Meringue

Use a clean, dry bowl. The bowl must be grease-free, because any trace amount of fat will wreck a meringue.

Glass, ceramic, stainless steel, and copper bowls are all suitable. Plastic bowls may appear clean, but may still have trace amounts of oil, so do not use them.

Cold eggs separate easily, but eggs whip to a higher volume when at room temperature. The solution is to separate the cold eggs, and then set them aside for 10 or 15 minutes.

Separate each egg into two small bowls, one for the white and one for the yolk, and then add the white portion to the larger bowl.

This allows you to reserve any with broken yolks for another purpose. Even a small amount of yolk can deflate the egg whites, so be careful.  

Add 1/8 teaspoon of cream of tartar per egg white to the unbeaten eggs. Whip to medium-soft peaks. Beat in 2 tablespoons white sugar per egg white.

Continue to beat until egg whites are glossy and hold a firm peak. Adding sugar early in the beating process results in a firmer, finer-textured meringue.  

These five tips should help keep the meringue on your pies from weeping:  Make meringue pies on dry, low-humidity days.  

Be careful not to overbake your meringue—doing so causes the egg whites to shrink and squeeze out small tears of moisture.

Always check your pie at the minimum baking time.  Undissolved sugar in the egg whites may cause weeping.

To make sure the sugar is adequately dissolved, mix the egg whites and sugar at low speed until the mixture feels perfectly smooth with no graininess when you rub a little bit between your thumb and fingers.

You might also try using superfine sugar—it dissolves much more quickly than regular white sugar.  Be sure to prepare meringue before preparing the pie filling so it is ready to spread while the filling is still hot.

The filling’s residual heat will “cook” the meringue onto the filling and make it much less likely to leak or shrink.  Make sure to seal the meringue completely to the edge so it touches the crust.