When we each come of legal drinking age, our dining experience becomes just as much about what we drink as what’s on our plate. As restaurants compete for attention with their cocktail menus their ingredients become more creative and their techniques more technical. Inspiring cocktail creations are not simply shaken or stirred, and in Jackson there are a variety of restaurants incorporating uniqueness in what has become a craft. Today, I highlight a cocktail component that had me wary at first: egg whites.
I’ve beaten egg whites into stiff peaks, separated them to make an egg white omelet, and delighted in the texture of the hard-boiled egg white that is the vessel for a delicious deviled egg. Simple, versatile, but drinkable? I wasn’t convinced. However, after a tour de cocktail around Jackson, I changed my mind. The following five cocktails incorporate egg whites with five different liquors. Now that’s versatility.
Jackson Heights
The White Buffalo Club combines Correlejo Blanco tequila, lime, orange, simple syrup, red wine float, and, of course, egg white. Here, the power of the egg white to mellow acidity really shines. You see, egg whites themselves don’t contribute much flavor. Instead, they round out and integrate the other ingredients. The Sake Fizz (pictured above) is another favorite.
You can try these cocktail for yourself when the White Buffalo Club reopens May 11.
Cowboy Part Deux
Local, always the pioneer in cocktail creations, has topped this cocktail of Wyoming Whiskey, Amaro Nonino, chocolate bitters and honey with an egg white foam. In this scenario, the egg white foam gives the cocktail a pretty, distinctive head on top, almost like a cappuccino. Chocolate first? Always.
Local is back open for the spring with two for one entrées nightly.
Apples and Oranges
Part of the cocktail program revamp at Trio, this drink contains Vapid vodka, Salers aperitif, apple shrub, egg whites, lemon and Angostura bitters. The egg whites in this cocktail lend an effervescence and glamor to the cocktail that otherwise couldn’t be achieved.
Trio is back open for spring with two for one entrées.
Green Machine
The cocktails at Gather have always caught our attention with their use of seasonal ingredients and homemade juices and syrups. Here, they spruce up Jackson Hole Stillworks’ Great Grey gin with egg white, clementine shrub, tarragon simple syrup, Drambuie, and kaffir lime. The egg whites give the drink a silky, almost creamy texture, but remain light and crisp, which wouldn’t be achieved if whole eggs or cream were used instead.
Gather is back open for spring with two for one entrées.
Gingers Do Have Souls
The creative names for Lotus cocktails are as unique as the cocktails themselves. Get the fiery warmth of Backwards rum with ginger, Orgeat syrup, lemon, lime, Diaronno, egg white, and bitters. Again, the egg whites integrate the flavors here without muting them.
Lesson learned, egg whites, when properly shaken give cocktails a texture and body that can’t be achieved with any other ingredient or method. Most commonly, you’ll find egg whites being incorporated in fizzes and sours. Egg whites create silkier sours and mellower fizzes, and contributes a silky texture and opacity that makes a vividly colored drink beautiful and elegant.