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Posts Tagged ‘egg white’

An International Toast to Broads!*

Posted in Broads, Weekly Dig, tagged , , , , , , on March 8, 2012| 1 Comment »

*Originally published in DigBoston

by Pink Lady

International Women’s Day is upon us, dear readers! The March 8th holiday isn’t something we celebrate with much gusto here in the states, but it’s celebrated heartily in other corners of the world. We first learned about Women’s Day from an ex-pat friend who lives in Italy, where Italian regazzi give their ladies yellow mimosas as they gather for women-only dinners and parties. Anyone who’s seen an episode of Sex and the City or ever happened across a huge group of girls at the bar finds this commonplace, but in Italy, ladies night is not so. In Poland Women’s Day is similar to American Mother’s Day; in Pakistan it’s a day to commemorate the struggle for women’s rights.

Women’s Day arose after an important protest on March 8, 1908, when 15,000 women took to the streets of New York, marching for voting rights, shorter hours, and better pay. The Socialist Party of America declared National Women’s Day to be February 28 the following year.

Women’s Day went global in 1910 when the delegates to the 2nd Annual Working Women’s Conference in Copenhagen unanimously approved an International Women’s Day. The first International Women’s Day was celebrated on March 19, 1911, with more than a million men and women attending rallies around the globe, campaigning for women’s rights to vote, work, and hold public office. The holiday was moved to March 8 two years later and has been celebrated then ever since. In 1975 the holiday received official sanction from the U.N. and has been an officially sponsored holiday ever since.

This International Women’s Day, why not celebrate with a cocktail from the “Lady” category? White Lady, Chorus Lady, Creole Lady – there are several but a Pink Lady will always be my go to.

Pink Lady

1.5 oz Plymouth gin

.5 oz applejack

.5 oz fresh lemon juice

.5 oz grenadine

1 egg white

Combine ingredients without ice in a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously for 20 seconds. Fill the shaker with ice and shake shake shake until frothy and delicious.

Cin-cin!

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The Snow Ball!

Posted in Events, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 26, 2012| Leave a Comment »

*As originally published in DigBoston.

by Pink Lady

It’s easy to get the blues this time of year when the only holiday on the horizon is Valentine’s Day. You need a cocktail. Thus we bring you THE SNOW BALL—a LUPEC Boston Winter Prom. On January 30 the ladies of LUPEC Boston will transform the back room at Silvertone into a winter wonderland for a magical evening of dancing, drinks and awkward prom photos to benefit local women’s charity On the Rise.

While former prom kings and queens are reliving their wonder years,

those among us who skipped prom because they were too busy listening to punk music and being vegan (cough BOURBON BELLE cough) will have a chance to enjoy Prom 2.0—complete with spiked punch, cocktails and hands below the waist.

Entry to THE SNOW BALL costs $10 and will be granted on a first come, first served basis. All of the ticket proceeds will be donated to On the Rise. Guests who bring clothing and other items deemed acceptable for donation (visit lupecboston.com for specifics) will be given tickets for complimentary drinks commensurate with their donation. Additional spiked punch and cocktails that commemorate proms throughout the ages will be available for purchase for $5-$7 each. Light appetizers will be served.

Josh Childs and Beau Sturm will guest bartend and TJ Connelly, the locally famous DJ for the Boston Red Sox and co-founder of getonthebar.com will provide musical entertainment. Guests will have an opportunity to have their moment memorialized in THE SNOW BALL photo booth.

As with all LUPEC events, dressing up is encouraged and guests are invited to come in creative formal prom attire. And yes, a prom king and queen will be crowned, so dress to impress.

Enjoy one of these as you mull over your outfit.

PINK CARNATION
1 egg white
.25 oz grenadine
.25 oz lemon juice
.25 oz Sweet cream
2oz Beefeater gin
Shake and strain into cocktail glass.

CIN-CIN!

