Help - weeping meringue!

[Marsha]

I give up! I have tried everything I know to prevent my meringue on a custard type pie from weeping with varying results, but never complete success. Any tips??? And it tends to shrink no matter how hard I try to "stick" it to the crust....

[lindrusso]

I have never made meringue, but I remembered seeing this section in a lovely book that I received as a gift called "Great Pies & Tarts" by Carole Walter. Maybe something here will help???

Hints for Making "Weep-Proof" Meringue

* It is essential that the baked pie shell have no cracks or holes in it.

* Blend the granulated and confectionary sugars thoroughly.

* Beat the sugars into the whipped egg whites slowly.

* Spread the meringue onto the filling while the filling is hot.

* Use a large tablespoon to drop mounds of meringue around the outer part of the pie filling first, then cover the center. Gently press down on the meringue to fill in any air pockets.

* Be sure that the filling is COMPLETELY covered. The meringue must touch the edge of the pie crust.

* Cool away from drafts.

[lorilei]

I don't know if this is verifiable or not, but I heard somewhere that humidity has much to do with weeping meringue. (Too much, I believe, is what causes weeping)

It's also particularly important to bake the meringue at a low enough temperature (but close to the heat). Baking too long will inevitably result in shrinkage.

Hope this helps...

[Marsha]

Thanks for your suggestions - I sure hope it isn't just humidity since I live in the humidity capital of the universe (near Houston TX)! I feel sure I have done something wrong.....

[Carolyn]

Sorry to tell you, but humidity probably is the culprit since you live in Houston. My mother always used to say she could only make meringues in winter when she lived in the Washington, DC area. If your house is air conditioned, they might work. Use long, low oven heat, 200 to 300 degrees, let them cool in the oven and then transfer them immediately to an airtight container. The less contact with the humid air, the better. Good luck!

[RobinC]

This is from the May 2000 Issue of Fine Cooking:

Two common problems that occur with meringues are weeping, which are "tears" of liquid that collect in a puddle under the meringue, and beading, brown droplets of syrup on the outer surfase of the meringue.

Weeping is cuased by undercooking. If the proteins don't get hot enough to cook (or firly set) the foam, it collapses, and the liquid film on the surface bubbles and leaks out. If a soft meringue on a pie starts to weep ofter the meringue is baked, the meringue didn't get hot enough. It helps to pile the meringue on a piping-hot pie filling rather than on a chilled one. Another trick, geaned from Roland Mesnier, the White House pastyry chef, is to sprinkle fine cake crumbs (nothing fancy - even Twinkies can be be used) on the hot filling before mounding on the meringue. The combination of crumbs and a hot filling can give you and incredibly dry seal between the meringue and the filling.

Lowering the oven temperature and increasing the cooking time can help weeping too. Food reaches higher temperatures in the center when cooked at lower temperatures for a longer time. To get my (the author of the article) nine-egg-white-high meringue cooked through, I cook at a fairly low temperature - 300 to 325 - for 30 to 40 minutes.

Beading is caused by overcooking. The proteins tighted and squeeze out water droplets, which brown becasue of the sugar they contain. Try lowering or decreasing the baking time, or both together, to solve a beading problem.