Why is cream of tartar added to egg foam

Every picture of an overbeaten foam featured in this post was created by me turning my beater on high right from the get-go. By then your foam is strong enough to handle a little abuse.

I use my hand beater on its lowest setting which is equivalent to about a medium speed on a stand mixer , and a cooperative egg white will beat to stiff peaks in minutes. Never use an immersion blender or food processor in place of an electric beater. Slow and steady wins the race. See you back here soon! Hi Can you tell me why whole eggs can be whisked to form a foam, as in Genoese sponge, yet egg white will not form a foam in the presence of a small amount of yolk?

Thanks Robert. Hi, I tried making a Japanese cheesecake today. After reading your article I understood the mistakes.. I added sugar too soon and the bowl was plastic.

The egg whites were still liquidy and helplessly I added them as is to the cheese mixture. I hope I get a decent enough cheesecake if not a perfect one. Great work, keep it up! Also, using a pinch of cream of tartar is useful to avoid over-beating. But according to decodingdelicious. And no one wants that! The author also says that salt should not be substituted for cream of tartar, even though many recipes say that you can.

Your use of the same pictures for multiple categories puts into question the comparability within categories. Not the scientific method. Leaves me with questions still. Dawn, I used the RT whip with C of T as the control for the study, and compared all further variations to that result. Having a single control agaist which to compare each variable is key to the scuentific method. The only exception is in the fresh egg test, where I forgot to bring my old egg to RT. Why did use the exact same photos?

Because I found there was really only one best lighting and angle for each foam pile to really convey the shape of the peaks. I chose to reuse the picture that showed the texture most accurately rather than using a variety the might confuse the quality of the control. I hope this helps in your understanding of my test.

Thanks for the comment Dawn! Yours, meanwhile, is perfect: detailed, sophisticated, fascinating and very user friendly for us non-scientists. Thank you so much Amanda! You do fantastic work. Hi Amanda, This post is great! I stumbled across it while doing research on whether fresher or older eggs are better for whipping, and I learned so much. Keep up the good work! Amanda: Terrific blog on egg foams. I am doing a final graduate project on Angel Food Cakes at high altitude.

Please reply by email. Thank you so much for your amazing post! Thanks so much for demystifying egg whites! Thanks again. When I used new eggs, my stiff peaks looks exactly like those in your pictures. Sephora, Thanks for your comment. Out of curiosity, how old were your eggs? Mine were about 3 weeks old at testing. It could also be due to something that was different or special about that specific batch of eggs such as unusual flock of chickens, or the eggs were accidentally frozen at some point.

Another possibility is how you store them. Whole eggs if stored at room temperature will dry out considerably faster than eggs stored in the fridge. Food for thought! I love when a person can really take a lesson allllllll the way!

Thank you so much for respecting your readers enough to fully explains the whys. Great article and now I know! Thank you Amanda. Amazingly comprehensive and clear. Start slowly I think! Thanks for the details on denaturing egg white proteins! I understood this year ago, but wanted to explain this to my granddaughters!

The science lesson is such a bonus! Thank you so much! Would you please email me directly at amanda decodingdelicious. Thanks and talk to you soon! This made me wonder about mixing eggs in general. Is there a basis for that? Adding a little milk or water to eggs makes them cook up more moist and fluffy because of the extra steam they create when the eggs hit the frying pan. Is there any advantage to using milk instead of water? Not too much; milk just brings a bit more flavor. Your email address will not be published.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. Yes, put me on Decoding Delicious' mailing list! This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Top Ten Rules for Egg Foams: 1.

Room-temp v Cold egg whites. Old v Fresh eggs. Copper v Plastic v Other glass or stainless bowl. Copper bowl. Like this: Like Loading November 9, at am. Lynne L. O'Leary says:. November 8, at pm. Robert Stordy says:. June 12, at am. At that point they can no longer do their job on the watery bubble surface. The forces of surface tension start to take over again and the bubbles start to pop. What to do about it? While nothing can ultimately protect an egg foam from too much whipping, there are a few steps you can take to broaden your margin of error.

Copper ions serve that purpose very nicely, which is why more than a few egg white whippers like to use copper bowls. On the less expensive side of the spectrum are some simple additives. Copper ions can be had in the form of a dietary supplement, available at your friendly neighborhood health food store. A somewhat less effective yet much more readily available option is acid in the form of vinegar, lemon juice or cream of tartar.

I expect a fair amount. I have three recipes for Pavlova. Two ask for vinaegar. Of those two, one cornstarch, the other cream of tarter. The third, MarthaStewert has neither. Do both the cornstarch and the vinegar, especially if this is a first time. The acid will help ensure a high whip and the cornstarch will help prevent weeping. Have fun! I had to whip some egg whites for a recipe one day. Worried that any invisible fat residue in my clean bowl would hinder the volume, I squeezed some lemon juice into the bowl for insurance and wiped it out with a paper towel without rinsing the bowl out.

I never thought that it might have more to do with the action of the acid on the surface of the bowl than just using a squeaky clean bowl! What is the purpose of cream of tartar in egg foam? Why is my egg white not getting stiff? How do you beat egg whites with cream of tartar?

What happens when you whip egg white? Can I store whipped egg white? How long does it take to whisk egg white by hand? How long do you beat eggs for stiff peaks? What happens if you put too much cream of tartar? Is cream of tartar a laxative? Is cream of tartar harmful? Does cream of tartar leave an aftertaste? Is cream of tartar good for cleaning? What does cream of tartar react with? What happens when you mix cream of tartar with vinegar?