Hmmm… What to make after a fluffy white cake? How about a fluffy white cocktail? That’s exactly what I found in this historic cocktail. The Ramos Gin Fizz was created in 1888 by Henry Charles Ramos and was originally known as the New Orleans Fizz. It became a sensation in New Orleans, and people flocked to his bar, the Imperial Cabaret Saloon, to give it a try. The only problem? The gin-based cocktail gets its fluffy texture from being shaken for 12 minutes. In fact, Henry had to hire 20 “shaker boys” to be on duty at all times to make this cocktail relay-style. Whew!
I have to say I would have passed this cocktail recipe up if I had to do that. I had enough trouble with 2 minutes of shaking to make a Classic Greek Frappe. It’s tougher than it sounds! But it stayed on my mind, and I even thought about enlisting hubby to help with the shaking. Three minutes per arm might be doable. Maybe. But this version of the Ramos Gin Fizz gives the option of using my stand mixer to do the work. I’ve never used a stand mixer for bartending, but I’m about to!
The Ramos Gin Fizz is made with gin, lemon, lime, egg, cream, and seltzer water. Here’s how to make one.
The Ingredients
As usual, my pre-shopping rummaging through my kitchen found a few ingredients for this recipe. I had powdered sugar, seltzer, crushed ice, and orange flower water. I knew I could find the rest at my regular grocery store, and I was hoping the gin would be easy to find too.
The Ramos Gin Fizz requires a specific type of gin called Old Tom gin. Like the cocktail, the recipe dates back a ways. This type of gin was popular in 18th-century England and is just a bit sweeter than London Dry gin.
Today, there are several companies making this recipe. This Ramoz Gin Fizz recipe recommends Hayman’s Old Tom Gin, and I was able to find it at my local ABC. A 750ml bottle was $31.99, so on par with classics like Tanqueray, Hendrick’s, and Bombay Sapphire.
The Process
I tried making this cocktail three different ways. Not because I wanted to, but because I assumed I remembered the recipe. I always give them a few read-throughs. Once to decide if I can make it, when I add it to my recipe software, when I make a shopping list, and usually right before I make it.
Well, this time I didn’t do that final read-through, and I just went for it. Apparently, my memory and reading comprehension are slipping. And I swear I did not have any cocktails before I started working on this one!
And before I get into it, I want to mention one tool this recipe needs: an eyedropper to add the orange flower water. I keep a few around the house, and they come in handy more than I thought they ever would. I bought mine ages ago, and my eyedroppers came with a cleaning tool. The tiny droppers can be difficult to clean, and this cleans the glass and the rubber bulb (especially great with oily ingredients).
My First Ramos Gin Fizz
My first try was an adventure. My reading comprehension went out the door y’all! I missed the part about chilling the stand mixer’s bowl and not adding crushed ice. I put in the ice, and the chips of ice flew everywhere as soon as I turned on the mixer, of course, I forgot to put on the pouring shield that also acts as a splash guard.
I immediately turned off the mixer and added the pouring shield. Ice still flew everywhere, but a little less. After turning the mixer off again, I covered the mixer with a couple of tea towels and dared to turn the mixer back on.
This time worked out. The ice was either flung out or eventually melted, and I ended up with a frothy mixture after 12 minutes. It wasn’t very cold, but it fizzed up nicely when I added the seltzer water to the glass. This version is the one in my photos, by the way, and it was a good cocktail
My Second Attempt
Okay, reading comprehension was still lacking on this one. Buuuuut… this time I left out the ice when I mixed the cocktail. There was a little splashing, but nothing the pouring shield couldn’t handle.
I let the stand mixer do its thing for 10 minutes. Then I poured the mixture into a cocktail shaker with crushed ice and shook it manually for 2 minutes.
While this version was nice and cold, it didn’t have a firm foam head when I added the seltzer. It was a soft foam that just overflowed the glass. I think the shaking just knocked out the air that was added by whisking in the stand mixer.
Take Three, Success!
The next day I finally got it right! I read and understood the simple instructions and had an all-out attack of embarrassment. How did I not see it?!
Well, the recipe didn’t include instructions for this method. While the blog post mentions using a stand mixer twice, the instructions for that method aren’t part of the printable recipe, which is what I use when I cook recipes for my posts.
Instead, it says to add everything except the seltzer to a chilled stand mixer bowl and whisk on medium-high until soft peaks form. So more like my first try. I knew I wasn’t imagining it, but I swore I did for days until I reread the whole post and saved my sanity!
The post doesn’t give a time for the stand mixer method, so I used 12 minutes on medium-high for all three tries and never got soft peaks. I did get a lot of foam, and adding seltzer made even more.
For my third and most successful try, I put the stand mixer’s bowl into the freezer for about an hour. Once the bowl was nice and frosty, I added all the ingredients except the ice and seltzer. Twelve minutes later I had a cold Ramos Gin Fizz with the firm foamy head after adding seltzer. It looked just like the first one I made, but it was nice and cold. It made a big difference!
Timing
This recipe lists prep/total time of 15 minutes. I came in at 17 minutes with 3 minutes to prep & pour plus 12 minutes to mix. I made the garnish in a few seconds while the stand mixer did its thing.
