A Treatise on Egg Cocktails

The era before Prohibition is chronicled by countless historians as a time of insightful cocktail creativity and sophisticated understanding of available ingredients. Despite a modern day cocktail resurgence, it is impossible to imagine modern mixology without the blueprints of the past. With the foundations provided by pioneers of the drink, bartenders today have reinvigorated timeless recipes with unprecedented access to global spirits and ingredients. It is no coincidence that the revolution behind the bar accompanies unprecedented free trade and unlimited information resources. However, despite this era of unrestricted access, the classics, or variations thereof, maintain their status as the most elegant and complex of cocktails - with one exception, cocktails containing eggs.

This week’s Mixology Monday concerning the upcoming Repeal Day reminds us of the importance of pre-Prohibition’s liquid pillars and the techniques used in their invention. While people worldwide have reopened their eyes to the classics, the egg remains a dubious proposition for most. Upon suggesting a cocktail containing egg to new guests, I have come to expect the repulsed and doubtful stare facing me from across the bar. My experience with this situation reveals that expanding people’s drinking preferences requires overcoming two major obstacles: perceptions of disease and expectations of taste.

THE EGG CAMPAIGN

Widespread impressions of salmonella resulting from FDA warnings and misrepresentations of bacteria equate the egg with ground beef, but realistically, the dangers of raw egg are scarcely notable. As with any product that spoils or becomes hazardous overtime, eggs will eventually carry a threat to safety, in this case salmonella. However, if we were to apply the same logic that has made raw eggs the deadly dozen, milk and endless other products that cause illness after extended periods of time would also be avoided. The truth is that salmonella takes at least three to five weeks to develop in eggs, and most harmful bacteria acquired from eggs is obtained from the outside of the egg, not the inside. Each of these threats is easily avoided by cleaning your eggs and maintaining a fresh supply. And even if you don’t take these steps, the chance of becoming sick from consuming raw eggs, as pointed out by Darcy at The Art of Drink and several other sources is 1 in 20,000. Pasteurized eggs are always an option, but I personally just don’t think that under the circumstances they are worth all the trouble.

The risks are indescribably minuscule, but the rewards are bountiful. People frequently tell me that they just don’t see how eggs will taste good in a drink; to which I respond, no scrambled eggs wouldn’t, but raw eggs are different and cannot be conceptualized by past experiences with eating eggs. Specifically, egg whites are 80-95% water. That’s right, they aren’t much different from the ice in your shaker and add very little difference in taste to a drink. “See,” I tell my guests, “There’s nothing to be afraid of; your cocktail will taste just as good” (mostly likely better, depending on where you’ve been drinking) “as anything you’ve had before; just give me a chance. If you don’t like it, I’ll buy your next drink.” I haven’t lost a dime yet.

THE SCIENCE OF EGG WHITES

While the ice comparison is a useful argument, instead of cooling and adding water to cocktails , egg whites act as an emulsifier forging the independent ingredients together. As A Companion for the Young Imbiber explains, when an egg is shaken with a cocktail the proteins become physically agitated and then recollect near air, drastically changing the texture of drinks and creating a foamy layer on top. Alone, this foam would cave quickly, but the presence of citrus juice in many drinks functions as a stabilizer, increasing the longevity of the foam. To get all scientific, the acidity changes the pH of egg whites and promotes the presence of hydrogen ions which makes the egg foam more airy and durable. The same occurs when espresso is shaken with lemon juice, the protein in the espresso is agitated and the citric acid creates a dynamic and flavorful foam.

Foams have garnered a bad rap recently because of their snooty use on shows such as Top Chef and their excessive presence on some restaurant menus. I happen to think that while this may be the case, the use of an additional texture and flavor in drinks such as Jamie Boudreau’s Vessel 75 is not excessive, but delicious. However, many of these foams are generated through the use of chemicals and modern equipment. While they do maintain the benefit on being introduced atop of already created drink and can be very flavorful, as with Jamie’s drink, their longevity fails in comparison to shaking eggs in drinks.

Audrey Saunders documented a side-by-side comparison of gelatin-based foams and egg white foams in a forum established for open questions for Harold McGee on eGullet. Here is a section of her comments:

“I did a side-by-side comparison of both, utilizing a classic gin sour (gin, lemon juice, simple syrup) as the base. When I prepared drink #1 with the addition of an eggwhite, the foam maintained it’s texture and stability for a long period of time; after the drink settled, the foam rose to it’s rightful place at the top of the drink, and remained in the glass long after the drink was finished. I then prepared drink #2 and topped it with gelatin foam; the foam began to deteriorate after approximately 8 minutes.”

