Nature 308, 667 - 668 (12 April 1984); doi:10.1038/308667a0

Why whip egg whites in copper bowls?

Harold J. McGee^*, Sharon R. Long^† & Winslow R. Briggs^‡

^*838 La Jennifer Way, Palo Alto, California 94306, USA
^†Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
^‡Department of Plant Biology, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Stanford, California 94305, USA

Foams of chicken egg albumen have been an important element in Western cuisine for at least 300 yr¹; they lower the density of such otherwise ponderous preparations as soufflés and sponge cakes, and in the heat-annealed form known as meringues they support or crown various sucrose-rich mixtures². The raw protein foam is delicate and easily ruined by overheating. Over the past 200 yr, protocols for the production of albumen foams have frequently specified the use of copper reaction vessels³⁻⁵. In keeping with the line of thought that holds culinary practice to be worthy of philosophical and scientific analysis⁶⁻⁸, we have investigated the nature and consequences of the copper protocol. We report here that copper utensils reduce the danger of overheating albumen foams, and propose that the mechanism involves the metal-binding protein, conalbumin (ovotransferrin).

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