drinkwithlong:

Eggs are just as safe in cocktails as they are in the ever so popular mayonnaise. If you don’t read everything… At least take this important info in about raw egg in cocktails.  

“The National Egg Board says that only 1 in 20,000 eggs contain salmonella, and that even then, it takes 3-5 weeks to reach dangerous levels.”

Like all raw egg recipes such as Mayonnaise or Cocktails; It is best to use fresh Grade A or AA eggs that are properly refrigerated with shells intact. Also, rinse the outer shell with cold water before cracking the egg. Whether you are cooking at home or a chef at a restaurant/bar, It is always best to use precautions to avoid any contamination. 

Drinkwithlong

Reblogged daverudman:

Flipping Out

I typically blame Sylvester Stallone for everything that goes wrong in the world.  More than 99% of the time, it is undeserved.  But occasionally, something sticks.  Like causing Americans to become seriously averse to drinking anything containing raw egg.

That scene from Rocky was bad-ass, but it really made people say, “shoot, drinking raw eggs is disgusting.”  I mean, yeah, gulping down bare raw egg is nas-tay.  But there are reasons to allow raw egg into your potables.  The best one is the Flip.

A Flip is a family of cocktails that contain (traditionally) spirit, sugar, spice, and egg.  This formula comes directly from the Old Testament of Bartending: Jerry Thomas’ 1864 “The Bar-Tender’s Guide”.  But the drink predates this earliest written reference by at least 200 years.

The Flip’s roots are at sea, where sailors drank a concoction of rum, beer and sugar.  A red-hot iron poker would be plunged into the mix.  The heat would cause the mixture to boil where it touched the poker.  Sugars would caramelize, creating a foamy “flipped” texture on the surface.

At some point, sailors would return home, where there were fresh eggs.  Some clever sod realized that a whipped egg could create the “flip” without the heat, and the drink could now be served cold.

Thomas’ Flip recipes included the Hot English Rum Flip, which was probably the most direct relation to what the sailors were drinking.  It called for beer, rum, sugar, spice, and egg.  Thomas also listed recipes for Flips using the other well-known spirits, including brandy, gin, whisky, port, and sherry.

Unfortunately, a lot of people saw Rocky.  It isn’t easy to sell a cocktail with raw egg in it in Connecticut right now.  ”It has an egg in it?!  I don’t like the sound of that.  I think I’ll have a rum and coke.  Oh and can you bring extra aioli with my calamari?  I love that stuff, I could just dip my finger in it and eat that!”

That’s where my head bangs into the bar top.  We don’t seem to have a problem with eating raw egg, do we?  Mayonnaise… remember?  What’s the story with raw egg safety?  Well, the National Egg Board says that only 1 in 20,000 eggs contain salmonella, and that even then, it takes 3-5 weeks to reach dangerous levels.  Obviously, the National Egg Board has an agenda, but still.  More dangerous than salmonella inside your egg is probably salmonella on the shell.  If you crack the egg and the inside touches the outside, it can get contaminated.

My deduction is that if you use fresh eggs, and wash and rinse the shell before cracking, you’re not likely to encounter any difficulties.  That’s good enough for me.

Anyways, why use raw eggs for anything?  Well, there are two reasons.  The first applies mainly to food and condiments.  Eggs contain these compounds called “emulsifiers”.  An emulsifier allows a chef to take two liquids that cannot normally be blended together, and create a liquid that is permanent and seamless.  The most well-known emulsions are mayonnaise, hollandaise, and vinaigrettes, but most people don’t realize that homogenized milk is actually an emulsion.  Normally milk will separate like oil and vinegar, with milk fats at the top and water at the bottom of the mixture.  Eggs aren’t used to homogenize milk however, the feat is accomplished by forcing milk through an apparatus at high pressure.

The second reason, which applies to Flip cocktails, is that egg white specifically is made up out of protein molecules that are all wrapped up and tangled around themselves.  Agitating these proteins (by dry shaking or whipping) causes them to begin to unravel.  As they unravel, air and water begin to get trapped in between the spaces they create.  The egg proteins have an affinity for bonding with air at one end, and an affinity for bonding with water at the other.  Where air and water meet in the agitated mixture, the proteins get pulled in opposite directions and fully unravel.  These now long and spindly molecules form into lattices, which is what foam is.

