Royal Fizz – Recipe from the David Embury ‘The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks’

ROYAL FIZZ Gin Fizz using 1 whole egg.

GIN FIZZ 

1 tablespoonful Sugar Syrup 

Juice of 1 medium-sized Lemon 

1 1/2 jiggers Gin 

Shake vigorously with crushed ice for several minutes and strain into pre-chilled 8-ounce glass. Fizz up with siphon of charged water, stirring continuously as water is added. In this and practically all other Fizzes, lime juice or a combination of lime and lemon juice may be used in place of the lemon. 

Today was the royal wedding so this seemed like an appropriate drink.

We decided to throw a party upstairs in the bar and sold out a couple of weeks prior to the event, hosting a radio station from Canada, Norwegians and Americans straight off the plane, as in, carrying luggage. I knew it was a large important event, but hadn’t expected such an international gathering, at Goat.

The day went well with free flowing bubbly, people dressed in top hats and morning suits, endless canapes, a DJ playing the ultimate wedding set and bad dancing. The perfect wedding.

I love all the versions of a Gin Fizz, and will be working my way through these this year, I probably should’ve started with the classic but instead have started with one I actually hadn’t tried before. The process for the basic versions goes: Gin Fizz, Silver Fizz (egg white added), Golden Fizz (egg yolk added), Royal Fizz (whole egg). About 20 years ago I picked up Salvatore Calabrese’s ‘Classic Cocktails’ and slowly started working my way through the book, trying the silver and golden fizz for the first time was a bit of a revelation. I’d used egg white before at Pharmacy with Dick Bradsell, but never in a tall drink with soda, so this and then a Golden Fizz were a little mind blowing. It also started my love for using these as ingredients in drinks, and even now, 20 years later my favourite recipe base for new drinks is a sour, and every Wednesday and Thursday night at our cocktail class guests 99% of the time get a version of a silver fizz as a welcome drink.

The Royal fizz is that little bit heavier as it has the whole egg inside, this results in a strange ‘fizzy milkshake’ like texture, and a lot of flavour, all of which is very complimentary. I used some fresh nutmeg on top, and for the first time in my life think this was probably a mistake, some grated lemon peel, or something citrusy would’ve worked much better. Either way this was a delicious drink and I would recommend trying it.