Event Details:
THE SNOW BALL: A LUPEC Boston Winter Prom
Monday, January 30th, 7-11 p.m.
Silvertone, 69 Bromfield St, Boston, MA (617) 338-7887
$10 cover, first come, first served
Drink tickets allotted for clothing & other donation items***
Spiked punch and cocktails $5-7 each
Guest bartending by Josh Childs and Beau Sturm
Musical stylings by TJ Connelly
Creative prom attire encouraged – dress to impress!
All proceeds from THE SNOW BALL will benefit On the Rise

***Items acceptable for donation include:
Thermal undergarments in all sizes
Backpacks
Flashlights
Whistles for emergencies
Charlie Cards in denominations of $5
Durable winter boots and winter shoes
Multi-packs of NEW undergarments like sports socks, sports bras, and underwear in all sizes

***PLEASE NOTE: On the Rise has a surplus of hats, scarves, coats, etc. so bringing the items on the list above would be ideal.***

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LUPEC Raises a Glass to Women’s Equality Day*

Posted in Weekly Dig, Women's History, tagged , , , , on August 24, 2011| Leave a Comment »

*As originally published in the Weekly Dig.

by Pink Lady

August 26 marks Women’s Equality, the anniversary of passing of the 19th Amendment, granting American women the right to vote in all public elections.

This super-momentous occasion took place behind closed doors at Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby’s private residence in 1920, “without ceremony of any kind,” according to the New York Times. “Unaccompanied by the taking of movies or other pictures, despite the fact that the National Woman’s Party, or militant branch of the general suffrage movement, had been anxious to be represented by a delegation of women and to have the historic event filmed for public display and permanent record.”

The moment was 72 years in the making, the culmination of a long and ceaseless campaign by American women and their male supporters.

50 years later, congress deemed August 26 “Women’s Equality Day” during the height of the Second Wave Women’s Movement, both as a nod to women’s enfranchisement and to women’s modern efforts toward full equality. To paraphrase, the Joint Resolution was passed because “the women of the United States have been treated as second-class citizens and have not been entitled the full rights and privileges, public or private, legal or institutional, which are available to male citizens of the United States … the women of the United States have united to assure that these rights and privileges are available to all citizens equally regardless of sex.”

This August 26, we raise a glass to voting rights for women, and to the long hard road our forebroads marched to enfranchisement.

PERFECT LADY COCKTAIL
2 oz gin
1 oz peach brandy
1 oz fresh lemon juice
Egg white

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker without ice and shake vigorously to emulsify. Add ice and shake long and hard. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

CIN-CIN!

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Pisco Power*

Posted in Weekly Dig, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 3, 2010| 1 Comment »

*Recent ruminations from LUPEC Boston, in case you missed ’em in this week’s Dig.

by Pink Lady

If you’ve ever tried a Pisco Sour, you know the delights of the frothy drink, particularly the warm glow that steals over you after several sips. If you’re scratching your head and wondering, “WTF is Pisco???” do yourself a favor and read on.

Pisco is a distilled grape spirit that hails from Peru or Chile and is made from unique regional varietals. It’s born much in the same way as cognac or brandy, but is aged in stainless steel versus wood so typically has little to no discernible color. In its pre-Prohibition heyday, Pisco Punch was all the rage in the bars of San Francisco, with some bars devoted to serving that drink and nothing else. As the story so often goes, Prohibition nearly erased both pisco and punch from American cocktail landscape.

There are four different styles of pisco: pisco aromatica, pisco puro (single varietal), pisco acholado (a blend of aromatic and non-aromatic muscat grape clones), and pisco mosto verde (made from partially fermented grape juice.) Laws are less strict in Chile but in Peru, the production of pisco is highly regulated. A competitive marketplace yields great styles.

As a category pisco emphasizes place over process, allowing flavors of the grape to shine through by using stainless steel instead of wood for aging. Peruvian pisco is typically distilled just once or twice, and laws stipulate that the spirit cannot be rectified post-distillation so it must be distilled to proof. The quality of the grape is the measure of the distiller’s skill.

One brand of which are particularly fond is Macchu Pisco, helmed by the fabulous Melanie da Trindade-Asher. Her family-owned company also produces La Diablada, an acholado made from Quebranta, Italia, and Moscatel grapes. It’s floral, smooth, and extremely aromatic and an exciting way to try your favorite pisco cocktails. Sample a Pisco Sour with both and be changed.