And there you have the prized feature of the Flip - it’s foamy head and silky texture.  Only the egg white can create this.  The yolk only contributes flavor and mouthfeel.  Egg whites are actually pretty devoid of flavor, a fact which eludes many people and scares them off of ordering drinks containing egg.  However, anyone with a cholesterol problem can tell you, very sadly, that egg whites don’t taste like much of anything.

Flips are categorized by whether or not they contain the yolks.  A Silver Flip has only white, a Golden Flip only yolk.  Royal Flips contain both.  If you add cream to a Flip, it becomes a Nog.  If you add soda water, it becomes a Fizz.  See how easy cocktailing is?

So now you know about eggs and Flips… time to drink some, eh?  Well, the above photo is the end of a particularly delicious Flip that was created for me by Mr. Dave Bouchard of my #1 local cocktail haunt, Max Fish in Glastonbury.  He used anejo tequila as the spirit, vanilla simple syrup as the sugar, bitters as the spice, and of course, egg white.  

Come to think of it, there may have been some lime juice in there as well.  Which would have actually made it a Sour, not a Flip, in which case I would have just written this long article quite in error.  Well, just in case, I’ll write another article on the Sour cocktail family soon.  Cheers!

(Source: drinkingthings)

Moscow Mule: A buck with a zippy kick! OR, how the United States learned to love Vodka!

This is a guest blog post by Scott Eichinger, the author of food blog Eat with Me. Follow Scott on Twitter @eatwithme75.

Although we tend to call all mixed drinks “cocktails,” a “buck” is an old-school term for mixed drinks made of a spirit, citrus juice and ginger ale or ginger beer.

The Moscow Mule is a classic, golden-age buck that was founded on these three ingredients and one great marketing campaign.

To make one, you need fresh (nothing else please!) lime juice, from one lime. Before squeezing, take a thin slice out of the middle of the lime to use as a garnish later.

Second, you need ginger beer. Not ginger ale, which is too light and will disappear in the drink once the lime juice is added.

Finally, to make it a true buck, you need some vodka. And here’s where the marketing campaign starts.

In the pre-Prohibition days, vodka was known around the US, but people weren’t really drinking it. During these days of whiskeys, rums and gins, “vodka” - it was said - was Russian for “horrendous.” 

After the repeal of the 18th Amendment, one Rudolf Kunett bought the American rights to the Smirnoff brand of vodka. But after five unsuccessful years, he sold the rights to John Martin, the president of Heublein, the company that made A1 Steak Sauce. The Heublein board members were furious with Martin because the company could hardly give vodka away, much less recoup their costs.

But on a trip to the West coast in the early 1940s, Martin the met Jack Morgan, the proprietor of the Cock ‘n’ Bull pub and the maker of another failing beverage: a zippy ginger beer.

With misery loving company, the two combined their downtrodden ingredients with lime juice, creating what they soon started calling the Moscow Mule. Morgan began serving this buck out of copper mugs that a friend of his manufactured, and before long, vodka and ginger beer became staples of the drinking person’s diet.

2oz Vodka1 medium lime, juiced (if it’s a small lime, try 1 1/2 limes)Ginger Beer*

Fill a classic copper mug, with ice, to the brim. Add the vodka and lime juice. Top with quality ginger beer. Garnish with a thin slice of lime. Stir and enjoy this ice cold buck with a kick!

*Each brand of ginger beer offers a different balance of zesty ginger and sweetness. Gosling’s is my favorite. Barritts is a very close second. If I can’t find either, I’ll pick up a Jamaican ginger beer (pictured) from the Latin section of my grocery store. I tend to avoid the overly sweet Goya brand at all costs. Find what you like, and don’t forget about the classic Cock ‘n’ Bull brand.

And you can buy your own copper mugs on Amazon.com.

Snap Rose: This is an original cocktail that combines my love of Art in the Age spirits with Jack Rose cocktails. 

I could drink this cocktail anytime, but I won’t hold it against you if you wait until the leaves start changing color. 

• 1 ounce SNAP
• 1/2 ounce Apple Brandy
• 1/2 ounce Rye
• 3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
• 3/4 ounce homemade grenadine

Source: An original cocktail based on Jason Wilson’s Jack Mauve recipe in Boozehound.

Tom Collins: When I’m mega-rich, you won’t find me sitting poolside sipping lemonade. I’ll have a Tom Collins in my hand.

• 3 ounces gin
• 1/2 ounces fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 ounce simple syrup
• Soda water

Fill a Collins glass with ice. Build the gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup. Top with soda water and stir gently. Garnish with half an orange wheel and a cherry.

