Meringa with Zabaglione Lab… This Recipe is No Joke!

This dish started in Struggle City and traveled to Paradise City! We ended up with luscious clouds of egg white perfection! And what to put on these clouds? Fresh seasonal berries and zabaglione of course! How Italian! So let’s get down to how we made it:

First, we had to make our own “superfine” sugar, as we only had granulated sugar on hand. To make “superfine” sugar we placed 1 cup and 2 teaspoons of granulated sugar in a food processor and ran it for 30 seconds.

Once we had our “superfine” sugar, we moved on to preheating the oven to 200 degrees. After that, we moved on to the eggs. The eggs were cold from the fridge, so we had to place them in a bowl of tepid water to make them room temperature, as the recipe calls for.

We took the room temperature eggs and separated the egg whites into a stainless-steel bowl and set the yolks aside for later in another bowl. We then transferred the egg whites into the stainless-steel bowl of our Kitchen Aid mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and began whisking on a low speed. We raised the speed and when the egg whites formed a foam we added ¼ teaspoon of cream of tartar. We continued whisking the egg whites until we saw soft peaks form. 

While the egg whites were whipping away, we simultaneously created our hot sugar mixture. We put ½ cup of water and the 1 cup and 2 teaspoons of superfine sugar we had made earlier and placed it over low heat on our burner. We stirred the mixture carefully to dissolve the sugar completely.

Meanwhile, we set aside some cool water in a bowl. Once the sugar and water mixture reached 236 degrees, we took it off the heat and performed a test to see if the sugar was at the soft-ball stage. 

To test this, with a glove on one hand, we took a spoonful of the sugar mixture and dropped it into the cold water. We watched to see if the sugar formed a soft ball in the mixture, and did so our sugar was ready to be added to the egg whites. 

We started the mixer running again and poured the hot sugar syrup in a thin stream over the beaten egg whites.

We then beat the mixture until the egg whites were stiff and glossy with peaks standing when we removed the beater. 

We lined two baking sheets with parchment paper and trimmed the excess so the paper lay flat in the pan. We then scooped small spoonfuls of the meringue onto the parchment lined baking sheet and shaped them into cups using the back of a spoon. We then baked them for about two hours until they were dry and airy.

We removed the meringue tart shells from the oven when they were lightly browned and dry and let them cool. 

When the meringues were 30 minutes from done, we began to make our zabaglione. Here is how we made it:

We put about an inch of water in a medium saucepan and covered it with a lid and brought it to a boil. We then reduced the heat and maintained a simmer,

In a stainless-steel bowl that would sit on top of our saucepan without falling in, we whisked together the 5 egg yolks, ¼ cup superfine sugar, and ¼ cup red wine, as well as 2 teaspoons of almond extract.

The wine is the difference between our zabaglione and the other groups, as we added ¼ cup of wine, and they did not, and our zabaglione did not curdle or seize up, it was smooth as spreadable! But, let’s get back to making the zabaglione!

We placed the bowl on the saucepan and whisked constantly while the mixture heated. We were careful not to overheat and periodically checked that our water was only simmering not boiling, as we did not want to make almond and red wine flavored scrambled eggs! I whisked without stopping for 40 minutes, and while it required A LOT of patience, it produced a perfect zabaglione, so I can’t complain too much!

When we thought the mixture was thick enough and could be taken off the heat, we performed the quickest and most frantic “8 second test” ever performed! We ran the whisk through, saw tracks and lifted some up and saw that it took about 8 seconds to fall back on itself and took it off the heat immediately! Once off the heat, we immediately put the bowl into an ice bath we had prepared for it. While it was chilling, I continued to whisk the zabaglione to prevent the eggs from scrambling.

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Once the zabaglione was cooled, we topped the cooled meringue tarts with zabaglione and some fresh berries we had washed and cut earlier. 

Overall, this was a stressful and difficult recipe to make, but we proved that slow and steady wins the race! We were the last to put our meringues in the oven and take them out, and we were the last to make out zabaglione, but our zabaglione was the most luscious and flavorful out of them all, so all of the nightmares we faced in the beginning were worth it! Also the pain in my arm from whisking for so long was worth it, plus I got in my workout for the day! Everybody wins!

Questions:

1. What chemical changes occurred when you made the meringue/meringa? What did you observe that told you these chemical changes were happening?

We noticed the egg whites change in color and solidify into a foam, the protein and water trapped air making the egg white foam. We also agitated the egg whites and they adapted a fluffy texture. We also heated them which made them hard and crispy.

2. What was responsible for the thickening of the zabaglione as you stirred it over the hot water bath?

The protein in the eggs was one thing responsible or the thickening of the zabaglione. The eggs coagulated and “set” so the sauce became thick, but it was a very touch and go process because the eggs could have been heated too much and scrambled! Also, I think an emulsion was formed, as the lecithin in the egg yolks allowed for the eggs and the wine to mix together happily. Droplets from one of the liquids became evenly dispersed in the other liquid and two liquids that would not usually go together actually make a thick beautiful sauce, this is a similar process done with Hollandaise sauce!

3. Overheating (too fast and or too hot) the zabaglione can leave you with “scrambled eggs” – a lumpy grainy mess of clumps in watery liquid. What is happening in this case?

The protein is coagulating and have lost their water due to over agitation or overheating, the protein is so tight when it clumps that it expels other molecules, such as H20. The eggs at this point will have gotten too hot and “set” as scrambled eggs, the key is to ensure that the eggs do not get overheated, so you have to check that the water on your “double boiler” is not boiling constantly!

Here is our video: (Starring your favorite local food critic (me)).

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