Hand Beating vs Hand Mixer for Egg Whites

[H.C. Heartland]

I have a friend from Great Britain who only hand beats her egg whites for a meringue. I on the other hand use a hand mixer. What is your preferred method of beating your egg whites?

 

[LetThemEatCake]

I've been doing it by hand lately, but only because my mixer shorted out on me...it was pretty old. Time for a new one! I don't think it makes much difference, unless I'm wrong? Correct me if I am!

 

[H.C. Heartland]

I have not done enough of both to compare them fairly. I know the by hand way, is a good arm workout! haha Maybe we should start a new thread, 'work outs while cooking'. But I thought maybe someone might have a reason why it was better like getting more air into the whites or something. But I haven't read anything about it as of yet. Thanks for the input!

 

[VTEC 9/12/44]

A fork works just fine. I think we have some sort of mixer but we hardly ever need to use it. It does make excellent buttercream frosting, though.

 

[NThomas]

I have tried wisking egg white be hand but but it never works for me. Is there a trick to it or somthing tha I am not doing. For now I will stick to my stand mixer for getting those stiff peaks on egg whites.

 

[mdavidson7616]

I started using a whisk, but now I use a fork. I can always find a fork, and I have never noticed a difference in the taste of the eggs. My whisk is always buried with the other large utensils. I almost never think to use it.

 

[H.C. Heartland]

My grandmother told me she often puts baking soda (just a pinch) in her eggs while she is hand whisking and it helps. But this might be tricky depending on the other ingredients in your recipe.

 

[Annabell]

I prefer hand mixing eggs. No real idea why to be honest, it just...feels better, you know? I mean, I know it doesn't make much of a difference, but it just feels better hand beating sometimes.

 

[Tina Nord]

The hand method hurts my arm too much. I have a Kitchen Aid hand mixer and that thing is my best friend. It is well worth the money I paid for it a few years ago.

 

[limcid]

I love tools, but I think certain things are more fun when done by hand. Sometimes I like to avoid the manual labor of certain aspects of a recipe, but then again, sometimes it's the process that is a part of the enjoyment of the final result. Time is also a factor. You also have better control when doing things manually because the mixing isn't happening so quickly. You can quickly overmix something if you don't have enough experience with the mixer and/or the recipe.

 

[kammy]

Honestly it doesn't matter much to me... it all depends what i am in the mood to do at a given time...whether i choose to whisk my eggs or use a hand mixer to get it done it doesn't affect the outcome of my bake product...so it doesn't matter much to me.

 

[JessiFox]

I definitely prefer just whisking it by hand, I like being hands on with my cooking and baking, and you have more control that way. It's easy enough you could even do it with a fork, so no need to rely on much else.

 

[H.C. Heartland]

The hand method hurts my arm too much. I have a Kitchen Aid hand mixer and that thing is my best friend. It is well worth the money I paid for it a few years ago.

You are not the first person to tell me that. I have had more than one say once they go 'KitchenAid' they'll never go back. One of these days I'm going to have to break down and see for myself. I just wish it didn't take up so much counter space though. My mother has one at her house and it mostly ends up being a bowl to hold all her tools. I actually found myself searching for the hand beater because I was too lazy to take all the stuff out of the bowl and wash it! lol Serves me right for being lazy, next time I'll have to make sure to use it and not just stare at it thinking, 'that's pretty!'

 

[Trellum]

I have a friend from Great Britain who only hand beats her egg whites for a meringue. I on the other hand use a hand mixer. What is your preferred method of beating your egg whites?

Man.... your friend must have an iron hand, lol. I tried hand beating egg whites some weeks ago... total and absolute failure! I couldn't do it! I wanted to get some meringue to prepare something nice for my mom, but nope... we need to buy a mixer! How long does it take for your friend to get those white eggs turned into meringue???

 

[Trellum]

The hand method hurts my arm too much. I have a Kitchen Aid hand mixer and that thing is my best friend. It is well worth the money I paid for it a few years ago.

Same here!!!!!! I've never been able to eat egg whites correctly by hand and truly admire those who do, but for some reason my hand gets so tired after the first two minutes... I'm such a failure at this, I know, lol. I wish I didn't need a mixer for this, but I do... my hands aren't what they used to be.

 

[H.C. Heartland]

Man.... your friend must have an iron hand, lol. I tried hand beating egg whites some weeks ago... total and absolute failure! I couldn't do it! I wanted to get some meringue to prepare something nice for my mom, but nope... we need to buy a mixer! How long does it take for your friend to get those white eggs turned into meringue???

It takes her about 15 minutes! And yes, she does have an iron arm. I couldn't believe it. I guess maybe growing up doing it that way in England she must be used to it? It is not like she is ripped with muscles, she is quite thin! Now, I'm on the beefy side, so you would think I could put some elbow grease into it, but you need to go at a rapid pace to make sure the air gets into the whites otherwise it will never stiffen up. That's why I wanted to ask because she seemed to prefer doing it that way. We were all volunteers sharing a home and it was equipped with a mixer and she STILL did it that way! So I was thinking maybe there is some scientific reason it is better. But so far, no one is posting anything so I suggest you get a hand beater. You can even buy non-electric ones that just hand crank that would still be easier than trying to whisk the egg whites yourself.

 

[Trellum]

LOL, omg... I don't have the patience to stand there for 15 minutes, my hand would just.. lol, give up! Jesus! Your friend is my hero!!! I know very few women capable of doing that, plus I heard that you need to have a ''good hand'' or else the whites will never reach that consistency. I don't have a ''good hand'' can't reach a good speed

As for what is better... my friend made this the other day:

This isn't the actual pic, but it helps to explain what I'm about to explain. Well, that yellow think you see is made with egg whites, egg whites with a meringue consistency. I'm not lying... my friend used a hand mixer and just in a few minutes she got meringue! She applied that on the chilies, fry them and I swear they looked so puffy! Like hot cakes... my grandma did this by hand, but never saw that result!

 

[Tara]

It's been awhile since I have made meringue, but I used to whip the eggs by hand. My mom taught me how to make them that way so I just stick with the same method. I could use a hand mixer, but I get joy out of making it by hand. It does take time.

 

[marilou conn]

Why suffer when you can do it by electric mixer? Easy right, you don't get sore arms afterwards. Perhaps if you are a newbie, you need to learn it from the basic and gradually move to a more sophisticated tools, but I'd rather not do whisking if there is a better and easier way of doing it that will not hurt your arm, not unless if you have no access to electricity.