Few cocktails have fallen on harder times than the whiskey sour. Once an elegant and sophisticated cocktail filled with the aura or romance, the drink has been lowered to the level of gutter swill comprised of sweet and sour mix and a garishly sweet cherry.

This recipe is designed to help restore the lovely lady back to grandeur she well deserves.

Ready

• 2 oz bourbon or rye whiskey
• ½ oz fresh-squeezed lemon juice
• ½ oz simple (sugar) syrup
• 1 Tbl egg white
• Ice
• slice of orange or lemon (or cherry if you must) for garnish)

Set

• Cocktail shaker

Go

1. Add ingredients to cocktail shaker
2. Shake well.
3. Strain into a highball or cocktail glass.
4. Garnish and serve.

What you should know

Worried about raw egg in your cocktail relax — “according to Christopher Baden, MD, the head of the food-borne illness shop at the Centers for Disease Control (and a refreshingly non-alarmist official). The risk that a given egg is tainted with salmonella is about 1 in 20,000, and the fact that you’ll be drinking alcohol is some reason to relax. According to the journal Epidemiology a few years back, alcohol appears to provide a modest “protective effect’ against salmonella. The evidence came from a wedding buffet in Spain with tainted potato salad. Just about every one of the guests who ate it got sick — expect, that is, for those who were drinking alcoholic beverages.” Eric Felten author How’s Your Drink?