Crack the perfect frothy flourish on a sour cocktail

This time of year, eggs represent new beginnings, rebirth, an incredibly exciting part II for the son of God himself. Chocolate eggs are all well and good (don’t ask me about the rabbits, I don’t know what they have to do with the story of Easter), but if you want a themed drink for the season, consider a sour. You won’t necessarily be countering chocolate’s sweetness as this classic cocktail can be quite sweet, but they do traditionally include egg whites as an ingredient.

When shaken into a cocktail, egg whites emulsify with the ingredients to create a smooth texture and a prominent, meringue-like head.

Some people get a bit funny about raw eggs. I love the froth, structure and viscosity they can bring to a cocktail, but I’m not as confident at incorporating them at home as I’d like to be. You just need to make sure the eggs have been stored well and aren’t obviously off. Give them a whiff, and separate with your hands as you would for a baking project. If you can’t be bothered with all of that, there are those cartons of egg whites that fitness types swear by.

For a vegan option, you can use chickpea water – also known as aquafaba – to whip up a froth (make hummus from the leftover legumes).

To make sure our egg-white cocktail froths up correctly and looks great, the secret is in the shake. You are probably familiar with and may have tried the standard “wet shake”: ingredients are all shaken together in a shaker with ice to chill, dilute and aerate, then strained and served in a glass. Aficionados favour a “dry shake” – shaking without ice, then shaking with ice. The first shake helps the egg white to emulsify, which results in a light, smooth cocktail.

But there’s also something called a “reverse dry shake”, where you shake first with ice and then without. This can result in a larger, more prominent head on your sour cocktail. Bartenders are divided on which of these two methods is the best, so give both a try and see which works for you.

Once you’ve nailed the shake, there are all sorts of cocktails you can make with egg whites. I’d start with a simple but a classic one, made with the Peruvian brandy, pisco. You can find a pisco sour on menus in towns or countries with a Latin influence (I had my first at the famed Peruvian restaurant Ceviche 105 in Miami).

Like all “sour” cocktails (whisky/amaretto/brandy sour), the pisco version has a simple ingredient list comprising both sour and sweet.

Gather 60ml of pisco, 30ml of citrus juice (I’ve seen it be lemon, lime or a combination), 15ml of sugar syrup and one egg white. Simply add all your ingredients to a shaker, then use the dry shake (or reverse dry shake) technique, strain into a glass and dot with a few drops of Angostura bitters. As with chocolate eggs, two of these will be more than enough to see you through the afternoon.

Illustration Anna Rodighiero