Lavender & Velvet
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Intro
This is my first cocktail recipe that comes with a soundtrack! If you haven’t heard the song yet, you can listen below (:
This cocktail is an herbaceous and floral take on the classic Gin Fizz, a drink that was really popular during the early 1900’s. Even though the first known recording of a Gin Fizz recipe came around in the late 1800’s, it didn’t really become popular until bottled sparkling water became more easily and readily available — some older recipes even showed you how to make sparkling water at home by adding baking soda. If you’ve never had a Gin Fizz, it’s basically the cocktail baby you would get if you combined the gin, lemon, soda water, and sugar elements of a Tom Collins with the egg white froth and tartness of a Sour.
I infuse the lavender flowers in the lemonade because I thought if you infused it into the lemon juice or gin it would be overpowered. Lemonade is also the sweetener for this cocktail plus you can just drink the lavender lemonade straight, with a splash of soda water, with a little gin...there are basically a lot of options, which is why I call for a large quantity of lemonade in the recipe. If you don’t want that much leftover just adjust the lemonade and lavender amount accordingly.
IMPORTANT — PLEASE READ:
I use organic and pasteurized eggs since you are consuming raw egg white
Make sure to buy culinary- or food-grade lavender because the flowers you buy for potpourri, etc. is definitely full of chemicals and no one wants that
I use Boston Bittahs, which has chamomile & citrus notes, to round out the flavors; it adds the two notes mentioned but also rounds out the drink with a kind of savory/salty tinge. If you don’t want to buy or don’t have Boston Bittahs, you can add a splash of a hazy or VERY hoppy IPA; I’ve made this cocktail this way just to check and it lends the same effect
I’d recommend using a Boston shaker and large 1½” - 2” ice cubes for egg white cocktails so it doesn’t dilute the drink too much while shaking
Since there is no ice in this finished drink, chilling your glassware is highly recommended
Save your egg yolk for omelettes, to use as an egg wash for pastries, carbonara, or cure them in coarse Kosher salt!
What You'll Need
For the lavender lemonade (enough for 10 cocktails):
3⅛ cups lemonade
3 TBSP food-grade lavender flowers
For each cocktail:
Chilled coupe
2½ oz gin
2½ oz prepared lavender lemonade
¼ oz fresh lemon juice (or 1 lemon wedge of juice)
¾ - 1 oz egg white *
Dash of Boston Bittahs in drink (5 drops) (OR a splash of a hazy or very hoppy IPA)
Garnish: dash of Boston Bittahs + lavender flowers
* My average amount from a Large egg
Instructions
Prepare the lavender lemonade (at least 1 hour before):
This is super straightforward — add the lavender flowers into the lemonade; give it a stir and let it steep in the fridge for at least 1 hour before making the cocktails. Chill your coupes/glassware in the freezer while this steeps
For each cocktail:
Strain the lavender flowers from the lemonade (or you can just double strain later) and add all your ingredients except your garnish into your cocktail shaker (yes, including the egg white)
Dry shake: the first shake should always be a “dry shake”, which means without any ice; this allows the egg white to get really frothy and infuse with all the drink ingredients; gun-to-my-head I’d say dry shake for 10 seconds but this doesn’t take into account how vigorously others do this...it should look VERY white and foamy already and you should just check to see how it looks after 10 seconds and continue to shake if it’s not thick enough
Add your (ideally one BIG) ice cube into the shaker and give it a gentle shake — the goal here is to just cool down the cocktail ingredients first without building pressure in your shaker
Once the entire shaker is nice and chilly, give it a good smack to tighten the seal and vigorously shake again for your final “wet shake” (i.e. with ice)
Take out your chilled coupe from the freezer and strain into the glass (double strain if you didn’t strain the lavender from the lemonade earlier!)
Garnish with dash of Boston Bittahs (if you have) and some fresh lavender flowers
Pictured here with Boston Bittahs
To achieve this effect: dot 5 individual drops of your bitters in a “C” pattern on your egg white foam and use a toothpick, garnish skewer, or any other thin, sharp object to trace the “C” in the egg white and through the bitters
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