Beating egg whites cold vs. warm - Japanese cheesecake
Namiko Chen's recipe for Japanese cheesecake specifically requires that the egg whites be beaten chilled. I have also asked my Japanese friends to check other Japanese recipes and they get the same instructions. On the other hand, Western recipes for Japanese cake calls for the egg whites to be beaten at room temperature. I assume that since Japanese souffle cheesecake is originally from Japan, the Japanese version is the "correct" one and that the room-temperature requirement is a modification by Westerners who copied the recipe.
I have tried Namiko's recipe with great results. The egg whites took quite some time to beat, but they remained stable even without cream of tartar. I presume beating the egg whites cold will take a longer time but will give more stability, but is this something that's well-known? I know that the same holds for cream, I just have never read it for egg whites.
Best Answer
I've always heard beat egg whites at room temperature, but cream when it's cold. I was only able to find one study that included this information.
According to Miller and Vail 42 the whipping temperature of the egg white affects its foaming capacity and stability. Beating egg whites at room temperature (70–80 °F/21–27 °C) resulted in improved whipping quality, more stable foams and tenderer cakes with greater volume than egg whites beaten at lower temperatures.38, 42 Conversely, beating egg whites (to the soft peak stage) at 2 °C or 22 °C did not show any significant difference in the time needed to achieve such consistency nor in the final volume of the cake
Essentially colder eggs tend to be less stable when made into meringue, but shouldn't take a significantly different amount of time. They go on to say that if you're using an electric mixer it probably doesn't matter as much.
McGee6 recommends using eggs at room temperature but also states that eggs kept under refrigeration warm up while beating and will whip just as well, especially when using electric mixers.
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Do egg whites beat better when warm or cold?
Eggs are easiest to separate when they're cold because the yolk is firmer and less likely to break. But when it comes to beating the whites, as you do for souffl\xe9s or meringues (see \u201cHow to Make Meringue\u201c), it's best to have them at room temperature (65\xb0F to 70\xb0F).Do cold egg whites beat faster?
Are Cold Egg Whites Or Room Temperature Egg Whites Better For Whipping? Eggs are typically easier to separate when cold, but easier to whip when room temperature. Room temperature whites beat faster than cold egg whites. (The proteins are more flexible when they're closer to room temperature than when they're cold.)Why does my Japanese cheesecake not rise?
If you cake has not risen at all in the oven, then your initial temperature is too low, or your egg whites were over or under beaten (you want glossy beautiful stiff peaks), or you have over-mixed your final batter. If you don't get a brown top, again the temperature may have been too low.What does beat egg whites do when heated?
When egg whites are beaten they form little balloons of air that expand when heated. The trapped air in the stiff whites lifts, or at least prevents the flattening of, the mixture as it cooks.Fluffy Japanese Cheesecake
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