After noting these results, Audrey experimented additionally to control any other factors, only to find that the egg foam consistently outlasted the gelatin foam under all circumstances. To which Mr. McGee responds,

“Excellent experiments, Audrey! As you’ve discovered, egg whites are better foam stabilizers than gelatin, alcohol or no alcohol. There are several reasons for this. The egg proteins are relatively small and move easily into place in the bubble walls, and bubbles denature them and cause them to bond permanently to each other. Gelatin molecules are long and tangly and not as mobile, and don’t bond permanently to each other—that’s why jellies can be repeatedly melted and resolidified.”

Wow, I’ve never had a Ramos Gin Fizz at The Pegu Club, but right now, I am betting that they are out of this world, as I would expect most of the drinks are. As Audrey’s experiments indicate, egg whites are more common in cocktails than egg yolks or whole eggs, but all contain protein and the effect is very similar. The addition of egg yolk may however drastically change the flavor of a drink, as it is composed of much more than water and often creates a creamier texture throughout the drink in addition to the foam layer on top. With all this advanced cocktail science packed into the little egg, it is no wonder that eggs have been used in mixed drinks for centuries.

THE HISTORY OF EGGS IN COCKTAILS

William Grimes points out in Straight Up or on the Rocks: The Story of the American Cocktail that utilizing the unique properties of eggs in drinks is a practice dating back to the beginnings of the flip, a mixture that started appearing around 1690 (p. 26). This seemingly strange concoction of eggs, beer, sugar, rum, and others established the egg as a vital element to a good drink. Forget pre-Prohibition; how about pre-American. In this era, the egg reigned supreme as a reliable food source and drink element, but this pinnacle of egg use, unlike the foams discussed earlier, would not maintain its elevated position.

Nevertheless, since this time, eggs have been included in a variety of different drinks, inspiring David Wondrich to devote an entire chapter to them in his new book, Imbibe. Wondrich describes the evolution of the egg use:

“Formerly, a major part of day-to-day drinking, by the middle of the nineteenth century drinks made with eggs had seen their role greatly diminished. There were exceptions. Some fizzes used eggs, or at least parts of them. There was a Flip of sorts, that took the might quaff of Colonial days - when Flips were made from quarts of ale and gills of strong rum, thickened with eggs and sugar and poured back and forth from pitcher to pitcher - and shrank into something that would fit in a cocktail glass” (p. 128).

Flips

Flips seem to be the transitional point for the egg from large community batches containing beer to smaller individual cocktails. Spirits and other ingredients slowly began to replace the beer and on site mixing occurred, indicating that egg drinks were one of many precursors to modern day cocktails. For an example of one of these transitional flips, head back over to The Art of the Drink and check out Darcy’s recent post on the Sherry Flip, a 1700’s drink that dates this evolution and provides what looks like a great recipe to try.

Fizzes

By the 1800’s the use of egg had changed further. Instead of being utilized with everything from beer to wine, the egg used a dwindling number of drinks. Wondrich’s synopsis of Jerry Thomas’s thoughts on fizzes describe them as morning drinks used to alleviate a hangover and provide the vitamins of a good breakfast. This liquid intention inspired the creation of drinks such as the Morning Glory, which Paul of The Cocktail Chronicles discussed recently.

The Morning Glory

1 oz Lemon Juice
1 tsp Sugar
1 Egg White
1/4 oz Absinthe
1 1/2 oz Scotch
1 Dash Peychaud’s Bitters

More on the technique of using eggs later, but for now…

Shake hard in with ice and strain into a collins glass, top with soda. Garnish with the Peychaud’s Bitters. (Recipes may vary, but the above combines Imbibe and CocktailDB).

Not all fizzes contained egg however, but some did. I have read before at Moving at the Speed of Life and in some books that fizzes containing eggs were described as such:

Silver Fizzes - Egg White
Golden Fizzes - Egg Yolk
Royal Fizzes - Whole Egg

While this makes sense, Imbibe makes me think differently. The Golden Fizz, for example, does not seem to be a genre of drinks containing egg yolk, but a specific cocktail which essentially was an alteration of a whiskey sour with the addition of soda water and egg white. Regardless of categories, the egg fizz clearly played a role similar to today’s Bloody Mary.

Perhaps the most legendary of fizzes was the Ramos Gin Fizz. The product of the Ramos brothers’ Imperial Cabinet in New Orleans, this drink, often called the New Orleans Fizz was a closely guarded secret until after Prohibition. Drinkboy writes that the Ramos brothers only let the recipe out “to help ease the pain of prohibition amongst their previous customers”. Robert Hess provides us with that recipe:

Ramos Gin Fizz

1 1/2 oz Dry Gin
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Lime Juice
2 tbs. Heavy Whipping Cream
1 Egg White
1/4 oz Soda Water
1 Tbs. Powdered Sugar
3-4 dashes Orange Flower Water

“Shake all ingredients with ice for at least one minute (or in a blender). This should result in a fairly foamy consistency. Strain into a wine glass and top with club soda.”

