Nine times in ten the answer is fat: a speck of yolk, or a bowl that was not properly
clean. Fat prevents the proteins from linking into a foam, and it takes remarkably little.
Check in this order — the list is deliberately ranked by how often each one is the culprit.
1. Look for yolk
Even a fleck ruins the whole bowl. If you can see any, start over with fresh whites —
nothing removes it.
Next time: separate each egg over a small cup and tip the clean white into
the main bowl. Break one badly and you lose one white, not five.
2. Check the bowl, and change it if it is plastic
Residue from a previous job will do it, and you cannot see it. Wipe the bowl and beaters
with a little vinegar or lemon juice on kitchen paper.
Plastic bowls hold a microscopic film of fat that washing does not remove.
Glass, metal or ceramic. This is the fix people are most reluctant to believe and most
surprised by.
3. Warm the whites
Cold whites are more viscous and take much longer to build volume — so if the foam is
merely slow rather than absent, this is likely it. Thirty minutes on the counter,
or five in a bowl standing in lukewarm water.
4. Check what you added and when
Salt destabilises the foam: if a recipe calls for it, add it after soft peaks form.
Sugar added at the start weighs it down: beat to soft peaks first, then add gradually.
5. Consider the age of the eggs
Awkward but real. Very fresh whites are thick and slow to whip; very old ones whip fast
and hold poorly. About a week old is the sweet spot.
When it is a write-off
If the whites are grainy, dull and separating in the bowl, they are overbeaten rather than
under — the protein has been stretched past recovery. Nothing brings that back.
Reading the bowl
| In the bowl | Behind it |
|---|---|
| Stays liquid, no foam at all | Fat — yolk or bowl |
| Foams but stays soft | Cold whites, or salt too early |
| Volume, then collapse | Overbeaten, or sugar too soon |
| Grainy and separating | Overbeaten — start again |
Also in the reference:
Why meringue weeps ·
Why cream will not whip ·
Why sponge cake is dense ·
Babà with Chantilly Cream