Recipe - Italian (Cooked) Meringue

1 cup Sugar
1/3 cup Water
3 Egg whites
1/8 teaspoon Cream of tartar
1 pn Salt

From Marian Burros column, July 18, 1990 Adapted from Julia Child's
"Mastering the Art of French Cooking," VVolume 2 (Knopf, 1970). Used in
chocolate mousse and other recipes that follow.

Italian (Cooked) Meringue

Combine sugar and water in saucepan and stir well. Cook over mediumhigh
heat but do not stir; swirl pan by handle until mixture comes to a boil.
Let it boil until liquid becomes completely clear.

Reduce heat; cover pan and continue to simmer while beating whites. Beat
whites slowly until foamy. Then beat in cream of tartar and salt. Increase
speed and beat whites until stiff peaks form. Uncover sugar syrup; insert
candy thermometer and boil until temperature reaches 238 degrees, or soft
ball stage. Remove from heat; start to beat whites at medium speed and
slowly pour boiling syrup into whites, beating all the time. Continue to
beat until mixture forms stiff peaks, about 8 minutes.

The meringue is the proper consistency if it does not move when a spatula
is run through it.

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini