Conference turris::cooks

    I'd think it would be loss of moisture that shrinks the meringue.   The
    meringue you use on top of pie doesn't get really dry like the ones you
    bake separately and slap thick cream between, so there's still moisture
    there to dry out.   When I was little (a long time ago!), we used to
    put the occasional leftover lemon meringue pie on the cellarhead, which
    was probably moister than the inside of a fridge, but the meringue
    still shrank.
    
    Perhaps the answer is to eat the whole thing at the first sitting.

Actually, the reason meringue shrinks is that it loses air. As it dries
out, the air bubbles burst, and the whole mass shrinks.

There are a couple of things you can do about this. One is to add a
commercial stabilizer when you beat the egg whites. These act similarly
to cream of tartar, and give the meringue more body to resist
shrinking. The air bubbles still burst, but the mass holds its shape
better. I don't know exactly how these work chemically, but maybe
somebody who does can explain.

Another thing you can do is to cook it more so that the outside is
stiffer. If you check the baking instructions for pure meringue (I
forget what this is called, we always called it "nun's farts" -- excuse
my irreverence :-), you'll find out how to bake it so that it cooks
more. I believe (not sure) that it requires lower temperature for
longer time. This will have the possibly undesirable result of
stiffening the meringue more than you'd like, though.

    Also, when you are putting the meringue on top of the pie, make sure
    that you spread the meringue all the way to the edge of the pie crust.
    Then make sure that the meringue has 'grabbed onto' to crust by taking
    the knife/spatula and giving it an extra touch or two at the edge.
    Sometimes if the meringue has not grabbed onto the crust before it has
    baked, it will 'shrink'. The first few times that I made lemon meringue
    pie it shrank but after telling my mother-in-law about it, she gave me
    this hint and it has worked every time.
    

    So the creme of tarter is a stablizer that helps the
    meringue hold its shape??  BTW: what IS a stablizer. Other types/uses.
    Is that what I "heard" you say? I was always under the 
    impression that tarter was just to help the whites stiffen, 
    I'll try it to help the meringue to (Stay Put!)
    
    re: .1 sometimes I'd love to eat the whole thing in one day, but
    that's another problem... ie: weight control.
    
    How bout if I put it in my special plastic pie holder. Maybe that
    would displace some of the air drying it out.  I don't put plastic
    wrap on the top cuz it sticks to the meringue.
    
    thanks for the info, guess you're never to olde to learn
    

A "stabilizer" is a general word for any additive which helps the stuff
its added to stay the way it is (keep from breaking down, separating,
souring, etc). In the cooking biz, the stabilizers I'm most familiar
with are those which help whipped cream and meringue to keep hold their
shape. They do this by causing the bubble walls to be stiffer, so that
as it dries out, they hold their shape rather than collapsing. Gelatin
will do the same thing, but many people don't like the spongy or
springy consistency gelatin gives.

For both meringue and whipped cream, cream of tartar, cornstarch, and
powdered sugar (which usually has cornstarch added) all have some
stabilizing effect. I don't know what's in the commercial stabilizers,
but I can tell you that these *really* work well -- you only need a
tiny amount, and they give a perfect texture and last a long time. I
believe they're all naturally derived (nothing "artificial").

I don't think that a special pie holder will prevent meringue from
collapsing, because the air will still escape as the bubbles break. It
will leave the meringue and fill the inside of the container.

The trick of having the meringue touch the crust works very well
visually, because it won't shrink in diameter. But you can still see
that it gets lower. Also, collapsing meringue leaves a slimy coating of
egg white on the top of the pie filling after a couple of days (not
that you'd want it to be around that long, but my wife used to make
pies for a restaurant, and I don't want to tell you how long those
could sit before being served -- erk.. gives me goose bumps just
thinking about it).

    thanks Mike, boy I'd like to have you around
    my house when it cook'n time...

    I seem to recall that refrigeration also makes the white's weep.
    
    mj
    

    
    RE: Shrinking Merinque
    
    Another approach to preventing meringue toppings from shrinking is to
    make a firmer meringue.  To do this, you could add additional sugar to
    a traditional spreading (French) meringue.  4 tablespoons per egg white
    instead of the standard 2 will produce a firmer meringue (folding in
    the additional sugar at the end will produce a crunchier product if
    that is to your liking).   Another possibility is to use an Italian
    meringue, which is made from egg whites and a sugar syrup.  The hot
    syrup is beaten into the whites, which partially cooks them and yields
    a firmer (and potentially safer) meringue.   A basic recipe for Italian
    meringue follows.
    
    Italian Meringue
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    2 cups sugar   \ Heat together over moderate heat, swirling pan until
    2/3 cup water  / it comes to a boil and turns clear.  Simmer covered
    		     over low heat while beating egg whites.
    
    3/4 cup egg whites (6 eggs) at room temperature
    Big pinch of salt
    1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
    1/2 teaspoon vanilla
    
    In a large bowl, beat egg whites, starting at slow speed.  When eggs
    begin to foam up, beat in salt and cream of tartar, and gradually
    increase speed to fast, until egg whites form stiff peaks.  Beat in
    vanilla.
    
    Remove cover from sugar syrup and boil rapidly until it reaches 238
    degrees on a candy thermometer.  Beating egg whites at medidium speed,
    drizzle in sugar syrup until all is used.  Continue beating egg whites
    at moderate speed until cool (8-10 minutes) and mixture forms stiff
    peaks when beaters are lifted.   [Makes 6 cups]
    
    

    Made another merinque pie last nite.  Boy this one shrunk/shrank
    BIG TIME.  Wish I had read your receipe.  Next time I'll try
    it, maybe it will work. I tried the creme of tarter this time
    and it didn't help.  I'm at a loss, time for a new recipe