| Making meringues takes patience and lots of time for the beating process. It's also important that you measure the ingredients accurately and that your egg whites are at room temperature before you beat them. The addition of vinegar and cornflour is for pavlovas, which should have a soft centre, and should never be crisp right through.
Here's my fail-safe recipe for meringues that I have been making since I had a restaurant in the mid-80s. They are great when filled with whipped cream and sandwiched together. The meringues keep for weeks and weeks in an airtight container, so there's no point making them in small quantities.
Makes about 50 meringues, depending on size
4 egg whites (150 ml)
250g castor sugar
5ml (1 teaspoon) vanilla essence
Pre-heat the oven to 180 d C. Using an electric mixer, whip egg whites until they form stiff peaks. With machine on, spoon in three tablespoons of castor sugar at a time, leaving an interval between each addition to allow sugar to be well incorporated into the mixture. Add the vanilla essence. Continue beat until the mixture is thick and glossy.
Cover two large baking trays with foil, spray lightly with cooking oil; this enables the meringues to be removed with the minimum of fuss. Spoon the meringue mixture into a large piping bag fitted with a number 5 or 7 nozzle of your choice.
Holding bag vertically, pipe small meringues onto the trays.
Bake at 180ºC for 8 minutes until the colour depends ever so slightly, then turn down oven heat to 100 d C for a further 1½ hours. Try a quick taste-test to see if meringues are cooked, they shouldn't be the least bit chewy. Bake for a while longer if they are, then switch off oven and leave meringues inside to cool. When quite cold, transfer to airtight containers until serving time.
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Swigging and surviving
