Friday, January 30, 2009

Accidental Awesomeness

Last night I had a hankering for an Amaretto Sour. As I was getting out the sugar, the container of Tang caught my eye.

Lemon juice is sour. Tang is sour. Sugar is sweet. Tang is sweet. Why not kill two birds with one stone and use tang instead? I thought.

I mixed, added a little more sugar for good measure, then, remembering an article from Imbibe magazine about eggs in drinks being trendy, tossed in an egg white to increase the drink’s frothiness.

I shook and shook. At one point, I poured the drink, but noticed the egg had not combined completely, so I poured it back in and shook again.

When I finally poured it out, it was a lovely light orange. I had made not an Amaretto Sour, but a Creamsicle.

The result surprised me, but it wasn’t entirely unexpected. I’d known from previous fiddling that a key ingredient that gives the Orange Julius its creamy froth was an egg-based product. Of course, if you are worried about salmonella, or pregnant, or thinking of becoming pregnant, or have a compromised immune system, or think the idea of putting a raw egg white in a drink is icky, you can get pasteurized eggs or you can powdered, pasteurized egg white at the grocery store. The powdered egg white will be somewhat gritty, so fresh egg is really best.

The Creamsicle
This really needs to be shaken well
2 oz Amaretto
1 teaspoon Tang
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 egg white (or 2 teaspoons powdered egg white)
ice
cocktail shaker

Put ice in cocktail shaker. Add the rest of the ingredients. Shake vigorously for at least two minutes. Strain into a highball glass.

2 comments:

Bette said...

The egg white adds great body to so many drinks. I'm glad to see them making a comeback.

You can also get eggs that have been pasteurized in the shell. I like them better because I think the additives in the liquid pasteurized and powered whites have an after taste.

Carrie P said...

Thanks for the suggestion! I also tried it with the powdered egg white and I agree. I've changed the recipe to reflect that.

Also noticed an error in the amount of powdered egg.