Beverage Bonus: Golden Fizz

In my collection of cookbooks I have an adorable little spiral-bound cocktail book that was my Pap Pap’s. It is from 1958 and is titled Here’s How! By Stouffer’s. Yes, that Stouffer’s. Before they were known for frozen mac n’ cheese and lasagna, Stouffer’s had its own chain of dining establishments. At the time this book was published there were 4 Stouffer’s in Cleveland, 3 in Detroit, 4 in Chicago, 3 in Pittsburgh, 4 in Philadelphia, 1 on Long Island and 3 in NYC. Here’s How! was sold at all Stouffer Restaurants for a whopping $1.

To me this book is priceless. Aside from being my grandfather’s, it is the first vintage cookbook I owned–and it’s a cocktail book to boot. It’s quite handy-dandy–it offers a lot of helpful cocktail preparation tips such as what glasses and bar ware should be included in your at-home bar. Plus there is an entire section devoted to canapes.

I do not have an at-home bar (one day I will!) but I do have a travel bar, which is probably from around the same time period–somewhere between the mid-50s to mid-60s.

Isn’t it darling? It includes the basics: 2 tumblers, a can opener, a corkscrew, a barspoon, and 2 over-sized metal shot glasses.  It also has a lock and keys. It’s terrific.

For this venture into retro mixology I chose the Golden Fizz, which is listed towards the back of the book under Pick-Me-Ups. Stouffer’s on Pick-Me-Ups:

Present company excepted, there are those who, starting out with the best of intentions, awake to find their imbibing of the previous evening has descended upon them in the form of a morning-after calamity, hardly to be borne. For this sad state, some people insist that the sooner they look about them for a rejuvenator in the for of a Pick-Me-Up, the better.

There are several recipes for this condition each with its fervid adherents even though their soothing services are not needed very often. When recuperation is “in order” the Golden Fizz ranks high as a favorite.

Though we didn’t need a Pick-Me-Up (it was 9pm), I served breakfast for dinner and a morning-time cocktail seemed appropriate (especially because it contained eggs).

I only had 1 egg in the fridge so I made one Golden Fizz and one Silver Fizz.

How did they taste?

These were not bad drinks, but they weren’t spectacular, either. Honestly they just tasted like gin and lemon. And not even the lemon that much–it was very ginny. I don’t know why the powdered sugar was necessary, nor the egg. Isn’t it a myth that raw eggs cure a hangover?

Also, there were a lot of ingredients and steps involved. Too many if you’re in the throes of a morning-after calamity. Would you want to squeeze lemons and measure powdered sugar while hungover?

Yeah, I didn’t think so.

But the fizzy tops were pretty and it matched the Eggos and Bob Evans sausage nicely.

Recipe & photos from Here’s How! The Stouffer Corporation 1958