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Manhattan Phosphate
Mix two tablespoonfuls of lemon syrup, one tablespoonful of orange syrup, one tablespoonful of orange syrup, two teaspoonfuls of raspberry syrup, and two teaspoonfuls of lime juice. Add a dash of acid phosphate and pour into a small glass half filled with cracked ice. Stir well and decorate with orange slices. Serve with straws.
A soda-fountain phosphate, built in the glass and meant to be drunk cold through straws. Two things need sorting before you start: the duplicated line in the original, and where to find acid phosphate.
- The repeated line"One tablespoonful of orange syrup" is printed twice, almost certainly a compositor's error. Use one tablespoon total; two tablespoons of orange against two of lemon flattens the drink.
- Acid phosphateA dilute solution of phosphoric acid with calcium, magnesium and potassium salts, a common fountain ingredient of the period and still sold for cocktail and soda use. It adds a dry, mineral tartness that citrus alone does not give. A "dash" is roughly a few drops to a scant quarter teaspoon; it is potent and sour, so err low.
- Fountain syrupsThese are simple syrups flavored with fruit, heavier than a modern bar syrup, not fruit juice and not modern squash concentrate. Lemon and orange syrup can be made by steeping zest and juice in hot sugar syrup; raspberry syrup is widely sold. Bottled Italian-style soda syrups work but are thinner and sweeter.
- The missing sodaMost phosphate formulas were topped with carbonated water at the counter, and this one, as printed, is not. Fill the glass with cold soda water after stirring unless you want a very concentrated citrus cordial over ice.
- Cracked iceIce cracked with the back of a spoon or a mallet, not cubes and not crushed to slush. The uneven pieces chill fast and dilute the syrups as they go, which is part of how the drink is meant to taste.
- Glass and yieldA "small glass" here means something well under a tumbler, likely in the range of 6 to 8 ounces. The recipe makes a single serving; the syrups total only about 2 ounces, so the ice and soda do most of the filling.
- Lime juiceTwo teaspoons of fresh juice. Bottled lime cordial of the Rose's type is sweetened and will throw the balance, since the syrups already carry the sugar.
Phosphates were a mainstay of the American soda fountain from the 1870s until well past Prohibition: cheap, sharp, endlessly variable, and made to order in front of the customer. Acid phosphate gave a bracing sourness without adding a citrus flavour of its own, and druggists who doubled as fountain operators sold it by the bottle. A book with a title like On Uncle Sam's Water Wagon tells you the context plainly enough — it belongs to the temperance and early Prohibition literature that set out to prove a bar could be replaced by a counter with syrups and a carbonator.