At the beginning of Basic Pastry, I could not believe we would have to use a balloon whisk to whisk egg whites into Italian meringue by hand. In addition, we had to use our fingers to check whether the syrup for the Italian meringue has reached soft ball stage. I found I couldn't do either very well; I even told the chef I couldn't do it. But the chef forced all of us to persevere. Now, after weeks of practice, I cannot imagine not whisking Italian meringue by hand, and I'm not afraid to dip my fingers into the syrup anymore. Once you know how to do it, it really isn't that difficult. You just have to break through the psychological barrier in your mind.
When you are making Italian meringue, you have to watch your hand motion. The bowl of egg whites is tilted at an angle, and you use a smooth but large circular motion (with your elbow hardly moving), and you need to make sure you are not whisking from side to side as you tire. When you are whisking with the balloon whisk, the aim is to incorporate air into the mixture, so that it is light and fluffy.
Here, you can see my balloon whisk, next to the regular whisk, which is next to the offset palette spatula. These are three of the most commonly used tools in Basic Pastry, in addition to the weighing scale, plastic scraper, pastry brush, piping bags and piping tips.
