Cooking Weather

Your surroundings may affect the final product.

Recipes for meringues, for instance, made by beating egg whites with sugar, look simple. They go together very easily.

It also helps to know that they're best made on dry days.

Sugar dissolves into the egg whites as you beat them.

Then as sugar attracts moisture from the air, you'll notice little beads of syrup form on the surface of the baked meringue.

If meringues sit on the counter on a humid afternoon, or if they're stored in the damp atmosphere of your refrigerator, they can become as sticky as the weather.