Okay. Here's a photo of one of my Fizzes:
It's getting closer. I've been working on the recipe and practicing my shake, and it's definitely coming together. The original Ramos Gin Fizz recipe (listed a couple posts down) yields a deliciously frothy, balanced cocktail that goes down easy like, um... Sunday morning (thanks, Lionel Ritchie, for making that godawful song pop up whenever I think of a simile that uses the word "easy"). Five minutes of shaking is clearly better than three, but I'm just not willing to try ten. I've also found that it's a good idea to wrap the shaker with a cloth of some sort unless you want your hands frozen to the shaker like that kid's tongue to the pole in that movie A Christmas Story. The main way that I've altered the recipe is by cutting back the cream a bit, because I find it a little too rich. Other bartenders have recommended using half & half, and I think they're on to something. Half & half contains between 10.5% and 18% milk fat, compared to 36% for heavy cream, so this should reduce the ever-so-slight butteriness that lingers in your mouth and the glass. Stay tuned.
For those of you who are still squeamish about the use of raw egg whites, check out this story that ran in the San Francisco Chronicle last year. The "Class Act" cocktail pictured in the article was the creation of Range veteran, Mike LaFreniere.
