Shoutout to the guy who told me to freeze my meringue before baking

I was making a lemon tart for a party in Portland and someone at the market said freezing the meringue peaks for 20 minutes before torching would make them super stable. So I piped it, froze it, and went to brûlée it... and the whole thing just slumped into a sad, flat puddle the second the heat hit. My kitchen smelled like burnt sugar for hours. Has anyone else had a kitchen hack backfire spectacularly?

3 comments

3 Comments

vera291mo agoMost Upvoted

Oh man, that "sad, flat puddle" is the worst feeling. I wonder if the issue was the meringue itself, not the freezing. If it wasn't whipped to really stiff peaks first, the structure just wasn't there to hold up, and the freezing just delayed the collapse. I've had better luck just making sure the meringue is super stiff and piping it onto a completely cool filling right before I torch it. Freezing seems like it would create a huge temperature shock.

keith1641mo ago

Freezing a meringue sounds like a great way to make a science fair volcano, just tastier.

jordan5111mo ago

Sounds like a classic case of trusting random advice too much. Not every kitchen fail needs a deep post-mortem.