Eggs in Drinks - LeNell It All

by LeNell Smothers, Posted Mar 18th 2010 @ 2:00PM

Photo: Aleš Olasz

Many of us have watched Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa down a bunch of raw eggs and wince. Throwing a raw egg in a drink isn't just for boxers building up muscle mass, however. The wonderful egg serves as a valuable ingredient in mixing up many mixed drinks.

Recipes for a caudle go back to at least the 1300s. This warm, spiced drink included wine or ale, and an egg yolk helped thicken it up. Le Viandier de Taillevent (c. 1375) lists a Flemish caudle with water, white wine, egg yolks, salt and optional verjuice.

Possets marked many special occasions as celebratory drinks. One of the more popular party recipes as printed in the New York Gazette (1744) listed 1/2 pound of sugar, a quart of milk, a pint of sack (sherry) wine, 20 eggs and nutmeg.

Even more fun to eat than to pronounce, syllabubs are dessert-like drinks typically containing egg frothiness with cream, sugar, wine and spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, mace or cloves. When served in pretty little glasses in days of old, a dainty gal could imbibe without losing respect as a lady.

The flip's popularity spans more than 150 years. Taverns of old might mix up beer, molasses, lemon, egg, spice and maybe cream and heat it up with a red-hot poker, also known as a "flip dog" or "loggerhead" from the fireplace. Guests would clasp their cold hands around the warm handle less flip cups.

By the mid-19th century, eggs diminished in common use in everyday drinks. Their inclusion in drinks became more a part of special occasions -- egg nogs to this day, for example, or often just thought of as holiday drinks.

Fizzes are perhaps the most popular cocktails containing eggs today. With a name like this, you just know something fizzy is in it. A fizz with an egg yolk is a gold fizz, with an egg white is a silver fizz, and a whole egg is a royal fizz. If you exchange the typical fizz choice of soda water for Champagne, it becomes a diamond fizz.

While there may be one outbreak of salmonella for every billion eggs consumed, those with compromised immune systems such as pregnant women, children less than one year old, and people already ill should be more cautious than most. Alternatives to farm fresh eggs exist such as pasteurized eggs and powdered egg whites.

Alabama-born LeNell Smothers defines herself first and foremost as a bartender, but she's been called many things -- most recently, the proprietress of Casa Cóctel with partner Demián Camacho Santa Ana. She's owned her own whiskey label, called Red Hook Rye, and has been recognized by her home state as an honorary Colonel. Other interests include gin, sin and men.

Filed Under: Drinks
Tags: diamond fizz, drinks with eggs, egg nog, eggs, eggs in drinks

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

3-19-2010 @12:22PM Robert said... Don't kid yourself about how "few" illnesses there are caused by eggs. You will never hear about them because of two things -- the egg industry and lawyers. Almost all settlements involving foodborne illness are kept confidential. Ask Bill Marler.

The FSIS calculates the risk with eggs to be more like one in 3,600. Because of pooling, the FDA figures that one in 50 of us is exposed to egg-related salmonella.

Using a pasteurized egg is the only way to remove this risk.
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3-21-2010 @3:41PM chickenmonkeys said... AOL you need to add Captcha in order to prevent spam in these comments! "Captcha is a type of challenge-response test used in computing to ensure that the response is not generated by a computer. "
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3-22-2010 @9:50AM Kim said... I AGREE!!! AOL REALLY NEEDS TO ADDRESS THIS ON GOING PROBLEM!!!!!

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3-21-2010 @7:37PM Frank said... Half a pound of Sugar.??...........rediclous!
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3-22-2010 @7:59AM ycav4424 said... The moderators are probably sitting in japan trying to figure out what the amedicans are talking about, wong tong. Why don't the spammers get a little reply box?
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3-22-2010 @10:03AM hartie said... This person was a former bartender and this article is written about alcoholic drinks. She goes on to say that pregnant women, babies under 1 yr old and people that are already ill should use caution when consuming eggs. Can anyone tell me why a pregnant woman...a child under 1 yr old and someone who is already ill is doing sitting in a bar drinking alcohol? Any one of these 3 drinking is really kinda stupid!
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3-22-2010 @1:10PM Cathy said... The writer goes on to warn about consuming raw eggs because she's careful enough to protect herself and career. While I don't believe she expects pregnant women, or babies under a year old to be drinking alcoholic drinks, she does mention the consumption of raw eggs, and that was enough to include the warning. Guaranteed, if she didn't, there would be some moron who was either pregnant or had a small child, and somehow the consumption of a raw egg and illness would be involved, and she would get sued.

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3-22-2010 @11:25AM Frostbytn said... Wow, how do you people survive?
I grew up on a farm, farm fresh comes with manure on it, you wash it off and then use it.
Old farmers don't die from food born illnesses, most deaths are from cancers caused by processed foods and/or the chemicals they are exposed to while growing the foods you eat. (fertilizers and pesticides)
You engage in acts that are likely to kill you before any food straight from the farm will.
I'm tired of people using a couple of deaths to justify controlling what the other millions of us may or may not do.

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3-22-2010 @1:13PM Angiebaby said... Raw eggs in drinks? You've gotta' be kidding. We're afraid to eat authentic Caesar Salad Dressing made tableside or make fresh mayo because we're either squeamish about the raw egg, or we're obsessed with the idea of being poisoned by an egg. We won't even eat a raw egg cracked over hot pasta or rice, which COOKS the egg when it's mixed! Of all the food staples we consume, I think one of the foods we're the most ignorant about is the egg - it's health benefits, as a replacement for meat protein, they ways they can be stored, the ways they can be used in foods which are non-traditional, etc. But just ask anyone and they can tell you 1) what can happen if you eat a bad egg, and 2) how to tell if an egg is fresh. However, good luck finding someone who can tell you how to correctly boil one....
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3-22-2010 @1:15PM Judy said... BEFORE you eat or drink any raw egg drop it, in its shell, in a glass of water. If it floats to the top throw it out. If it sinks it's ok. Bad eggs develop a gas that makes them rise to the top of the glass.
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3-22-2010 @2:24PM Brian said... Wow I can;t believe how many people are so afraid of eating raw eggs. I have been eating up to 6 a day for about four years now and have never gotten ill from it. I haven't even gotten ill period. I think I have had one cold in the past four years, lasting about two days, and that is the only time I have ever been any kind of sick since eating raw eggs. There are a few simple reasons some people get sick from raw eggs.
1. They eat the crappy supermarket eggs, the ones that sell for about a dollar a dozen. The chickens that laid these eggs are hopped up on all kinds of antibiotics and hormones and such, and fed unnatural diets which goes into the egg that you eat. this is why you should always buy free range or cage free organic eggs (commercial eggs have about 1 in every 20,000 infected with salmonella while organic free range have about 1 in 50,000), or better yet get them straight from a farm if you live near one (farm that doesn't use "super chickens" to lay their eggs)
2. Their immune systems are weak from eating most of the garbage that is out there these days, most of which is barely real food anymore, or from prolonged use of antibiotics. There are a great number of people out there today who are completely immune to antibiotics now simply because it is everywhere these days in things we eat (commercial meat, eggs, etc.). I cannot stress enough the importance of eating grass fed meats only. They are more expensive than regular meats but SOOO much better for you. It is the most natural you can get without killing the animal in the wild yourself.
3.
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