Raising the Bar with Jamie BoudreauEgg Shaking
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Eggs are used in cocktails to add texture and mouth feel to a cocktail. They are easy to incorporate if you follow these simple steps.
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Old Fashioned
Mint Julep
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Cucumber Lavender Sour
Comments
Allright Jamie!! First time the Maestro of one of these demos tastes the drink!
Hess should enjoy one of his creations too.
Jamie,
Is there any benefit to using organic eggs vs. non-organic? How about the size of the egg: small, medium, large or extra large per cocktail? Lastly if using the whole egg (as in a Royal Fizz) do you need to do any additional shaking to make sure the yolk is properly dispersed?
Thanks again for another practical lesson!
Blair
http://goodspiritsnews.spaces.live.com
I would like to add one additional recommendation that I think would benefit any drink with egg in it:
Use chopsticks or tweezers to remove the white bouncy knot-of-umbilical-chord that is attached to the yoke (the technical term for that thing is the chalaza) before blending or shaking the drink. It sometimes comes loose when separating the egg, and no matter how much you shake or blend, it never incorporates well into the drink. The typical hawthorne strainer/coil strainer does not strain out the chalaza from an already mixed drink, and it certainly is not pleasant to accidentally sip a chunk of chalaza into your mouth when trying to enjoy a cocktail.
@blair frodelius:
Virtually all of the difference between organic and conventional eggs is in the yoke, not the egg white. Although I have not tested this myself, as far as I understand, the egg yoke is identical between organic and non-organic eggs.
Also, if you’re making a drink with a whole egg, as I mentioned before, something I recommend is to remove the chalaza from the egg, since no amount of shaking or blending will incorporate it into the drink.
Jaime,
I know that eggs of differing freshness and grade have differing egg white and yoke firmness, with the highest grade and freshest eggs giving the firmest egg parts. For example, eggs served sunny side up ought to be AA and very fresh, whereas the difference between AA, A, and B is negligible when the eggs are used in pancakes or scrambled. How does this impact the taste and mouthfeel of a drink? Do softer egg whites incorporate or foam better than firm egg whites? It would seem to me that a very firm fresh AA egg would not incorporate as well nor make as smooth a drink as a grade B egg or one whose egg white has softened for a few days, but I have not tested this myself.
Let me correct my prior post about the difference between organic and non-organic eggs: I meant that the *egg white* is identical between organic and non-organic eggs, not the yoke. Organic egg yokes usually look and taste different from non-organic egg yokes.
Another technique I’ve found to be helpful if you don’t have a cappuccino frother (boy would that have put a bunch of “Shaker Boys” out of business) is to take the spring of the Hawthorne strainer and place that in the shaker for the dry shake. A little gauche, but it works.
Blair:
When choosing your eggs smaller is better. If using large eggs, recipes tend to call for half an egg yolk, which can be difficult to measure. The whole egg recipes are yet another reason to go out and get a frother, as the beat up that egg much easier than a shaker can by itself. Obviously more egg will require more shaking.
Berkana:
I always use the freshest eggs possible. Heck, I always use the freshest ingredients possible, period. Having said that, a room temperature egg will emulsify better than a cold one. But as to incorporating egg into your drinks, the frother takes care of all those little differences. Once again man bests nature!
Kimberly:
Your absolutely right. The spring taken off of of a hawthorne and placed into your shaker during a dry shake will definitely act better than without. I should’ve mentioned this poor man’s solution to the frother, but I just love my tool so much (insert joke here) that I wanted everyone to start using it when using eggs. Heck, I even use the frother to better incorporate other ingredients like jams and marmalades into my cocktails as well.
I use jams and marmalades as well on occasion. Great, another tool for me to get. Arg.
Whether or not organic vs non actually provide a difference, to me is a moot point. I personally will only serve raw eggs that have been pasture raised, preferably where I have seen their living conditions. The disease rates that are in confined feeding lot operations are atrocious. Even looking at the vids the industry puts out, it’s pretty gross. Sorry to high jack the thread, but I really do feel that pasturing is the most important measure of good eggs (and the nutrition bares this out.
By the way, Jamie, what spirit are you adding there? Just curious.
Blake:
I’m afraid that I have no idea. The video was done over 18months ago and my memory isn’t that good, unfortunately. Spirit type shouldn’t matter, however. Alcohol percentage will though as higher alcohol makes for an unfriendly environment for many ingredients.
Wow! All I don’t know about eggs now is the old question “who came first?”
Care to field that one, Berkana?
I kid, Berkana and hope I haven’t inadvertently egged him on.
If you haven’t had a whiskey sour with a whole eggwhite (I used a AA, white and oval egg, not sure of it’s nesty dig’s vibe, or if it’s mother was a loving one) you haven’t enjoyed a WS at it’s most luscious. Couldn’t happen without the dry-shake as Jamie illustrated so well. See this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShiHf3oKUF4
Chris McMillian does a beauty whiskey sour.
Oh, just realized I confused my eggs with my battery purchase. Not sure on the “A” count now, better go make another.
!Salud!
@Garretto:
Believe it or not, the egg came first. Chickens were domesticated from wild grouse, which have lain eggs long before chickens existed . Thus, I can say with confidence that the egg came first. ^_~
Berkana,
Great answer and you’ve just cured my alektorophobia! For who could fear a decedent of
The Famous Grouse!
Whisky to ya!
So when I shake a drink, I like to double-strain so that there aren’t ice chips in the drink. You have to shake an egg drink, but it seems that double-straining wouldn’t work very well, given the texture of the drink. Is there any way around this, or do you just have to live with ice shards?
Ben:
You can still double strain with egg whites. The foam will pass and leave the ice shards behind.
Morgenthaler is snickering.