Maud Irma

A fountain "egg drink" of the malted-milk era, built cold in the glass and never heated at any stage. The notes below explain the terms and why this one belongs on the page rather than in the shaker.

• Why it failsThe whole egg goes in raw, is shaken with ice, and is served immediately in cold milk and soda water. Nothing in the process reaches a temperature that would inactivate Salmonella, and the drink then sits at room temperature under whipped cream while it is drunk through a straw. Shell eggs of unknown provenance were the norm in 1900; they are not a reasonable risk to take now.
• The acid does not helpA dash of bitters and an ounce of fruit syrup are sometimes assumed to "cook" the egg. They do not. The quantity of acid here is trivial against 2 ounces of milk plus soda, and acid alone at refrigerator temperature does not make raw egg safe.
• The cream tooUntreated whipped cream compounded the problem in the original setting. Any modern reading of this drink would also depend on pasteurised dairy throughout, which the book cannot assume.
• Malted milkPowdered malted milk — dried milk with malted barley and wheat extract — is still sold as a drink powder, though modern versions are not identical to the 1900 product. A teaspoonful is a flavour accent here, not a thickener.
• Sweet milkPeriod shorthand for ordinary fresh whole milk, as opposed to sour milk or buttermilk, which recipes of the day specified separately.
• Fine stream sodaFountain jargon for the small-bore tap that delivered carbonated water in a thin, gentle jet, as against the coarse stream used for vigorous mixing.
• Vessel and yieldOne 12-ounce glass. The drink is strained off the ice, so 1 ounce of syrup, 2 ounces of milk and an egg leave the greater part of the glass to be filled with soda water.
• If you want the flavourA raspberry-and-malt milkshake with a dash of bitters covers the same ground; use a current recipe with pasteurised eggs or none at all.