I am in love with a cocktail. My husband and I have recently gotten inventive with our mixology, whipping up a tasty Orgeat syrup from scratch and daring to mix various liquors from our cabinet with mixed results. Equal parts of brandy, gin, and Frangelico do not a delicious concotion make.
But on Saturday night, a rare weekend night at home for me, as we simmered our chicken and quince tagine and as we pickled lemons with kumkwats, I asked for a gin fizz for no other reason than that it sounded delicious and old fashioned, and devoid of heretical flavored vodkas. I wanted to try something outside my cocktail comfort zone, you know, something with raw egg in it, and the silver gin fizz delivered.
He mixed gin, lemon juice, sugar and an egg white together in a cocktail shaker. Really mixed it. A lot. The noise of ice clacking against the metal shaker filled the kitchen, making conversation temporarily impossible. Then, he poured the mixture into a glass. We didn’t know what to expext. It came out in a slow, unappetizing trickle, a milky white liquid that looked to be separating as if it were a pint of Guinness. As the stream slowed, a beautiful white, cream froth topped the drink. A glug of soda water and my drink was done.
I sipped. It was sweet and tart, creamy, fizzy, and with a respectable gin-y kick, and a lovely, white wintery, sophisticated appearance. Like I said, I’m in love.
Silver Gin Fizz
from Great Grub
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 TB sugar, or less to taste
1 egg white
2 oz gin
Chilled soda water to top
Pour the gin, lemon, sugar, and egg white into an ice-filled shaker and shake. Shake it and shake it and shake it. Make your butt move in a funny way while you shake it to amuse your spouse. The harder you shake it, the better the foam. A towel wrapped around the shaker helps your hands avoid sticking to the cold metal. Pour into a highball glass and top with a splash of club soda. Weep with joy.