Knowledge Base > Fran Costigan - Fran's 9th Annual Valentines Spectacular


Fran Costigan - Fran's 9th Annual Valentines Spectacular
This event was on
Tuesday, February 11, 2025 at 1:00 pm Pacific, 4:00 pm Eastern
Join renowned pastry chef Fran Costigan, Rouxbe’s Director of Vegan Pastry, for her 9th annual Valentine’s Day Spectacular, a live event celebrating indulgent-tasting plant-based des… Read More.
Question:

What are your thoughts on using aquafaba?
— Char Nolan
Answer:
Well, I think aquafaba is fabulous. Again, this is the meringue that I made just, I mean the first time I did this, you know, I trained tradit traditionally at the New York Restaurant School and I heard about aquafaba and I just really was thinking, I don't see how that's gonna whip like egg whites. And I remember standing over the mixer just in awe because it does you. But here's a tip that that is in our course and in all the recipes that I provide for making a successful aqua aquafaba meringue every time. And that is to reduce the aquafaba. That means to simmer it until some of the liquid is reduced and chill it, I store it in the freezer and that will give you a reliable aquafaba. You use cream of tartar, which is the same thing you would use, it's an acid when making an egg white meringue. And I use a super fine sugar, super fine cake cane sugar, which for me means taking organic vegan fair trade cane sugar and powdering it in my Vitamix. Now I just think it's great.
