Now when you think of eggs, what comes to mind? Breakfast, scramble, omelette, over easy? Me too, at first... Now what do you think of when it comes to raw eggs? Salmonella, crazy athletes, cookie dough you aren't supposed to eat, and the Redeye, made famous by the film Cocktail.
In a side note, a Redeye contains 4-5oz of Beer, 1.5oz of Vodka, 3oz of Tomato Juice, and a raw egg... all to be slammed - yeah, not for me neither.
The real thing most people don't think about that call for raw eggs include real mayonnaise, hollandaise sauce, and some damn delicious cocktails.
Let's talk about my first interaction with raw egg whites in a cocktail. I had been tending bar on the rooftop and event halls... One evening a few months ago, I was cut early and decided I wanted to begin familiarizing myself with the speciality cocktail and tapas menu.
I decided to leave my choice of drink to the fabulous Anne. Her choice, the Pisco Sour...
Containing Capel Pisco, Lemon, Lime, Sugar, Egg White, and Chocolate Bitters. Knowing I'm not a fan of cream or milk with my alcohol (Irish Coffee's being the exception) I was very hesitant to a drink with egg whites in it.
"Trust Me"
This could have been Anne's famous last words in my book, but I gave it a go hearing that they gave the drink a frothy attribute.
"Fucking Delicious"
I was won over, It was frothy and delicious. All the while Anne just stared back at me with these devious eyes. You know they were telling me "I told you so"
Fast forward a few months...
I've become very excited to experiment and use some unique and fantastic ingredients, all the while broadening my experience, ability, and knowledge. Even after hearing that egg white may be considered to be 'overly trendy' as of late.
Let's just say, that egg whites are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to odd things that you may find in fantastic drinks. And the moral of todays story, don't be afraid of an ingredient. It may just be something fantastic that you've been missing out on...
