Cantaloupe Meringue Pie Recipe - Back to the Cutting Board (2025)

FAQs

What is the liquid at the bottom of the lemon meringue pie? ›

Meringue pies will ''weep'' water because of the interaction between the filling and the whipped meringue. If one or the other is overcooked, water beads will form and weep. Egg whites can also weep if they are over-beaten or are from old eggs. Refrigeration (unfortunately) speeds up the process of weeping—oops!

If the meringue is swirled onto a cool filling and baked, steam in the reheating filling just reaches the meringue. As the pie cools, the steam condenses to form the sweet weeping (sometimes a pool) under the meringue.

French meringue is made with egg whites and sugar beaten until light and airy, then baked in the oven. Some recipes call for a small amount of cream of tartar or cornstarch, which helps stabilize the meringue and prevent it from deflating. But there are other methods for creating a more stable meringue.

Cornstarch: Cornstarch is an excellent way to foolproof your meringue. Use it to create added fluff and keep your hard-won volume from shrinking. Cream of Tartar: Often added in when making meringues, acidic cream of tartar provides lift and stabilization.

Fixing runny meringue is usually as simple as whisking more air into the mixture and waiting for it to develop stiff peaks. You can also add another egg white or a teaspoon of cornstarch to get the mix to the consistency you need.

Make sure you're spreading your meringue over a hot — not cooled — pie filling. Otherwise, your meringue will bake on top, but the cooled pie filling won't get hot enough to cook the meringue on its bottom in the short 15 to 20 minutes needed to bake a meringue.

If you have leftover meringues, you can store them at room temperature or in the freezer for up to 1 month. If it's a warm or humid day, place your meringues in the fridge for 30 minutes first to make sure they're cool.

What I have found helpful is to score the curd with a fork, which roughens up the surface and helps it to stick, but that roughed up look may not be your idea of a good looking pie. Alternatively, dust the surface with a little cornflour while it's setting which gives a slightly pasty grip to the meringue.

To store a meringue-topped pie overnight, insert wooden toothpicks into meringue halfway between the center and edge of the pie; loosely drape clear plastic wrap over the toothpicks. Refrigerate for up to 2 days. Refrigerate whipped cream-topped pies for up to 4 hours.

Why do you put vinegar in meringue? ›

Acid. Whether it be vinegar, lemon juice, cream of tartar, or a combination, an acid will greatly improve the structure of meringue. Acid not only helps meringue whip up and aerate more quickly, it also keeps it stable. Without acid, meringue is more likely to collapse either during or after mixing.

Over whip the egg whites and you risk making them too firm and they will risk losing the moisture that they hold. This will affect your meringue's crispness, as well as making it more likely to collapse or weep beads of sugar. As my meringue guru Gary Mehigan advises: “If you over whip the egg whites you cannot fix it.

Mix sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks, lemon juice, and lemon zest together in a bowl; pour into pie crust. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Five minutes before pie is done, beat egg whites and cream of tartar together in a bowl using an electric mixer on high speed until foamy.

You can also try adding more butter a tablespoon at a time once the meringue has cooled. Butter should be cool but malleable, not too soft. If the meringue mixture becomes flat or runny when the sugar is added then it usually means that the egg whites were not quite whisked enough before the sugar was added.

Now for the hard part: Your lemon meringue pie must cool completely before you slice it, about six hours. The wait will be worth it, though, because the filling will continue to thicken and set while it cools.

Gelatinisation of the starch in the cornflour thickens the lemon and water as they reach boiling point Denaturation of the protein in the eggs whites due to the acid from the lemon juice and the mechanical action of the beaters Coagulation of the protein in eggs in the sauce and the meringue when heated Caramelisation ...