VTechnique

Texture: egg, aquafaba and dairy

Egg white, the dry shake, aquafaba, and the safety side.

4 min read

Egg white adds no flavour. What it adds is body and a dense white foam, from proteins unfolding under agitation and trapping air. It's the difference between a Whiskey Sour and a good Whiskey Sour, and most recipes list it as optional without saying how to get it to work.

The dry shake

  1. Combine everything in the shaker without ice and shake hard for about ten seconds. No ice matters here: the proteins denature and foam far better warm, and ice would chill the mixture before the foam forms.
  2. Add ice and shake again, the normal way, to chill and dilute.
  3. Double strain into the glass - through the hawthorne and a fine sieve - to catch any chalaza.
  4. Let it settle for a few seconds. The foam separates and sits up on its own.

The dry shake

the first shake has no ice in it1234shake, no iceadd ice, shakedouble strainlet it settlehawthornesievewarm foams betternow chill itsieve out the stringy bitthe head sits upice in the first shake and the foam never forms
Egg white adds no flavour, so the whole point of it is the head, and the head is made in the shake that has no ice in it. Proteins unfold and trap air far better warm; put ice in first and the mix is cold before the foam has formed. Everything after that is housekeeping - chill it, sieve out the cord of white that never breaks down, and leave it alone while it separates.

Aquafaba

The liquid from a tin of chickpeas. It foams almost identically. One large egg white is about 30 ml, and 30 ml of aquafaba stands in for it one for one - that is what I use. Vegan, no allergen, and it keeps in the fridge for several days. Use unsalted if you can; it tastes of nothing in a finished drink.

Safety, plainly

Raw egg carries a small salmonella risk. Fresh, refrigerated, in-date eggs, cracked to order and never left sitting in a pre-batch. The risk is low but not zero. Anyone pregnant, elderly, very young or immunocompromised should be given the aquafaba version without having to ask. Say "contains raw egg" when you put it down.

Dairy behaves differently: cream adds weight and coats the mouth rather than foaming, and it mutes everything else, which is why cream drinks are usually built on strong flavours like coffee, cacao or mint. Citrus and cream will curdle unless there's enough sugar and speed to hold them, which is why a Ramos Gin Fizz has a reputation.