I really like meringues - quick to make, keep for a long time, taste great and an easy way to get some extra protein.
Now, I have read all over that cooking eggs on the stove doesnt wreck the protein. But, does anyone know if the procss of making meringues (about 2 hours on a low temperature, 250-300 degrees) affects the protein in any way?
Thanks
D
hhhmmm…i like meringues too, except that as soon as i start eating them i can’t stop!!
What is it and how do you make one?
They’re whipped egg-whites with a sweetener and some flavoring/food color.
They actually melt in your mouth… There’s a low carb version out there, with sugar alcohol used instead of sucrose.
Cooking definitely denatures protein.
A protein is kind of a wrinkled-up molecule, and cooking a protein “unravels” it.
This has nothing to do with how well the body absorbs it, as long as you don’t cook protein sources to the point where they become charcoal.
This is AFAIK.
Danny “The Cook” McV
The protein will still be fine.
Also, my favorite sweet treat is a BIG assed sweet potato with splenda and cinnamon!
YUM YUM!
Good eats!
Time for a little SECRET! Splenda has the same amount of calories as sugar!
Read the ingredients of splenda…DEXTROSE (and if you remember Dextrose is another name for glucose with a glycemic index of 150) and sucralose. So they’re not lying to you when they say it’s made from sugar. Even sweet and low…Maltodextrin. They all have about 4 calories per packet, but the only difference with them is that you need a lot less of them to have the same effect as you would with packets of sugar.
Sincerely,
The Splenda exposer
youre wrong about the splenda bro… they can’t lie about the nutritional info. Not to mention it is a derivitive of dextrose and malodextrin… it isnt actually either.
I don’t remember the source, but there are some proteins in egg whites that are only absorbable when they are cooked.
i agree with you proteinpowda. gram for gram splenda does have the same calories as sugar. however, one teaspoon of splenda weighs 0.5 grams and has 2 calories and one teaspoon of sugar weighs 5 grams and has 20 calories. Maltodextrin is just a substrate to which the sucralose is bound. gram for gram splenda is about 10 times as sweet as sugar.
just my 2 pence,
bikeboy
Years ago, I re-discovered home-made meringues at a party and made a HUGE pig of myself (they still talk about it). I got the recipe, and make them every year at the holidays, then try not to eat many.
I’ve made cocoa meringues, too, and meringues with nuts (walnuts are great for this); now I’m wondering if a chocolate protein powder would mix well and balance out some of the sugar? A couple scoops of Low-carb Grow? Hmmm. NOW I’m wondering if Low-Carb Grow could be used for brownies, cakes, cookies, pudding.
Hmmm.
Tim “Rev up the Test Kitchen” Shaw
I’m not buying it.
A packet of Splenda has 4 calories.
A packet of sugar (1 tsp) has 16 calories.
I find the packet of Splenda to be FAR more sweet than the packet of sugar, hence I use WAY less Splenda.
Now, you being vegge actually makes me think you’re probably fairly intelligent nutritionally, but please show me the research you’re taking this from.
Thanks!
So how does one make’m?
Recipe for Meringues
(working from memory, and with the understanding that there are variations)
(Geez. Never thought I’d be reproducing a meringue recipe HERE.)
2 egg whites (brought to room temperature)
1/2 teaspoon Cream of Tartar
3/4 cup sugar (but I usually use less)
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
Put egg whites into a mixing bowl and use highest speed.
When they get foamy, add the Cream of Tartar and pinch of salt.
(You may want to use a spatula to get the stuff from the sides of the bowl into the path of the beaters.)
As it gets foamier/thicker, slowly add sugar. I normally do a double batch, doubling all the ingredients EXCEPT sugar–I just use a single cup instead of 1.5 for a double batch.
Keep spatula-ing and whipping and adding sugar until “it forms stiff, white peaks” (but they won’t always be “stiff” and often droop–pause for the audience to make humorous remarks).
Stop the beaters, scrape all the extra meringue off the beaters.
Sprinkle the vanilla into the bowl and fold it in–use the spatula and gently mix it in; you don’t want to move fast or stir it, or the meringue becomes less stiff and more like a liquid.
There’s a slightly different order of events when adding cocoa powder, and I can’t remember it, but I’m half seriously thinking about Grow and egg whites.
Drop blobs of it onto a cookie sheet, and put it in a 200 degree oven. Seriously. Only 200 degrees. Leave them in for 2 hours, maybe more. Higher temperature and they turn brown, which is the sugar caramelizing. I don’t like that. If you’re also concerned about whether heat destroys the proteins, keep it as low as possible. You’re almost not baking them as much as drying them out. When you can tap them and they feel solid, take them out and let them cool. Eat. (Not too many.)
the protein in the meringues is fine. whipping in the air and cooking at lower and prolonged temperature is just an oddly fancy way of making scrambled eggs essentially. just make sure you don’t put in too much sugar - definitely look for sweeteners that will curb the amount of carbs you ingest.