I love cocktails with eggs in them, specifically egg whites! Oh, don't cringe, egg whites give a cocktail a wonderful mouth feel by adding a lovely silken texture as well as body and they add no flavor at all! You get a nifty little kick of protein too. Additionally, egg whites create these marvelous foams (if properly shaken) on top of the cocktail that make for a really beautiful presentation.
If you happen to be vegan don't despair, there is a perfectly vegan substitute for using eggs in cocktails called aquafaba. Believe it or not, aquafaba is the liquid that garbanzo beans, or chickpeas as some people call them, are cooked or canned in. You'll see I used aquafaba in my New York Sour recipe below.
Since June 3rd is National Egg Day I thought it would be fun to chat about how to make egg cocktails and also round up links to my favorite egg drinks in one post.
Nogs, Flips, Sours, Fizzes
These are the four types of alcoholic beverages that employ eggs. Nogs always employ a milk product along with whole eggs while Flips may or may not include some milk or cream with the egg. Sours don't have to use eggs at all but when they do it's only egg whites. Fizzes can use whites, yolks and whole eggs and are categorized as Silver Fizzes (whites), Golden Fizzes (yolks), or Royal Fizzes (whole eggs) and include some type of soda.
Tips for Whipping Up Egg Cocktails
To get the marvelous foam and to emulsify the egg white into the cocktail you will want to apply a dry shake technique (shake without ice) to your ingredients, then shake again with ice to chill. Think of how a meringue is created then apply that concept to a cocktail shaker instead of your KitchenAid or hand mixer. You really have to give that egg white a lot of agitation in order to break down the protein and add air for fluffiness, a couple of minutes at least*. Frankly, I don't have the stamina so I cheat and use a stand or immersion blender for my dry shake step then transfer my drink to an ice filled shaker to chill. I get some seriously great mounds of foam with this technique.
Egg foams, when properly executed, are quite sturdy (my Tangelo Bourbon Tango actually trapped a bee!) and those foams can support cool garnishes like flowers, herb leaves, spices and even stencilled designs.
You can create a flavored foam separately from the cocktail. I created a Cognac foam for my above mentioned Tangelo Bourbon Tango and for my Meringue Island Punch I actually baked the foam (aka meringue cookies)! You can even make a full on merinque, spoon it on a cocktail and torch it like I sometimes do for my Lemon Meringue Pie Martini.
Occasionally an egg foam can carry a very slight raw egg smell and a useful little trick when making your egg cocktail is to add an aromatic mist, a dusting of spice, a twist of citrus or a few drops of bitters on top of the foam to mask possibility of a raw egg smell disturbing the enjoyment of the cocktail.
Another little tip? Fresh, cold eggs are much easier to hand separate. Buying pasteurized egg whites, yolks or whole eggs requires no separation on your part but you will have to measure.
Fresh versus Pasteurized, Part or Whole?
You'll notice my recipes mostly call for pasteurized eggs. This is a precaution on my part because, though the chance of salmonella poisoning from eggs is fairly rare these days, it never hurts to be cautious. A fresh egg, properly cleaned and stored, does give a slightly better foam than pasteurized eggs but not by much as far as I can tell, so either option will give you a lovely cocktail.
You'll also notice most of my recipes below use only egg whites. This is a personal preference as I'm not that fond of the overly rich, heavy nature of yolks in my cocktails except in some type of Nog during the holidays. Plus yolks DO add a bit of their flavor which needs some refined taste balancing and libations with yolks are way more fattening.
Have an eggstra lovely National Egg Day and Cheers, M'Dears!
* Probably the most famous egg cocktail, the Ramos Gin Fizz, has a great historical back story about requiring a 12 to 15 minute shake to be properly prepared, at least according to its creator, Henry C. Ramos. It's said that during the hey day of this cocktail, lines of shaker boys were employed solely to shake Ramos fizzes for the clamoring masses! Just think what a Vitamix would have meant to bars back in those days.
Celebrating the birthday of American actor, director and all around cool guy, Clint Eastwood.
I have had a crush on Clint Eastwood since his days of playing Rowdy on Rawhide. I followed him from the American Old West right over to Italy for his roles as "The Man With No Name" in his Spaghetti westerns, adored him as Dirty Harry and was beguiled by him in Beguiled, and feared for him in Play Misty for Me. I cheered when he won Best Director for Unforgiven, cried at his lost love in Bridges of Madison County and thoroughly enjoyed Space Cowboys.
I've seen most of his television roles, and every film he's starred in and/or directed. I've also enjoyed his music as a composer, musician and, yes, as a singer - I confess to still hoarding the soundtrack to Paint My Wagon because of his rendition of I Talk To The Trees.
JULEP: from the Arabic julāb or Persian gulāb, julep translates to rose water.
First Use: 14th century
Originally a medicinal cure for stomach ailments, the Mint Julep is a particularly American drink favored highly in the South as a cool, refreshing summer cocktail. Though originally it could be made with Cognac, brandy, gin or whiskey the most common modern version is made with Bourbon.
