It sits atop pies in mouth-watering, billowy proportions. It's a cooking crescendo when modest egg whites become voluptuous meringues. Chocolate pie tastes so much better when topped with a fluffy meringue. As a small child in my mother's kitchen, meringue was a great mystery, a magic trick Mom performed with a mixer and a few key ingredients.
Meringue is an old-fashioned flourish that impresses with minimal effort.
My mom is a fine baker. She caps the most delicious rice custard pudding and chocolate cream pie with mounds of meringue. Mom was a newlywed when she first tried the chocolate cream pie that my aunt Jean brought to a family picnic. Mom thought it was the richest, most delicious chocolate pie she'd ever tasted. Naturally, it was covered with meringue.