I recognize that after April's Mai Tai TOTM and last month's experiments with gin and tonic, I'm running the risk of turning this into the World of Spirits rather than World of Beer. But still, after New Orleans, I simply can't ignore the drink Oscar Haimo, in his 1967 work, "Cocktail and Wine Digest," mistakenly describes as a "Ramus Fizz," and Dale DeGroff [www.kingcocktail.com], in his "The Craft of the Cocktail," calls a "famous eye-opener, one of the greats." I refer to the Ramos Gin Fizz.
I sampled several version of the Ramos while visiting The Big Easy, from quite sweet to just a little more than off-dry and rich and creamy to lean and gin-forward, but each was a taste experience unto itself. In every case, however, the key to the drink was the inclusion of a raw egg white, that very food item which is the cause of so much gastro-fear mongering these days. Salmonella concerns notwithstanding - and really, the odds of contracting any food poisoning from a fresh egg white are so slim as to be almost irrelevant - without the white, it ain't a Ramos.
I offer here two recipes for the famous drink, the first from Stanley Clisby Arthur's highly enjoyable vintage cocktail book, "Famous New Orleans Drinks & How to Mix 'Em," complete with his evocative instructions on shaking:
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
3 - 4 drops orange flower water
1/2 lime - juice only
1/2 lemon - juice only
1 jigger (1 1/2 ounces) gin
1 white of egg
1 jigger rich milk or cream
1 squirt seltzer water
2 drops extract vanilla (optional)
Mix in a tall barglass in the order given; add crushed ice, not too fine as lumps are needed to whip up the froth of the egg white and cream. Use a long metal shaker and remember this is one drink which needs a long, steady shaking. Keep at it until the mixture gets body - "ropy" as some experienced bartenders express it. When thoroughly shaken, strain into a tall thin glass for serving.
And that of the master, Dale DeGroff, from his wonderful book, "The Craft of the Cocktail":
1 1/2 ounce gin
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
1/2 ounce fresh lime juice
1 1/4 ounces simple syrup
2 ounces milk
1 small egg white
2 drops orange-flower water
3 ounces club soda
Shake all the ingredients except the soda with ice and strain into a highball glass without ice. Top with club soda. No garnish.
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