Making a pavlova, tips please

floss2

Add a tiny pinch of caster sugar.

angeltreats

Bless you, you'll get it next time! Make sure the bowl is absolutely clean and there isn't a single drop of egg yolk in there. Separate the egg whites into a different bowl one at a time before adding them to the 'proper' bowl, if you're not too confident at separating eggs, just to make sure you don't get any yolk in there. A glass or stainless steel bowl is better than plastic, because plastic tends to hold onto any grease that's been in there, and it's the grease that will stop your egg whites from beating properly.

Also older eggs beat far better than very fresh ones, so if you have any old eggs to use up then meringue is a great thing to make with them

jackieglasgow

Wipe the bowl with some lemon juice or vinegar and put a tiny pinch of salt in the whites to help them break down. If you seperate them through your fingers it may be easier for you, but do them one at a time in a separate bowl as angeltreats said. When you manage it you'll be jumping for joy!

msb5262

Oh laura - poor you!
I don't understand what can have happened. Were you beating them with an electric mixer or by hand?

Silaqui

Laura, don't worry! Everyone has their 'bugbear' that they just can't do - I can cook most things but when I try to make cheese sauce or white sauce it just turns out awful!
My dad is a former chef and I asked why it never worked for me, and asked him to teach me how to do it properly - he stood over me, I followed his instructions to the letter and it still didn't work!
Go buy yourself a meringue case and imagine you made it - you certainly put the effort in!
x

msb5262

I reckon the answer is threefold:
a) use machinery of some description - ideally an electric hand-whisk,
b) rinse the bowl and the whisk with boiling water to de-grease them before you start, and
c) keep going for longer than you'd ever thought possible.
I remember learning to make meringues from my friend's mum...she made me keep beating, beating, beating the egg whites and eventually they "went".
Hope it works for you next time you try...
MsB

twinkle662009

Hi,

I am making pavlova for dessert this Christmas but i was going to make 2. One with the Cream and one with an alternative. Trouble is now i am not sure what i can use as an alternative. A few of us dont like cream. I though of ice cream, but i will be taking it to My Mums, and not sure if it would last.

Please Help !!!!! thanks xxx

ubamother

you could serve it quite simply with a simple raspberry coulis - take the coulis in a jug or something, and just pour a bit over when you serve. I quite often drizzle the top with melted white chocolate and serve with coulis. Ice cream would be lovely with it - could you freeze it really hard and pop it in a coolbox with iceblocks, or even in a food thermos and pop straight in your mum's freezer, or find some way of getting ice cream into your mum's freezer ready for your arrival?

lisa26_2

I use either natural yogurt or creme fraiche with lemon curd stirred into it.

Butterfly_Brain

I would use custard or creme fraiche