sugar cooking till it bubbles

[Avignonaddict]

Hi,
I'm translating a cookery book which includes the following "cuisez le sucre au petit boulé". As far as I understand it, this means 'cook the sugar (in a little water) till it bubbles lightly'. This 'sugar syrup' will then be whisked into beaten egg whites to make meringues. My question is - does this sound like a reasonable instruction to find in a recipe?

Thank you

[foodnfoto]

No, it's not specific enough. You can combine sugar and a little water and bring it to a boil (bubbles) but it will not be hot enough, nor will enough of the water evaporated, for it to work when making meringues. You need to cook the sugar syrup to 230-234 degrees F (blow or souffle stage) for the sugar in this recipe to work.

[m brown]

for a meringue you would want the sugar to dissolve, the mixture become clear and come to a rolling boil. depending upon how much moisture you are adding and what you are using the meringue for, you would need a proper temp on the syrup.

Older books are not as clear as todays texts.

[Avignonaddict]

Originally Posted by m brown

for a meringue you would want the sugar to dissolve, the mixture become clear and come to a rolling boil. depending upon how much moisture you are adding and what you are using the meringue for, you would need a proper temp on the syrup.

Older books are not as clear as todays texts.

Thank you m brown and foodnfoto - I think 'rolling boil' is good. It's a brand new book I'm translating, so a bit worrying - I suspect neither temperature nor quantity of water are specified because the French assume everyone knows how to cook everything, and just needs to be given ideas for combinations of ingredients!!

[even stephen]

I think they didn't give the amount of water because they were describing
a stage of evaperation and the size of the bubble at that specific stage...
the bubbles will become bigger and bigger as the water evaporates. the
bubbles are small but present throughout the sugar/water solution at softball
stage, or at, I think 234 F. The old recipes will always give you the amount of
sugar, but hardly ever the amount of water in recipes like that on, because you just don't need it...good luck...

[siduri]

what i understood from reading i don;t remember what a long time ago, is that petit boule is actually a precise term referring to a precise temperature (like our "soft ball stage"
It must have been in julia child that i saw it, but i can;t find it in what i have here. look it up, probably internet will tell. I do believe it actually is the french term for soft ball stage.

[castironchef]

From what I've seen, "petit boule" means 248 F, or firm ball.

[Avignonaddict]

Thank you all very much. I had no idea such a thing existed! (Luckily most of the recipes used methods I'd previously heard of.)

Anyway, I really appreciate all your help.

[Risque Cakes]

It sounds like you're making an ITALIAN meringue icing...look at those recipes and compare