I am not sure I would use a blender myself, as I think it would upset what would become a great drink if shaken, but more on tips for using egg later; be patient.

Seasonal Drinks

Today, the niche for eggs has become even smaller. When people generally think of drinks containing egg, they almost exclusively think of egg nog. Nanna Rognvaldardottir points out that this holiday delight is derived from a British drink called a posset. The posset was a drink of British nobility and obviously was linked to the Americanized flip as it combined similar ingredients: eggs, milk, beer or wine. It would eventually be called the egg flip by the British.

Today’s egg nog is similar to most cocktails in that it is largely made from commercial products, and like drinks made from these ingredients is far from the original concept. Instead of a creamy smooth treat, the supermarket egg nog we are forced to consume politely at seasonal family gatherings is usually chunky and often confused for soup, a characteristic no good cocktail should possess.

If you want to a great egg nog recipe, head over to one of my favorite blogs and give Jeffrey Morgenthaler’s a try. To be honest, I haven’t put this one together myself, but a few indications of a great egg nog recipe are present. First, he served it at his bar. Name one other bar you can think of that is brave enough to serve egg nog. You just don’t see that happen - nobody likes it. But, then again, it is never made correctly. Jeffrey’s recipe is devised to not be “overly thick” and is “fairly light”. This is just what egg nog should be, so give his a try.

While egg nog has become the staple, the Tom and Jerry also played a role in the holidays. I am sure the Tom and Jerry has been made respectfully in the past, but my attempts two years ago fell very short. I even like warmed drinks, but this one was just too much for me. I like using eggs in drinks, as I said before, because you get different textures, but I found the Tom and Jerry to actually cook the eggs somewhat when the hot water was added. This made for a very unpleasant taste. I might have used water that was too hot, but either way, the experience was enough to convince me that I can go without another Tom and Jerry in my life. If you want to give it a try, you can use CocktailDB’s recipe.

My trials with the Tom and Jerry may help to explain the look I get when suggesting using eggs in drinks to my bar patrons. As the Tom and Jerry reminds me of my negative experience, today’s commercial egg nog probably flashes before my guests eyes when I propose the concept. If people continue to have negative experiences with eggs via seasonal disasters, the likelihood of these reactions is certain to endure. This will guarantee that the egg continues its transition in cocktail history from dominating drinks to disgusting individuals.

Other Drinks

While most egg cocktails fit nicely into one of the prior three categories (flips, fizzes, and seasonal drinks), some important drinks have yet to be mentioned. Several could be mentioned, but I think two deserved special attention for their distinguishable recipes: The Pisco Sour and The Pink Lady.

The Pisco Sour just might be my favorite cocktail. This meaningless status tends to change frequently, but I think I have been saying this for about 5 months now, which has to be a new record. Additionally, the Pisco Sour inspired all the egg experimentation I have been conducting over the past weeks. The Pisco Sour is the national drink of Peru, and this is how I make mine:

The Pisco Sour

1 1/2 oz Pisco
1/2 oz Cointreau
1 Egg White
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
1/3 oz Simple Syrup
3 Dashes Angostura Bitters

Shake hard for at least one minute and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish the egg foam with the bitters, stirring the top lightly to make a bitters swirl, while minimally altering the foam.

In short, the drink just flat out rocks. The strong deep flavors of the pisco balance well with the sweet and acidic flavors of the syrup and lemon juice. I think that this is why I like this drink so much. So few drinks balance such a wide variety of flavors as well as the Pisco Sour. Throw in the spiced and herbal elements of the bitters with the texture of the egg, and you might just have the best drink ever created. Again, this opinion is likely to change, but its going to be tough to move on.

The Pink Lady is another noteworthy cocktail because it has very few ingredients, an uncommon occurrence in egg cocktails. Most egg cocktail use, at a minimum one or two spirits, lemon or lime juice, egg white and bitters, but the Pink Lady is extremely simple:

Pink Lady

1 1/2 oz Gin
1/2 oz Grenadine
1 Egg White

Shake hard and strain into a cocktail glass.

