Check out this cocktail recipe from Julia Reed’s newest book, Julia Reed’s New Orleans: Food, Fun, and Field Trips for Letting the Good Times Roll.
The Ramos gin fizz, one of the city’s most iconic—and refreshing—cocktails, was invented by Henry Ramos in 1888. By 1915, the drink was so popular, Ramos had to hire dozens of “shaker boys” during Carnival season to meet the demand at his bar, the Imperial Cabinet Saloon—the trick to the cocktail’s frothy outcome is the vigorous shake. Unlike most of his neighbors, Ramos closed his saloon at the onset of Prohibition. Once the Eighteenth Amendment was repealed, he sold his secret recipe to the Roosevelt Hotel. Huey Long, who kept a suite at the Roosevelt when he was governor, grew so partial to the drink that he took a hotel bartender with him on a trip to Manhattan. I don’t blame him. A properly made gin fizz is an addictive tonic on a hot day and a hangover cure of some renown. Just don’t forget to shake.
Ramos Gin Fizz
2 ounces (¼ cup) gin
1 ounce (2 tablespoons) simple syrup
½ ounce (1 tablespoon) freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ ounce (1 tablespoon) freshly squeezed lime juice
1 egg white
1 ounce (2 tablespoons) heavy cream
4 drops orange flower water Chilled club soda
Combine the first seven ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake vigorously. Strain into a highball glass and top with club soda.
