Newbie with meringue problems.

[Tove]

I received my Thermomix as a wedding gift so unfortunately I have not been able to attend a demonstration or cooking class.  I live in very rural Western Australia so the distance to get to a class is a challenge.  Here's hoping in the new year I will be able to manage it.

But the issue right now is that I can't get my egg whites to stay "stiff".  They go watery as soon as I start to incorporate the sugar.  I followed the Lemon Meringue Pie recipe in the book but by the time I got the meringue (second attempt) even close to what I wanted and put it on top of the lemon filling (baked for 5 minutes to brown) the entire pie became a runny custard.  Tastes good but not very attractive.  I did exactly as the recipe said.....room tempature and slowly adding the sugar.  I am using farm fresh eggs.

Any comments or suggestions you might have would help.

Thanks Tove

[CreamPuff63]

hi Tove, hope Stephberg video will be of help to you. I think also, that humidity can also affect the process.

[Chelsea (Thermie Groupie)]

Hi Tove.  Welcome to the forum.  You are a lucky-ducky getting a TM for a wedding present.  How lovely!  I have only made the pie recipe from the EDC once and it didn't work out either.  It look ok until we tried to serve it and then was really sloppy. I haven't been game to try again. Fingers crossed you can master it! 

[zebraa]

Meringue is def something I would do with a $15 beater. I have never been able to get tMX to whisk egg whites. Great wedding pressie!

[judydawn]

Hi Tove, welcome to the forum.  Meringue must be the trickiest and most bothersome thing to make in the TMX and even after watching the video mentioned, mine still didn't work which is most annoying when you have just seen someone else do it perfectly.  That aside, it does everything else perfectly so we can't really complain. I am surprised H.O. haven't worked on this to perfect it and pass a method onto us via Tenina.  Maybe they have, anyone have a fullproof method that will work every time?

[Cornish Cream]

 Hi Tove and welcome to the forum.What a smashing wedding present.Like the other forum members have said Meringue is tricky.
But you will have great success with the tested recipes here on the forum, so have fun.

[CreamPuff63]

yes, I must admit I still use my little hand beater too for this purpose  (takes the guesswork out, and saves wasting eggs)

[Very Happy Jan]

Welcome Tove. I can't comment on the meringue as I never make it but the experts will help

[Merlin]

Don't even bother to use the Thermomix for meringue as far as I am concerned. Whilst it is a fantastic machine, it still has limitations and as far as I am concerned, meringue/ pavlova etc is one of them. This is one of the extremely few occasions I still use my bench mixer.

[bluesed]

Same here. I have tried two times to do it in the TMX and none of them successful. I prefer to use my major classic, as it whip more air into the eggs and does it faster and with larger quantities.

[CreamPuff63]

I have a pavlova recipe which apparently is very successful and uses 4-6 egg whites (but I haven't tried) and this is what it says:

Ensure TM bowl completely clean and dry. Do self clean with hot water and vinegar if necessary and dry thoroughly.

Insert butterfly into TM bowl and leave MC off. Place egg whites into bowl and whisk for 3 - 5 minutes at 50 ° C at Speed 3 until egg whites stiff.

Over next 3 minutes at 50 °C on Speed 3 add castor sugar 1 tblsp at a time through hole in lid.  Add lemon juice, and add vanilla if desired

[cookie1]

Hi Tove. Whereabouts in rural WA are you?

[johnro]

The problem of TMX and meringue - as you will see from the pics below the end result was successful and I believe would be most suited to the meringue for a lemon meringue tart etc.  However as our family prefer a drier pavlova I think I will stick with the kitchenaid to beat up the 6 egg white mixture that I usually use.  I adapted my original recipe today as follows.

4 egg whites - room temp
1 cup icing sugar
pinch cream of tartar
1 teasp cornflour

1. Place egg whites in a clean and dry TMX bowl, insert butterfly - beat  5-6 mins, 37⁰, speed 3 - 4 - be sure that the mixture is thick and shiny
2. Keeping the above settings, over 3-4 mins gradually add the sugar through the hole in the lid.
3. Add CT and cornflour - beat further 1 min , no heat needed
4. Bake 180⁰C for 3 mins, then turn oven down 100⁰C (I open the oven door so that the temp reduces as quickly as possible to prevent any browning and maintain the perfect white of a pavlova) bake 1 hr - allow to cool in oven

[Coxy]

The problem of TMX and meringue - as you will see from the pics below the end result was successful and I believe would be most suited to the meringue for a lemon meringue tart etc.  However as our family prefer a drier pavlova I think I will stick with the kitchenaid to beat up the 6 egg white mixture that I usually use.  I adapted my original recipe today as follows.

4 egg whites - room temp
1 cup icing sugar
pinch cream of tartar
1 teasp cornflour

1. Place egg whites in a clean and dry TMX bowl, insert butterfly - beat  5-6 mins, 37⁰, speed 3 - 4 - be sure that the mixture is thick and shiny
2. Keeping the above settings, over 3-4 mins gradually add the sugar through the hole in the lid.
3. Add CT and cornflour - beat further 1 min , no heat needed
4. Bake 180⁰C for 3 mins, then turn oven down 100⁰C (I open the oven door so that the temp reduces as quickly as possible to prevent any browning and maintain the perfect white of a pavlova) bake 1 hr - allow to cool in oven

[Thermomixer]

Belated welcome Tove - hope the meringue is sorted