# Italian meringue and macaroon!?!?!?



## robrian0304 (Sep 21, 2011)

Hi, Chefs!!

Having some problem of making these things.....

For the Italian meringue, I donno why there always is lump inside in my result.

I cook the sugar syrup first and whip the egg white till they are frothy.

and when the syrup is reach to 118C, I pull it into egg white while whip in middle speed.

and the result always comes the same......

I check the lump and it soft ball sugar!!

I couldn't find any way to solve it....!?!?!?!?

and for the macaroon, Im not sure is because the meringue or what.

when they finish bake, the shell and base always have a big gap between them.

I was bake them in a electric oven and one tray with silpat on it..

should I use double tray even I bake with silpat!?

Thx for read it..... hope someone can solve my problem!!


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## tasquah (Sep 23, 2011)

Are you sure your thermometer is accurate? Your trying to get (235F to 240F degrees (softball stage)) and your doing it to 118 Celsius = 244.4 Fahrenheit. so your already past what you needed. Try checking your thermometer by putting it into a glass of ice water, you should get (32 Fahrenheit = 0 Celsius) then check in a pot of rapidly boiling water you should get (212 Fahrenheit = 100 Celsius).

Were your already whipped egg whites at soft peaks before you added the hot sugar syrup? ( I am not sure what frothy means exactly) and did you pour the syrup in slowly between the bowl and blade as you were mixing? Were your egg whites pretty much room temp or still had a bit of a chill on them? You should be at a moderately slow speed while adding the hot sugar syrup and then crank it up after its all Incorporated.

macaroons have whats called a foot on them, thats a gap between the base and shell, are you saying yours is way bigger than normal???


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## tasquah (Sep 23, 2011)

sorry duped the last post.


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## robrian0304 (Sep 21, 2011)

thank you for pointing out that.. ill try to see if it working properly.

and for the gap problem, it like my shell is suprer thin and you can see the light though the macaroons.

and between the super thin shell and foot, there is a huge gap. not like a few air gap, it a huge gap.....


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## dobzre (Mar 3, 2011)

don't stress too much, I hate those freaking things! Make sure you whip the eggs fully, with either type of  meringue.


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## tasquah (Sep 23, 2011)

This site has pretty good info and pictures to help you with macaroons. They talk a bit about air pockets in part 2.

http://www.syrupandtang.com/200712/la-macaronicite-1-an-introduction-to-the-macaron/


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## valeriomarcello (Oct 28, 2011)

You must be cooking that sugar suryp to long! I managed to make a mess of my italian meringue (not wit lumps, but it kinda collapsed), but the macaroons still worked!

check this:

http://youcandoitathome.blogspot.com/2011/02/basic-macarons-recipe-italian-meringue.html


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