Whip It

image via Marco Varinga

Are all the other blogs you're looking at today sharing recipes for shepherd's pie and Irish soda bread?

Ok, well how about we talk about the opposite of simple, hearty can't-fuck-it-up-if you try meals. And that would be... a lesson in whipping egg whites.

Whipping egg whites is about adding volume to your food. Meringues, chocolate mousse, the infamous soufflé... they all use whipped egg whites. And it's no coincidence that they're all very fancy. In celebration of one especially successful chiffon cake I made (hold your breath! recipe to come tomorrow!) I thought I'd write this post as a sort of primer to one of the dessert's make-or-break ingredients.


I've spent countless hours scouring the internet and cookbooks for the secret to the perfectly-whipped egg whites. In my search I've found some great tips, along with some ugly misinformation out there (open source cookbooks: maybe not the best idea after all).

For your baking pleasure, the most concise and proper list of tips for whipping up egg whites:

 image via bitzcelt

* Use old rather than fresh eggs.

* Make sure your egg whites are at room temperature. Don't want to wait an hour while they sit out on the counter warming up? Place your eggs in a bowl of tepid water for about 10 minutes.

* Your egg whites should only touch stainless steel (totally affordable) or copper bowls (insanely expensive). Plastic, glass, aluminum and ceramic are all too porous, and no matter how well you scrub them clean they all contain traces of fat, grease, soap, last night's dinner, whatever. Your egg whites should never be near any of that stuff.

* Clean out your egg white bowl with a tiny bit of white lemon juice or white vinegar.

* Use the 3 bowl method for separating your whites and yolks: crack one egg over bowl #1 and let the white fall into it, reserving the yolk within the shell or your hand. Drop the yolk into bowl #2. Check out your egg white and make sure there's not a drop of yolk in there. Now you transfer it into bowl #3. Repeat with each egg. Sounds tedious and uptight? If you do this you won't come crying to me when a broken yolk ruins a big bowl of pristine egg whites.

* It seems so obvious, but seriously... no egg yolks! The tiniest drop of yolk-- or anything else will stop your egg whites from whipping up.

 image via Cinderellasg

* If you want to do really well in your Top Chef quickfire challenge, you should whip your egg whites with a hand whisk. If you're on the pizza, wine and chocolate diet like me, you may be a little weak in the bicep area. My electric hand mixer cost less than $30. Make sure yours comes with a whisk attachment.

* Before whisking, add just a pinch of salt to your bowl of whites. This helps the proteins firm up.

* Always start whisking on low, slowly working up to medium/medium-low.

foam stage image via fille_de_photo

* About a quarter of the way through, add an acid to the egg whites. First you'll get bubbles, then foam. The foam stage is when you add the acid. Add ¼ teaspoon of cream of tartar (preferred), lemon juice or white vinegar for every two egg whites. The acid helps to bind the proteins, stops the egg whites from releasing their water and it buys you a little time before they begin to deflate. (If you're using a copper bowl, Ms. Moneybags, you can skip this step as the copper mimics this chemical reaction. It's nice to have nice things, isn't it?)

* After the foam forms you can increase your whisking speed to medium/medium-high. when the foam becomes more solid and fluffy, increase speed to high.

 Soft peaks image via roboppy

* If the recipe just calls for soft peaks, and will be folded into another mixture before baking, it's a good idea to reserve a tablespoon or two of sugar called for in your base mixture and to add it to the egg whites at this point. Stability is key here, people! 

Stiff peaks image via jensteele

* Recipes that call for whipped egg whites with "stiff peaks" should require you to add sugar at the "soft peaks" stage. Lift your whisk from the mixture-- see straight lines that curl or fall at the ends? You got yourself some soft peaks. Gradually add the sugar in a slow stream into the side of your bowl, while continually whisking. The sugar acts as a stabilizer and aids in elasticity.

* Now, the second you achieve stiff peaks... stop whisking. Don't over-beat your eggs. If they begin to look dry, you know you've gone too far. (Some folks suggest adding another egg white to the mix as a quick fix, but I can't say I've tried that one out yet.)

Folding Egg Whites into Batter image via Urbanfoodie33

* Depending on the recipe you're following, you might have to fold the egg whites into a previously-made batter. The idea is to just combine the two-- you're not really mixing, and definitely not stirring. Divide the egg whites into thirds, scoop the first third on top of the batter, cut straight down with a spatula, scoop under the batter, and sort of flip it all. I can't find a video for this that isn't like, 5 minutes long and from 1982. Sorry.

* And finally: once you begin this process... uh, you can't stop. In case you haven't gotten the hint yet, egg whites are delicate, needy little things. The more you mess with them and the longer you wait to get them baking, the more likely they are to lose all that volume you just put into them. Make sure your oven is preheated and you've got all your ingredients lined up if there are steps required after the whipping (see above.) Basically, get those babies in the oven as soon as you possibly can.

 Meringues image via Marylise Doctrinal

Oh yeah, and happy St. Patrick's Day.