Recipes for the Pink Lady change depending on which source is used, and some follow the more traditional egg approach and use lemon juice. Either way, the Pink Lady stands out because of its unique color, pink, only comparable to the Clover Club, which uses a raspberry syrup. The Pink Lady demonstrates that when considering egg as a mixer, it is important to consider fruity ingredients such as grenadine as well. Most well-known egg cocktail don’t include these types of drinks, but the Pink Lady shows us why the egg just might be an option we should explore in all types of drinks.

TECHNIQUES FOR USING EGGS

Utilizing eggs in cocktails is a labor-intensive endeavor that reaps enormous rewards, but requires practice and many failures. Understanding the science behind using eggs in drinks and making the classics that contain egg are great places to start experimenting with eggs, but if you want to use these as foundations and try new variations, follow these egg commandments:
1. The egg should not constitute more than 1/3rd of a drink.

The Pink Lady should be a standard here for the most egg white that should be used in a single drink. Using any egg portion above one-third may be successful and may not, but as a general rule, this should be the standard. Initially, while egg white does not change the taste of cocktails, this is usually the case because other flavors tend to take over and the egg may serve its texture changing role. If the egg however does go beyond this ratio, it tends to take any flavor from the drink and may be tasted to some degree.

Additionally, using egg in larger portions results in the agitated proteins clinging to instead of becoming part of the drink. This will effectively produce whipped egg on ice cubes - not a very great cocktail, though you could try and pawn it off as something that was just misunderstood. This does bring attention to the emulsifying properties of the egg however. The eggs needs to be a partner in the ingredients, bringing the cocktail together. If you don’t give the egg enough to work with, it can’t fulfill this purpose.

These seem like basic rules, but I ran into trouble with some of these issues specifically when adding heavy whipping cream, which includes proteins as well. If you do this in drinks like the Ramos Gin Fizz, you need to make sure you acknowledge that you just put potentially more agitated proteins in a drink that need to be compensated for more ingredients.
2. Shake the ingredients 10 times before adding ice.

This simple step is going to require you to take the shaker apart, add ice, and reshake, which may seem akward, but doing so will make your life easier in the long run. This extra step helps to work the egg into the drink more easily before the ice whips it together. Make sure to do yourself this favor.

3. Use a good amount of ice.

Simple rule for all good cocktails.

4. Become a master egg cracker.

Not only does cracking the egg expertly in front of someone look cool and earn you bonus points with guests, boosting your credibility to make other odd drinks they’ve never tried, but it is also a very effective way to make sure you are getting only one egg yolk in the cocktail. Cracking eggs before a shift and keeping them in one container can make it difficult to measure how egg is going into a drink. While egg size varies, controlling an individual egg is easier, in my opinion than manipulating an egg mass. Further, this will make sure that eggs stay fresh, which will not occur if kept in a container for any period of time.

5. Pour the cocktail while shaking the shaker slightly.

When you pour your cocktail from the shaker, use a Hawthorne strainer and slightly shake the shaker as the cocktail begins to slow. This should release additional parts of the drinks caught in the ice. Doing so is a good practice for any drink, but because of the foamy nature of these drinks, is especially important.

6. Don’t quit early.

Egg cocktails require a ton of shaking. Seriously, you can’t imagine how long it feels until you try and make that perfect Ramos Gin Fizz. You have to shake these guys forever. To conceptualize how long you have to shake a Ramos Gin Fizz to get it right, Wondrich points out in Imbibe that the Imperial Cabinet used to employ a minority individual (remember the time period) who’s job was to only shake Ramos Gin Fizzes forever. When this didn’t work effectively (I am assuming the guys arms fell off at some point), as many as 30 bartenders were used, according to some accounts. When one person got tired of shaking, he passed the drink on to another and cocktails would travel down the bartender assembly line. Whatever you do, keep going; quiting early will ruin a good egg cocktail and make the entire process not worth the effort, cheating you or someone else of a potentially great drink.

7. If you quit, try using a hand blender next time.

If you just can’t seem to get the right texture from your drinks and find yourself giving up early, try using a hand blender that will fit into your shaker. These are not only convient, but they can really help to get that foan going before you add the ice. You will still need to shake the drink with ice, but now you can treat it like an ordinary cocktail and spare you arms the punishment. I still think the best way is to shake it all by yourself, but sometimes this just gets to be too much.
8. Don’t blend the drink with ice.

Some recipes suggest blenders as an option and recomend combining ice and the ingredients and blending. This may be acceptable for a few egg drinks, like egg nog, but for most this will defeat any hopes for a foam texture and smooth cocktail. Yes, shaking the hell out of a drink is going to place ice particles throughout the drink, but the blender takes it too far and waters down the cocktail far too quickly.

Using the tips should help to make the egg cocktail a go-to drink for when you want to make a different sort of drink or desire an alternate texture in your cocktail. They may be more trouble than most cocktails, but they are some of the best out there.

