MxMo : Dizzy Dairy

Dizzy Diary:
Any drink using a dairy product is fair game: milk, cream, eggs, butter, cheese, yogurt, curds, you name it. Given the importance of dairy products in drinks dating back centuries, there are lots of opportunities for digging through vintage receipts for a taste of the past, and as always innovation is highly encouraged.

We hope that you'll measure out your portions as best you're able: better to indicate a tablespoon or ounce of egg white, for example, than to say "egg white." In addition, be sure to share any tips and techniques that benefit your booze -- "dry" shaking without ice for a good meringue, say, or stealing Society member Dale DeGroff's whipped cream trick for Irish Coffee. Disasters as well as successes are heartily encouraged. Finally, prepare to respond to the anti-dairy lobby by giving us reasons why your libation is just this side of mother's milk.

So once again MxMo crept up on me and I'm winging it last minute. I've put up enough recipes lately so I'll just offer some working class tips..... in free form.

I hope your bar carries both half and half and heavy whipping cream, as well as eggs.

When mixing up whip cream I like to use about a 3 part half and half to 1 part heavy whip mix and in a pint glass add the spring from a hawthorne strainer ( as you would to dry shake egg whites, but wait that's in a bit ) as well as any liquors that make great flavors, i.e. creme de cacao and frangelico for a chocolate hazelnut whip.

Half and half is essential for Alexanders. Also keep tabs on expiration dates. Sour half and half is foul.

Egg whites are a very fun additive to drinks and there a few ways to go about emulsifying them. One is the aforementioned removal of the spring of a hawthorne strainer and putting it in with the ingredients and "dry shaking" which is without ice, and then shaking again with ice added.

So two big breakthroughs happened to me recently. Actually fairly simultaneously. I bought a set of the Tavolo ice cube trays and started using them at one bar for old fashioneds as well as starting at a new bar that was using Kold Draft ice. I learned that when using large cubes they keep their shape and act in the same way the spring does in emulsifying, hence saving a minute of "dry shaking".