PISCO SOUR

1.5 oz Macchu Pisco or La Diablada

1 oz simple syrup

.75 oz fresh lemon or lime juice

1 oz egg white

Angostura bitters

Combine the pisco, simple syrup, citrus juice, and egg white in a mxing glass. Dry shake to emulsify, then add ice and shake long and hard. Strain into a small cocktail glass. Garnish by sprinkling angostura bitters onto the egg white foam.

Cin-cin!

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AN EGGS-CELLENT ADVENTURE*

Posted in Weekly Dig, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 4, 2010| Leave a Comment »

*Recent ruminations from LUPEC Boston, originally published in the Dig.

by Pink Lady

LUPEC is fresh off the plane from Tales of the Cocktail, an annual convention for drink geeks in New Orleans, and after five straight days of imbibing, we sure are hungover. Back in the days before Prohibition, this situation called for one thing: a sour, a fizz, or really any style of morning brace up made with an egg.

Eggs are a contentious topic in many bars, which is why we were thrilled to attend the seminar entitled “The Egg-pire Strikes Back” last week. Work (or drink) in a craft cocktail bar long enough and you will inevitably hear a guest say: “Eggs in cocktails? Isn’t that dangerous? What about salmonella?”

Eggs have a long history as a cocktail ingredient. They were originally used as a substitute for milk in drinks and began to appear in recipes like the Morning Glory Fizz and the original recipe for the Sour in the 1880s.

Egg effectively works to bind the ingredients in the drink together, giving it a smooth, velvety texture. We’ve all been raised to fear salmonella, of course, but the bacteria takes about three to five weeks to develop, so using fresh eggs should keep you in a safety zone. It also targets the sick, the elderly and infants, most of whom shouldn’t be drinking anyway. And, in general, eggs have lower danger levels than lettuce.

Now, let’s get back to that morning brace up. People drank frequently in the days before Prohibition, which could of course lead to a bit of morning malaise. Before the Bloody Mary was even a twinkle in Pete Petiot’s eye, there was the Morning Glory Fizz. There are two ways to avoid a hangover: one is to never start drinking, the other is never stop. After stirring our souls and exhausting our livers at Tales of the Cocktail, I’m sure you know which one we’d choose.

Below, you’ll find Harry Johnson’s fizz recipe, about which he wrote: “The author respectfully recommends the above drink as an excellent one for a morning beverage, which will give a good appetite and quiet the nerves.” You heard the man. Bottoms up!

MORNING GLORY FIZZ

Harry Johnson’s recipe, adapted from Imbibe! by David Wondrich

0.75 tbsp sugar

0.5 oz lemon juice

0.25 oz lime juice

0.5 tsp absinthe dissolved well with a little water

egg white

2 oz Scotch whisky

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker and dry shake for a few seconds. Add ice and shake, then strain into a highball. Top with soda water.

CIN-CIN! LUPECBOSTON.COM

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What We’re Drinking: Ramos Gin Fizz*

Posted in Weekly Dig, tagged , , , , , , , , , on June 9, 2010| 2 Comments »

*LUPEC ruminations, as previously published in the Weekly Dig.

Imagine 35 pairs of arms working in tandem to produce a cocktail just for you. If you were in New Orleans for Mardi Gras circa 1915, The Stag saloon would have offered this surreal experience. There, Henry Ramos mixed up his special New Orleans fizzes, believed to be the best in the world.

Ramos invented the drink at his Imperial Cabinet saloon in 1888, when New Orleans was becoming a hot tourist destination, beloved for its quaint, historic saloons. Ramos profited greatly from this boom, as tourists thronged his establishment for a taste of his famous house fizzes. Six bartenders were employed per shift at the Imperial Cabinet, each with his own dedicated “shaker boy,” “a young black man whose sole job was to receive the fully charged shaker from the bartender and shake the bejeezus out of it,” writes David Wondrich in IMBIBE!.

Why all the shaking? This particular fizz recipe calls for egg white and cream, two ingredients that are famously difficult to emulsify. “Shake and shake and shake until there is not a bubble left, but the drink is smooth and snowy white and of the consistency of good rich milk,” Ramos said. If preparing a Ramos Gin Fizz, you’d best bring your guns to the show.