Many thanks to Old Made Good (OMG) in Nashville for the Westwood glass.

Source: Adapted from Jason Wilson’s Boozehound

Blue Moon: 

• 1 1/2 ounces rye
• 1/4 ounce Benedictine
• Ginger ale

Stir rye and Benedictine with cracked ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Top with ginger ale, and garnish with a lemon twist.

Source: Paul Harrington’s Cocktail: The Drinks Bible for the 21st Century

Bourbon Dynasty: Cocktail Cookbook posted this recipe yesterday, and I had to try it, perhaps the best decision I’ve made all day.

• 2 ounces bourbon
• 1 ounce Lillet Blanc
• 1 teaspoon Creme de Cassis
• 2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters

Stir ingredients with ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon peel.

Source: Recipe by Jamie Boudreau, who also manages the excellent website StGermainCocktails.com.

Scofflaw: Ready for an etymology lesson, you rabble rousers? (Don’t worry. It’s a short one.)

In 1924, the term “Scofflaw” was coined to describe the defiant act of drinking in a speakeasy. Two weeks later, Harry’s New York Bar in Paris celebrated the new term with this lovely cocktail. 

Nowadays, “Scofflaw” has a more general meaning, describing most anyone who flouts petty laws. So go on with your bad self and mix a drink!

• 1 1/2 ounces of rye
• 1 ounce dry vermouth
• 3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
• 3/4 ounce homemade grenadine

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Because the grenadine provides most of the flavor, you shouldn’t bother making this if you don’t have real pomegranate grenadine. 

Sources: Ted Haigh’s Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails and Jeffrey Morgenthaler’s How to Make Your Own Grenadine

Mark Twain Cocktail: Mixing a drink in PA with Art in the Age’s SNAP.

When in Pennsylvania, one buys Art in the Age’s wonderful liqueurs. For this trip, I got my hands on a bottle of SNAP.

I had no intention of making a cocktail tonight, but looking through my mother-in-law’s pantry, I found some 12-year old Scotch that has probably been on a shelf for longer than it was in a barrel. Suddenly, I was mixing away, hunting down ingredients like some celebrity chef on reality TV show.

• 2 ounces SNAP 
• 1 ounce lemon juice 
• 1 ounce simple syrup 
• 1/2 ounce (smokey) Scotch 
• 2 dashes of Angostura bitters (omitted in this case)

Shake all ingredients except the Scotch. Pour into a chilled glass. Float the Scotch on top.

Recipe from the Art in the Age blog.

(Submitted by phone. Will clean up typos and such later.)

Ward 8: In a strange twist of fate, this cocktail helped spur the closure of the bar where it was created.

It all started in 1898, when politician Martin Lomasney was running to be Boston’s Ward Eight representative in the Massachusetts General Court. On the day before the election, his supporters clamored into the Locke-Ober Café and convinced barman Tom Hussion to create a new cocktail in support of their man’s success in the voting booths.

Hussion added grenadine to the Whiskey Sour, giving birth to the Ward 8 cocktail. The next day, Lomasney won the election. Lomasney then fought for prohibition in Ward Eight, causing the Locke-Ober to close its bar. (Isn’t that a good argument for knowing your customers!)

Postscript: The Ward 8 cocktail shot to fame, and in 1934, it was named the Cocktail of the Year by Esquire. In the 1950s — with the Great Experiment firmly behind us — the Locke-Ober Café reopened the doors to its bar. You can visit it today.

Essentially, there are two ways to make this cocktail.

Original recipe, for people with real grenadine (with pomegranate as an ingredient):

• 2 ounces rye or bourbon
• 1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 ounce fresh orange juice
• 1 teaspoon grenadine

Shake with cracked ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon wheel.

For the above recipe, you’ll get a one-dimensional, disappointing cocktail if you use imitation grenadine, the bright red stuff from Rose’s or Fee Brothers or such.

If you can’t find (or make) grenadine that has pomegranate as an ingredient, use raspberry, strawberry, or cassis liqueur instead. Or try the new recipe below.

New recipe, for the rest of us (pictured above):

• 2 ounces rye
• 1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 ounce fresh orange juice
• 1/4 ounce simple syrup
• 1 barspoon pomegranate molasses (Al Wadi works well.)

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. No garnish.

Sources: Paul Harrington’s Cocktail and Jim Meehan’s The PDT Cocktail Book