are foaming, then beat in a pinch of salt per 3 egg whites. Gradually increase speed to fast, using an up-and-down circular motion alternating at times with several round-the-bowl beats, and continue until the egg whites form stiff shining peaks. Beat in 1/2 tbsp sugar per egg white, if you are doing a dessert. Time: 2 to 3 minutes.