By Mardi Gras in 1915, Ramos had conceived a new format for emulsifying: 35 shakermen would shake the drink until their arms were tired, then pass it on down the line.

There is one place where you can still see great displays of mixological showmanship: Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans. This five-day celebration of the history and artistry of drink-making is just around the corner. LUPEC Boston will be there. Days filled with nerdy cocktail seminars taught by the most talented folks in the beverage industry, nights filled with boozing at New Orleans’ famous bars and a chance to sample a Ramos Gin Fizz in its hometown—we wouldn’t miss it for the world.

Think about joining us as you shake your own fizz long and hard.

RAMOS FIZZ

Adapted from The Essential Cocktail: The Art of Mixing Perfect Drinks by Dale DeGroff

1.5 oz gin

0.5 oz fresh lemon juice

0.5 oz fresh lime juice

1.5-2 oz simple syrup, to taste

2 oz heavy cream

0.75 oz egg white

2 drops orange-flower water

club soda

Combine the gin, juices, syrup, cream, egg white and orange-flower water in a mixing glass with ice, and shake long and hard to emulsify the egg. Strain into a highball glass without ice. Top with soda but no garnish.

CIN-CIN!

TALES OF THE COCKTAIL IS JULY 21st-25th IN NEW ORLEANS. FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT TALESOFTHECOCKTAIL.COM. 

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A Toast to Oscar Victory*

Posted in Weekly Dig, Women's History, tagged , , , , , on March 24, 2010| Leave a Comment »

*Recent ruminations from LUPEC Boston, as previously published in The Weekly Dig.

We’re thrilled to celebrate history-making forebroads in honor of Women’s History Month this March. What could be better than raising a glass (or three) to a woman who made history this month?

On March 7th, Kathryn Bigelow became the first female director to win two of the most coveted Oscars the academy has to offer, “best director” and “best film,” for her low-budget, low-grossing, critically acclaimed drama, The Hurt Locker. (It also managed to beat out a little ditty directed by her ex-husband that cost over 15 times as much to make and grossed almost 100 times as much at the box office.) Bigelow is the first woman to take home the best director title in the ceremony’s 82-year existence.

LUPEC Boston was shocked to learn how sorely underrepresented women are among Hollywood’s power elite. Dr. Martha Lauzen of San Diego State explains the phenomenon in her regularly published “Celluloid Ceiling” survey: Of the top 250 grossing movies this year, just 16 percent of directors, executive producers, producers, writers, cinematographers and editors were women. Female directors represented 7 percent (the same percentage they held back in 1987, when hair bands and acid-wash jeans seemed like a good idea), and women writers make up only 8 percent.

Nevertheless, 2009 was heralded as “The Year of the Woman” in Hollywood, in part because two of the year’s top-grossing films (New Moon and The Proposal) had female leads, and also because some high-profile female directors had new releases, including Nora Ephron, Jane Campion and Lone Scherfig (whose An Education was also a best picture nominee). But Bigelow was the fourth woman to even be nominated for best director since the advent of the academy.

Manohla Dargis points out in a recent New York Times story that the win is more than a milestone; it’s “also helped dismantle stereotypes about what types of films women can and should direct.” Bigelow generally makes “kinetic and thrilling movies about men and codes of masculinity set in worlds of violence.”

This season, Bigelow’s gripping Hurt Locker swept the awards circuit, racking up trophies from the Directors Guild of America for “outstanding direction,” a nomination for a Golden Globe, a “best direction” award from BAFTA, nine Oscar nominations and six Oscar victories.

Today we raise a glass to Kathryn Bigelow, who is accused of making movies “like a man” nearly as often as we are accused of drinking like one.

HOLLYWOOD COCKTAIL

1 1/2 oz light rum

1/2 egg white

1/2 oz grenadine

1/2 oz grapefruit juice

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker and dry shake to emulsify. Add ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a chilled vintage cocktail glass. Garnish with fresh-grated nutmeg.

CIN-CIN!

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