pavlova problem
James and Melissa Thomson
I passed my pavlova (meringue) recipe on to a friend, but when she tried it, it came out rubbery rather than
crisp on the outside and sticky within. Can anyone suggest why this happened?
Melissa Thomson
Diane M. Ferrell
James and Melissa Thomson (J-M...@worldnet.att.net) wrote:
: I passed my pavlova (meringue) recipe on to a friend, but when she tried
: crisp on the outside and sticky within. Can anyone suggest why this happened?
: Melissa Thomson
It sounds like either the oven temp was wrong or she didn't cook it long
enough. If I remember correctly, my pavlova recipe calls for a 200
degree oven and about 2 hours. Did she really whip the whites to a high
peak? And did she use powdered sugar--not granulated? Powdered sugar is
also called castor sugar.
These could have been some of the problems.
--
Diane M. Ferrell
dfer...@mail.uccs.edu
START BY DOING WHAT IS NECESSARY; THEN DO THE POSSIBLE; AND SUDDENLY
YOU ARE DOING THE IMPOSSIBLE. (St. Francis of Assisi)
simone
This is a different pavlova problem. My pavs always seem to spread out
on the wax papaer, and stay as tall as they should.
I learned how to make them in New Zealand, where they are made all the
time, cant figure out what is going on now. I do beat the whites to
make high peaks.
-travis
Sue Flesch
The original post still has not reached here however I hope I can
assist.
By rubbery in the middle, do you mean like marshmellow? This is how
a pavlova should be, crisp on the outside and marshmellowey inside.
Also the sugar should be added very slowly to the egg whites as they
are beating and dissolved properly before the next addition. My
mother uses ordinary sugar but I use castor sugar, easier to dissolve.
Here is the recipe used for 50 years by my family and many other NZ
ones. I have passed it on to a number of Americans and Canadians and
they have all reported great success.
4 egg whites
pinch salt
1 and 1/3 cups castor sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 teaspoons cornflour (cornstarch)
1 teaspoon vinegar
Preheat oven to 150degrees C
Beat egg white until frothy, add salt, continue beating until the egg
whites form peaks which fold over when the beater is removed.
Add sugar very gradually, beating well after each addition.
Add vanilla essence, cornflour and vinegar, beat to mix.
Place on sheet of baking paper or aluminum foil on an oven tray.
Form egg mixture into 20cm round.
Bake at 150degreesC for 25 minutes, lower temperature to 100degreesC
and bake a further 1 hour 35 minutes.
(Some people prefer to leave pavlova in oven till cold, as they say
this help prevents the outer shell cracking.
Good luck,
Sue Flesch, Nelson, New Zealand
Sue Flesch
In my earlier post about making a successful pavlova I omitted to
meniton that the egg whites need to be beaten with an electric
beater. A food processor apparently does not put enough air in. The
egg whites should also be at room temperature.
(my apologies if these points have already been covered, our news
server has been flakey since before Xmas!)
