by theglass

DOWN THE

cally a whiskey sour, but with red wine, Castro explains. Instead of whiskey and red wine, he combined gin and white wine to create the Monterrey sour ($8, recipe, p. 93). I took a sip of gin and thought, What do I get? Floral, lightly aromatic and grapefruit peel. I realized those same three words would describe Sauvignon Blanc. As for the added egg

EGGS ADD A TOUCH OF ADVENTURE TO COCKTAILS

white? It gives it texture and makes it frothyit creates a great mouthfeel, and it gives the drink airiness, he says. You take a sip and you feel like you ew into the sky and took a bite out of a cloud. Gabe Orta, a partner in The Broken Shaker in Miami, also likes eggs for their texture. Its pretty similar to drinking a cappuccino. You see it there and it has a subtle creaminess. Its almost like drinking coffee, he says. Orta has a tip for time-crunched bartenders: use good ice. Most egg drinks require two shakes: a dry shake (without ice) to froth the egg and then a traditional shake with ice. Orta insists that if you have really great ice, you dont have to do both. Big, solid cubes wont melt, and the cubes themselves will help froth things up. His lavenda is a twist on a classic zz, but without the zz and with the addition of lavender syrup for an extra hit of oral avor ($11, recipe, plateonline.com). Bartenders are unanimousno spirit is verboten when mixing with eggs. Gin seems to be the clear frontrunner, but

Monterrey sour, $8, General Manager/Partner Erick Castro, Polite Provisions, San Diego, Calif. RECIPE, p. 93.

by Anthony Todd Flips. Nogs. Fizzes. The names evoke a time in bartending when refrigeration was questionable, liquids were measured in ladles and drams and eggs were everywhere. Today, after a retreat during the age of salmonella scares and sweet fruit-tinis, egg cocktails are back. And while some customers (and even some bartenders) might look askance at a raw egg going into a mixing tin, using eggs in drinks is safe, easy and delicious. According to Erick Castro, general manager and partner of San Diegos Polite Provisions bar, egg cocktails go way, way

back. I found a reference to a ip from the late 1600s, Castro says. Ironically, given todays fearful consumers, the reason was safety. The whole idea behind it, in practical terms, was to add alcohol to eggs to make sure they could be eaten safely, explains Castro. If youre on a boat and you dont have a lot of options for calories, dont throw the eggs away; add high-proof rum or gin, and you can get rid of the chance of getting sick. These days, Castro is in love with a drink called the New York sour, and he wanted to create something similar but with a twist. [A New York sour] is basi-

General Manager/Beverage Director Stephen Cole of Chicagos Lone Wolf swears by bitter Italian amaro. In his giralamo sour, Cole mixes Luxardo Amaro Abano, Luxardo bitters and lemon with egg white to create a creamy yet bitter digestif ($12, recipe, plateonline.com). He likes to use egg with amaro because it lets drinkers taste more of the nuances in the spirit. Imagine taking a rubber band and just stretching it; thats what youre doing to the liquor, he says. Anthony Todds favorite egg dish is a real Caesar salad.

FOR RECIPES AND MORE, VISIT plateonline.com

MARCH/APRIL 2014

plate 69