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Orange Egg Phosphate
Put three tablespoonfuls of orange syrup and three tablespoonfuls of lemon syrup into a shaker. Break in an egg, add a dash of acid phosphate, shaved ice, and soda water. Shake well, and pour into a glass.
A soda-fountain formula from the era when the drug store dispenser was expected to crack a raw shell egg into a glass on request. The ingredients are mostly still obtainable, but the drink as written is a raw-egg beverage with nothing in it that makes the egg safe.
- Why this one failsThe egg is broken straight into the shaker and never heated at any stage. Raw shell eggs carry a real risk of Salmonella Enteritidis, which can be present inside an intact, clean-looking egg, not merely on the shell. A current recipe using a pasteurized product should be used instead.
- Acid phosphate is not a safeguardFountain acid phosphate is a dilute solution of phosphoric acid with calcium, magnesium and potassium salts, used for tartness and mouthfeel. A dash of it in a tall glass of soda water is nowhere near acidic enough, nor held long enough, to do anything to bacteria.
- Nor is the iceShaved ice and cold carbonated water slow bacterial growth and kill nothing.
- The syrupsOrange and lemon syrup here mean fountain syrups: heavy sugar syrups, typically much sweeter and thicker than modern cordials or squashes, so three tablespoons of each is a substantial dose of sugar, not a splash of juice.
- "Soda water"At a fountain this came from a pressurised carbonator at the counter. Bottled club soda is the nearest equivalent; the drink was built to be served immediately, while still foaming.
- SizeSix tablespoons of syrup plus an egg, ice and soda makes a single tall drink; the original assumes one drink per shaker.
The egg phosphate belongs to the American soda fountain's career as a health counter, when the dispenser sold tonics as readily as treats: acid phosphate was marketed as a nerve and digestion remedy, and a raw egg was regarded as a cheap, respectable food for invalids and thin children. The egg drinks in particular echo the tavern flip and egg nogg, minus the spirits. Acid phosphate itself is generally traced to nineteenth-century pharmacy preparations sold as phosphate tonics, and it survived as a fountain ingredient long after its medical claims were abandoned. It is made again today for bartenders, which is more than can be said for the habit of cracking a raw egg into a stranger's glass.