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The Albany
Mix two tablespoonfuls of pineapple syrup, one tablespoonful of vanilla syrup, one tablespoonful of strawberry syrup with four tablespoonfuls of sweet cream. Add soda water and a spoonful of ice cream. Put a slice of orange or pineapple cubes on top.
A soda-fountain formula: syrups and cream in the bottom of the glass, soda water drawn in on top, ice cream floated last. The order matters more than the quantities.
- Build it in orderStir the three syrups into the cream first, as the recipe directs, so the cream is sweetened and diluted before the gas hits it. Cream met with soda water in an unmixed glass is more likely to curdle or foam over.
- Fountain syrups, not extractsPineapple, vanilla and strawberry syrup here mean heavy sugar syrups of roughly two parts sugar to one part water, flavoured and sometimes fruit-loaded. Vanilla syrup is not vanilla extract; a tablespoon of extract would be undrinkable. Italian-style coffee bar syrups are the closest modern equivalent.
- Sweet cream"Sweet" means simply not soured, as distinct from the sour cream and buttermilk also on hand in a period kitchen. Use light cream or half-and-half; heavy cream at four tablespoons makes the glass cloying.
- Soda waterCharged water from a siphon or counter draft arm, colder and more strongly carbonated than most bottled club soda. Use a soda siphon or the coldest seltzer you have, and pour down the side of the glass to keep the gas in the drink.
- A spoonful of ice creamFountain measure, not a modern scoop: a spoonful or so of plain vanilla, floated last so it sits at the top. It is a float, not a blended shake.
- Glass and yieldOne drink, in a tall soda glass. The syrups and cream come to about half a cup, so allow room for the soda water and leave headroom for the ice cream and the fruit garnish.
- The garnishAn orange wheel notched onto the rim, or fresh pineapple cut small. Canned pineapple in syrup works but pushes an already sweet glass further; drain it well.
Books of this kind belong to the golden age of the American soda fountain, when the drugstore counter set itself up as the respectable alternative to the saloon. Fountain formulas were trade knowledge, and collections like this one printed them under proprietary names, said to have been borrowed variously from hotels, cities or regular customers, so that a drink called "The Albany" might mean something quite different in the next book on the shelf. The pattern is standard: two or three syrups for flavour, cream for body, charged water for lift, ice cream for luxury. Vanilla syrup as a background note in a fruit drink, rather than a flavour in its own right, is a fountain habit that has largely disappeared from home drink-making.