The Mint Julep is the official drink of The Kentucky Derby where over 100,000 are served up to racegoers each year. In recent years, however, a commercially pre-mixed substitute served up in a plastic cup has been offered up in place of a true Mint Julep. This is understandable because of the multitudes being served, but it's not the singular experience of getting a hand-crafted, ice domed Mint Julep served to you in a dew frosted silver tumbler.
As a member of the Smash family of drinks, a real Julep consists of fresh mint leaves, spirit, sugar, and water (ice) and is constructed by first muddling the mint and sugar in a glass (traditionally a Julep Cup), filling the cup with crushed ice, adding the spirit (traditionally Bourbon), then mounding a bit more crushed ice over the top and garnishing with a fresh mint sprig. Spearmint is the preferred herb, though peppermint can be used.
The
Classic
MINT JULEP
Recipe
INGREDIENTS
2-1/2 Oz. Bourbon
4 Fresh Mint Leaves
2 Sugar Cubes
Teaspoon of Water
Crushed Ice
Garnish
Fresh Mint Sprig
DIRECTIONS
Add the sugar cubes, mint leaves and water to the bottom of a proper mint julep cup.
Muddle to release the mint oils and dissolve the sugar cubes.
Fill the cup completely with crushed ice.
Add the bourbon and stir until the cup frosts over then top off with more crushed ice.
Garnish with the fresh mint sprig and serve.
VOICEOVER VIDEO WITH INGREDIENTS AND DIRECTIONS:
Below are some of my happy hour riffs on this classic Southern libation.
Except for one odd day in February, yesterday was the first truly hot day of the year and, after several weeks of freakishly cool May days, the temperature of 90° felt more like 110°. That first blast of summer called for some very tall, ice filled, refreshing cocktails for myself and my visiting company, Will and Stephen.
Only problem? I was hot, tired and didn't want to get up and down and behind a bar mixing drinks every ten minutes. I wanted to sit down and enjoy a couple of tall, iced filled cocktails myself. Solution? Set up a Vodka Tonic bar and let the boys do their own bartending!
So I gathered together the basics and some seasonal accompaniments that would mesh well together and lined them all up on my little bungalow bar thusly:
ICE CUBES, in a Bucket
GLASSES, Tall Collins Style
CHILLED VODKA, in a Carafe
CANS of TONIC WATER, Chilled
MUDDLER, JIGGER, ICE TONGS, STIR STICKS
BAR TOWEL (for the inevitable spills)
FRESH BLACKBERRIES, Macerated in Sugar and Lightly Muddled.
CUCUMBER, Peeled, Cubed and Lightly Pureed
MORE CUCUMBER, Sliced
ORANGES, LIMES, LEMONS, Sliced into Quarters
Bottle of Rich Simple Syrup (2X Sugar : 1X Water)
FRESH BASIL, MINT, DILL Sprigs in a Vial of Water
STRAWS, plopped in a Mint Julep Glass
Then I mixed myself MY cocktail, sat down and directed their activities from my favorite chair. I got to relax, they had fun AND got a mixology lesson in the bargain. Win, win, win.
Little buggers drank half their Vodka Tonic concoctions before I could get a photo, but here's the first round:
From left to right, here were the combos and constructions on the first round:
BLACKBERRY CUCUMBER TONIC (Mine)
Build into the glass:
1/4 C. Macerated Blackberries
2 Tbsp. Cucumber Puree
Ice
2 Oz. Vodka
Top off with Tonic
Squeeze and Drop in 1 Orange Quarter
Stir
Garnish with Cucumber Slice
Serve with Straw
CUCUMBER MINT TONIC (Will's)
Build into the glass:
2 Tbsp. Cucumber Puree
1 Tbsp. Rich Simple Syrup
6 Mint Leaves
Muddle Lightly
Ice
2 Oz. Vodka
Top off with Tonic
Squeeze and Drop in 2 Lime Quarters
Stir
Garnish with Cucumber Slice and Mint Sprig
Serve with Straw
BLACKBERRY BASIL TONIC (Stephen's)
Build into the glass
1/4 C. Macerated Blackberries
3 Mint Leaves
2 Basil Leaves
Muddle Lightly
Ice
2 Oz. Vodka
Top off with Tonic
Squeeze and Drop in 1 Orange Quarter
Stir
Garnish with Fresh Basil Sprig
Serve with Straw
The second round it was musical cocktails as we switched the combos around. The third round is now a blur but suffice to say we emptied off the bar before commencing to supper.
For a bigger party, where I had more time to plan, I would have added more fruit choices, expanded the spirit choices, added more mixers and moved it all over to my long window bar). However, for something I tossed together in a few minutes this worked. Hilarity and creativity ensued, I sat on my keister and laughed and kibitzed, they mixed and muddled and spilled. A good time was had by all.
I got a twofer (two for one) on some Jim Beam the other day so I picked up a bottle of their regular bourbon and a bottle of their new maple infused bourbon. I've made my own maple infused bourbon* but I hadn't tried Beam's version before so I thought, what the heck, basically it's free. It's also definitely maple. It's also VERY sweet, it tastes like bourbon with a lot of maple syrup in it. If you are a straight bourbon kind of person, this might not be your cup of tea. But it presents possibilities for mixing. Right away I knew this was a spirit that was going to require some bitters to balance that sweetness, but I like adding bitters to cocktails so no problemo. I'm very fond of the depth of flavor bitters can add to a cocktail and I like the additional herbal qualities they bring to the mix.
