A gin fizz is a difficult cocktail to get right. And you'll be hard pressed to find one on a cocktail menu in a bar. Even if you do find one, it's not made the traditional way. Created by Henry Ramos in 1888, it was one of the most popular cocktails of it's day. And thanks to bars like the new Hawksmoor, it looks like the fizz might make a bit of a revival.But people cheat! Instead of using egg white, they'll whip up a drink using sugar and that's a whole other drink all together. Still frothy, and still tasty, but it's not a fizz.
If you do want to make the real thing, here's what you'll need:
- 50ml gin
- 1 egg white
- Lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 10ml cream
- Orange Flower Water
- Soda water
Shake the gin, egg, cream, sugar, lemon juice and orange flower water in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake until the egg white is thoroughly mixed with all the ingredient, and it's foaming. Strain into a highball glass, top with soda water and garnish.
Flickr image from Infrogmation's photostream.
I absolutely adore a gin fizz. I couldn't find anywhere in London that did it properly (ie, with egg white and soda and muchos froth) until Soho House put a ton of different fizzes on their cocktail menu this summer. The Hawksmoor fizz is undoubtedly the pick of the bunch. Mmmm, fizz.
ReplyDeleteOur conversation was the inspiration behind this post!
ReplyDeleteI think the reason you don't see them on the menu, is that the Ramos Gin Fizz takes ages to shake properly. In these times it takes too long for the amount a bar can charge. I've heard one bartender comment that a revival of the Ramos Gin Fizz would be the fastest road to bankruptcy for any bar that cared about quality.
ReplyDeleteIt's not uncommon to hear people insist that to make this drink properly you need to shake it for up to 10 minutes. Yikes! It's about 5 minutes before my hands are hold and my thirst is strong.
Lovely drink all the same. Nothing tastes quite like it. Light, fluffy, and kind of floaty - a great brunch drink ever there was one.