The Great Egg White Experiment: What kind of bowl is best? (with Video Demo)

A couple of months ago I found myself whipping lots of egg whites in an effort to master the French Macaron. I have read over and over how copper bowls are superior when it comes to whipping egg whites and wanted to put it to the test. Mauviel was kind enough to send me a copper bowl so I could conduct my great egg white experiment.

I decided to test the egg whites in 4 different bowls: copper, stainless steel, glass, and plastic. I kept the egg whites at a consistent temperature and weighed the whites to ensure that each bowl was as equal as possible. I also timed it and ensured that each bowl was whipped at the same speeds for the same amount of time, up until the point that stiff peaks formed. I used a kitchenaid handmixer to mix each batch. 

RESULTS

Time results. How long did it take for stiff peaks to form?

Copper: 3 minutes 30 seconds

Stainless Steel: 3 minutes 50 seconds

Plastic: 3 minutes 55 seconds

Glass: 4 minutes

Here were the results for volume: 

You can see that the copper bowl (lower right) clearly produced more volume. And no I didn’t smash it down. I followed the same procedure to transfer the egg whites on each bowl. 

Overall, I was kind of disappointed. I thought the copper bowl would make a much bigger difference than it actually did. Clearly it produced superior results, but it just wasn’t mind blowing. In addition to being more voluminous and whipping faster, they were also noticeably firmer which is hard to quantify in a video or photo. A copper bowl obviously isn’t necessary to whip egg whites because even the plastic worked. But if you are into luxury kitchen items, or you make a lot of finicky egg white-based stuff (like macarons), then you may want to consider getting yourself a copper bowl. I do highly recommend the Mauviel brand. They are posh. 

***Disclaimer: While Mauviel USA did provide the bowl to me (because I asked for their help in the experiment), they did not pay for this post. All opinions expressed are my own. 

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