I was also in possession of some fairly ripe tangelos that needed to be used and an itch to try out a cocktail foam technique. Plus it was Monday and I really needed a cocktail. Really. Put those all together and this is what I ended up with. It's not really a sour, I don't know what the heck it is as far as cocktail categories go, but it was darned good ... so good, in fact, I had a surprise guest**.
Naming it with another issue, so pardon the word play here:
TOOLS: Vegetable peeler, Knife, Juicer, Blender, Cocktail shaker, Long cocktail picks, Coupe glasses, Bar spoon.
INSTRUCTIONS:
Chill 2 large coupe glasses in the freezer.
Using a wide vegetable peeler, slice 2 wide twists off the tangelo rind.
Interweave the tangelo twists with the Bourbon cherries on your cocktail picks and set aside.
Add the ingredients for the cognac foam to your blender and whip on high until the volume triples in size.
Fill your cocktail shaker with ice then pour in both the Bourbons, the tangelo juice and the lemon juice and shake until chilled.
Strain your cocktail into the chilled coupe the pour the foam gently over the back of a bar spoon on top. Lay your tangelo and cherry garnish across the top of a glass and serve.
** SAVE THE BEES
As I was outside enjoying my second Tangelo Tango a BEE dove straight into the cognac foam! I think he thought it was a giant queen bee. He couldn't extricate himself from the thick foam, so I grabbed the cocktail pick and pulled him out and set him on my deck rail to dry out. Of course it was a "he", no female would be that much of a thrill seeker.
#SaveTheBees
* P.S. If you like the idea of Maple Infused Bourbon you should make my Toasted Walnut Maple Bourbon. I think the Jim Beam could have benefited greatly from those toasted walnuts.
Summertime is ideal for cobblers because of all the fresh fruits and berries that are in season. I'm not just referring to the baked variety of cobbler either, the shaken variety is pretty awesome liquid refreshment on those warm evenings where you sit on the veranda to watch the fireflies and listen to the crickets and critters of the evening.
After giving a classic sherry based cobbler a whirl with my Berry Infused Sherry Cobbler, I thought a go at a whiskey or bourbon based cobbler might be interesting so I did a little Google research. I found an interesting recipe in Jamie Boudreau’s Whiskey Cobbler recipe over at Spirits and Cocktails but, since I had been using a lot of blackberries lately, I wanted to use a different fruit.
Since May 17th is National Cherry Cobbler Day, I had a new bag of frozen cherries and I love cherries with bourbon, Mr. Boudreau’s lovely recipe gave me the ratios and my inspiration. I didn't have peach bitters so I used chocolate bitters plus just a dash of orange bitters as well to tie in the traditional slices of orange that are piled on top of a cobbler. I also replaced his plain simple syrup with homemade cherry simple syrup and used chocolate mint instead of the more common variety. And I opted for a soda free version because I was (OMG!) out of soda! Okay, I strayed a bit ... in fact I may have strayed out of a cobbler into a smash* when I dumped the soda ... but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the esteemed Mr. Boudreau does not come over and beat me with a muddler.
TOOLS: Muddler, Bar spoon, Strainer, Knife, Jigger, Old Fashioned Glass**, Reusable or Biodegradable Straw
Garnish:
Homemade Bourbon Cherry
Sprig of Chocolate Mint
Orange Slice
DIRECTIONS:
Muddle the quartered orange slices, the cherries and the cherry simple syrup in the bottom of a cocktail shaker.
Fill the glass with cracked ice.
Pour in your whiskey of choice.
Add the chocolate and orange bitters.
Stir until well chilled.
Top off with a splash of soda.
Garnish and serve with a straw.
VOICEOVER VIDEO WITH INGREDIENTS AND INSTRUCTIONS:
YOUTUBE VIDEO:
A little straw trivia:
Before the invention of the paper straw in the late 1800's, barkeeps used actual pieces of straw and later pieces of hollow pasta, like vermicelli!
* A cobbler (spirit, fresh fruit, sugar, soda) is a venerable, usually wine (sherry) based libation, kind of a second cousin to a julep (spirit, mint, sugar) and akin to a smash (spirit, mint, fruit, sugar). David Wondrich says, "A smash is a julep, but a julep is not always a smash." With all the inventive mixology going on these days cocktail categories are a bit convoluted and confusing, but once upon a time there were rules.
I started growing my own micro greens for my food blog and I love having these flavor and nutrient packed little gems of greenery on hand. But they grow really fast and if you don't harvest them properly you end up with a full size plant. Suddenly I with awash in a mini jungle and eating salads as fast as I could when realized I could use them in my cocktails as well.
My pea shoots were threatening to turn from adorable toddlers into gangly teenagers overnight so they were the first I harvested for happy hour. I also grabbed some fresh mint because peas and mint are a classic culinary combination, and a cucumber because it was sitting in the counter looking refreshing. The name was just a happy coincidence ....
