FoodNet

Experimental cookery

1932

Page 287

Presented as published in 1932. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
With the type of whisk that produces the very curdled appearance of the egg white, the cell walls of the omelet or souffle are more likely to collapse during baking, and, by many cell walls running together, a very coarse texture is obtained or the product falls. The above statements regarding whisks also apply to egg beaters of the rotary type. There is some variation in the width and the curvature of the blades of these beaters. If the quotation concerning emulsifying apparatus, from Clayton, in the chapter on emulsions is changed to read, "It is quite reasonable to believe that for any given egg beater there exists an optimum speed or degree of agitation or beating, and an optimum time of beating, whereby the most 350 EGG COOKERY perfect beaten egg white is obtained for a definite use," the statement may apply equally to egg beaters. Longer experience only emphasizes the importance of the foregoing quo- tation from the chapter on emulsions. For instance, in the Foods Laboratory a procedure had been worked out whereby excellent angel cake is made by beating the egg white and adding the sugar, using high speed on the Kitchen Aid. The beating must be timed to the second, because with several hundred r. p. m. a few seconds too long makes a tremendous difference. When Peet and Lowe began work on starting baked products in cold and preheated ovens, it was necessary to mix six times the angel cake recipe at one time. But it was found that the time of beating the egg whites on an institutional, large-sized Hobart mixer had to be increased over the time used with the Kitchen Aid to have the same stage of stiffness. Bailey obtained larger volume from the thick portion of the white than from the thin part when whipped on a Hobart type mixer, but results were opposite on an electric Dover type. Barmore states that with hand rotary beaters there w^as more reduction in viscosity for the corresponding reduction in specific gravity than with the electric beater used in his experiments. It has been the experience in this laboratory that Barmore's hand beaters 1 and 2 are poor types. Hand-operated rotary beaters may be turned at varying speeds. But fast initial beating of egg white gives a larger volume to the egg white. The gear ratio for hand-operated rotary beaters is about 1 to 5, i.e., one turn of the handle gives about 5 revolutions of the blades. If the handle is turned 120 r. p. m., the blades would turn about 600 revolutions. The speed of electric mixers, depending on the particular mixer, the speed, and for some mixers the load or stiffness of material used, may range from 300 to 2400 r. p. m. Wire whisks or rotary beaters. One question that is constantly asked regarding the whipping of egg whites is whether it is better to beat them with a whisk or rotary beater. A great deal depends upon whether the egg whisk or rotary beater is a good type of its class or a poor one. If the eggs are whipped so that the cells in the cake are the same size there seems to be little difference in the finished product. Whisks sometimes give a larger volume than rotary beaters in angel cake.