What should stiff peaks look like

Your egg whites will start to turn foamy, airy, and opaque. Cream will start to thicken, become smooth, and leave trails in the mixture. To test: When you lift up your beaters, peaks will form, but curl down slightly at the ends. Use your mixture immediately as it will deflate over time. Be very careful especially when whipping small amounts of egg whites or cream for they can become over-whipped very quickly!

Over-whipped cream will become grainy and curdled due to the separation of fats and liquids. Once this has happened, there is no turning back. You can only continue whipping it to create butter, or start with a fresh batch of cream. Another tell-tale sign is when your mixture becomes dry and clumpy, instead of smooth and silky. You can try saving it by adding another fresh egg white free of egg yolks or grease to the mixture and whisking it in until it is incorporated.

When you whip egg whites, you're essentially forcing air into the egg whites, causing the protein in the egg whites to stretch and create bubbles around the water within the whites. As you whip them they reach different stages:. Watch these stages carefully, because if you over-beat the egg whites the stretched protein will break and let the water in the whites out, creating a really unappetizing mix of eggy water and foam.

Fresh egg whites will whip up quicker and be more stable than whites from older eggs. Eggs are easiest to separate when they are cold but they are easiest to whip up effectively when they are at room temperature. So separate the eggs when they are cold and let the whites sit out for about half an hour to take the chill off them before whipping if you can spare the time.

Be very careful when you separate the eggs. Any yolk or other fat, oil, or grease that makes its way into the whites will keep the whites from whipping up as big and fluffy as possible. When separating more than a few eggs, consider using the three-bowl method: one bowl to crack the egg into, one to put the whites in, and one to put the yolks in. That way the accumulated whites aren't contaminated by yolk if you accidentally break one. You'll notice a fancy unlined copper bowl in the pictures, a device specifically made for whipping egg whites.

While it is a beautiful tool and if you have one, you should certainly use it since the ions from the copper help stabilize the egg whites science is cool! Any clean, large bowl will work just fine. What to do with the yolks? Make a pudding or make mayonnaise-type sauces aioli is another great option. Use a large clean whisk if you have a balloon whisk, all the better or clean beaters or the whisk attachment on a standing mixer to whip the eggs just until a bit foamy.

Both salt and cream of tartar act as stabilizers and will help the egg whites hold their shape when whipped. Remember: if you do happen to be using a copper bowl, skip the cream of tartar. Also, if you don't happen to have cream of tartar lying around, don't worry or rush out to the store; plenty of egg whites have been whipped up without its help! Now it's time to whip, or beat, the egg whites.

If doing it by hand, you want to do this vigorously, in a big up-and-down circular motion to work as much air into the mix as possible. If using electric beaters or a standing mixer, medium speed beats the eggs while also letting you monitor their progress sufficiently. Lift the beaters and invert. If the tip of the peak stands up straight and does not bend, your egg whites have reached the stiff peak stage. If the recipe calls for stiff but not dry peaks, inspect the surface of the egg whites in the bowl.

The surface should still appear glossy. If the recipe says stiff and dry peaks, continue beating until that glossiness has disappeared. That is the stiff and dry peak stage. Bubbles are no longer visible More beating and you can no longer see the bubbles. The egg whites also start acquiring volume and, at this stage, it is totally opaque. Peaks starting to form As you continue beating the egg whites, a whirlpool starts to form around the beaters.

The whirlpool also collapses and the surface of the mixture is still mostly flat. Soft peak stage As you reach the soft peak stage, the whirlpool that forms around the beaters rise higher. This is the soft peak stage.