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The Blackstone
Shake briskly one egg with two tablespoonfuls of cold water, and pour into a glass one half full of cracked ice, and add slowly while stirring Vichy to fill glass.
A soda-fountain egg drink from the early Prohibition years. The technique is straightforward; the problem is that the egg is served raw and never heated at any stage.
- Why the cautionA whole raw egg is shaken with water and mineral water and drunk immediately, with no heat, acid or alcohol anywhere in the process. Intact shell eggs can carry Salmonella internally, and nothing in this drink reduces that risk. Use a current recipe if you want an egg drink.
- Ice is not a safeguardThe cracked ice keeps the glass cold but does nothing to the bacteria; chilling only slows growth.
- VichyVichy water was an alkaline mineral water associated with the French spa town. American drugstore fountains served both the imported bottled water and imitations charged on the premises. It was prized for supposed digestive virtues; plain sparkling water is the nearest thing on a modern shelf.
- "Shake briskly"At a fountain this would most likely have meant a metal shaker cup rather than a cocktail shaker packed with ice. The two tablespoons of water appear to be there to loosen the egg so it blends rather than sitting in ropes.
- Cracked iceFountain ice was chipped or cracked from a block, coarser than crushed ice. Anything finely crushed would water the drink down before it was finished.
- YieldOne glass, a single soda-fountain serving.
Books of this kind appeared in quantity as national Prohibition came into force in 1920, offering bartenders and soda men a repertoire that would keep customers on the wagon. Egg drinks were a fountain staple long before that, sold less as refreshment than as nourishment: an egg beaten into seltzer, milk or a phosphate was a standard restorative for invalids, the elderly and men recovering from a hard night, and druggists dispensed them across the counter alongside medicines. Named drinks like this one generally borrowed the name of a hotel or bar where the recipe was said to have been poured, though such attributions in fountain manuals are traditional rather than documented. The formula shows how little a temperance drink had to do to feel like a real one: cold glass, cracked ice, something fizzy poured slowly, and the ceremony of the shake.