MODERN APPLICATIONS OF EGG

As I stated previously, the drinks of the past are our blueprint for the future. By studying the classics that use egg, we can better understand how to use our privileged access to new ingredients to create marvelous modern egg drinks. Here are three of the innovative drinks that I found recently in this PR Newswire article that are using eggs, please make sure to check out their sites if available for more information and review the PR Newswire article for a good read. Two of these I was already familiar with:

Jamie Boudreau’s Marmalade Sour - Vessel: Seattle, WA

“3 oz Cachaca
1 oz Lemon Juice
2 Dashes Fee Orange Bitters
1 Egg White
2 tbs. of Low Sugar Orange/Citrus/Grapefruit Marmelade

Shake vigorously and strain into a cocktail glass.”

Another great drink from Jamie. Get over to his site to look this one up. The photo, as usual is amazing and might just make you want to move to Seattle. Cachaca was such a good choice here. The cocktail is so vibrant and has a great texture because of the egg. Egg cocktails usually aren’t this lively; this one’s a winner.

Toby Maloney’s Iron Cross - The Violet Hour: Chicago, IL

1 1/2 oz Pisco
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
3/4 oz Simple Syrup
1 Egg White
3 Dashes Orange Flower Water
3 Dashes Summer Bitters

Shake without ice for 7 seconds, add ice, and shake again very hard. Strain into a cocktail glass.

The link provided above actually links you to Toby’s youtube recording of him making the Iron Cross. I highly recommend watching this both to learn about the Iron Cross and to see some of the tips and techniques used for making egg drinks discussed in this post. While you’re there check out all four of his videos for the info and to be able to watch a true master at work. You will note that the Iron Cross is just a Pisco Sour twist, but the subtle changes make the drink outstanding and show how just a few changes to a classic can revitalize a classic.

Jackson Cannon’s Le Grande Flip - Eastern Standard: Boston, MA

1 oz Apple Brandy
1/2 oz Benedictine
1/2 oz Orange Juice
1 Whole Egg Bar Spoon of Sugar
Garnish: Orange Twist

Shake hard and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with the orange twist.

Jackson doesn’t keep a blog (that I know of), so I just linked to the Eastern Standard above. got this recipe from the PR Newswire article, but it is also a great drink and helped lead me to a creation of my own.

TWO OF MY EGG DRINKS

I wanted to also include a couple of my egg drinks because they have been going over very well at the bar, and I would like to see if anybody could provide some feedback.

Rising Star (Pictured Above)

2 oz Navan Cognac
1/2 oz Orange Juice
1/2 oz Simple Syrup
1/2 oz Heavy Whipping Cream
1 Egg White
Mist of Angostura Bitters
1 Anise Star

Shake hard without ice ten times, add ice, and shake for at least one minute. Strain into a tall thin glass, mist angostura on top, and place the anise star in the center.

I like to serve this drink in a tall thin glass because it indicates how much air has worked in the drink and creates a tall dense foam atop the drink. The star adds to fragrance of the bitters and demonstrates the density of the foam. The drink works well with any brandy, but I have been using Navan because the vanilla adds another flavor to the drink. Usually, I wouldn’t use thus type of flavor in a drink, but it seems to work rather well here.

Mayahuel Fizz

1 1/2 oz Hacienda de Sotol
1/2 oz Cointreau
3/4 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Rosemary Syrup
1 Egg White
2 Dashes Angostura Bitters
1 Rosemary Sprig

Shake hard without ice ten times, add ice, and shake for at least one minute. Strain into a old fashioned glass, garnish with Angostura bitters and make a swirl in the foam. Lay the rosemary sprig suspended on top.

The rosemary syrup evens out the tequila and lime, making a great cocktail alone, but the texture change from the egg makes the drink outstanding and creates a refreshing egg drink, which is definitely not the standard.

Well, that was a ridiculously long post, but hey Repeal Day only comes around once a year. If you made it this far, I am extremely impressed. Let me know how your egg drinks turn out and what new uses you find this dynamic cocktail ingredient. Moreover, celebrate this week with the classics and build your understanding of our foundations as bartenders and cocktail enthusiasts. You can start the week of right and check everyone else’s Repeal Day posts over at Jeffrey Morgenthaler’s site I often think of my predecessors and am amazed at how they managed to achieve such wonderful drinks given their circumstances. The amount of work required to make even the simplest of drinks at those times must have been monumental to that which I face today, and the face of these circumstances, they not only excelled, but continued to raise the standard of the cocktail. Their benchmark is something we will likely never see again, but hey maybe we can crack an egg and raise a drink in their honor.