Breakfast Gin Fizz
Gin, orange marmalade, lemon and egg white, dry-shaken and topped with soda. The Breakfast Martini as a fizz — bitter orange peel in a silky foam, and the fizz that goes with toast.
Built to the standard modern spec; not yet tested in our kitchen. How we test.
The recipe.
Scaling adjusts quantities only. Prepare shaken drinks in individual portions.
Let’s make a good drink.
Add the marmalade and lemon juice to a shaker and stir until the marmalade loosens.
Add the gin and egg white and dry shake without ice for 10 seconds.
Add ice and shake hard for 12 seconds, then double strain into a chilled highball glass without ice.
Top slowly with chilled soda so the foam rises, and express an orange twist over the top.
A thoughtful finish
- Loosen the marmalade in the lemon before shaking.
- Dry shake first; the foam is the drink.
- A quarter-ounce of simple syrup if the marmalade is very bitter.
Common mistakes
- Under-shaking, which leaves lumps.
- Ice in the glass, which kills the foam.
- A sweet orange jam.
A few good questions.
What does a Breakfast Gin Fizz taste like?
A silky, foamy gin fizz with bitter orange peel and lemon — tart, light and faintly bitter.
Is it a Breakfast Martini?
Its fizz cousin: egg white and soda, no Cointreau.
Which marmalade?
A thick-cut Seville — the bitterness is the point.
Vegan?
Aquafaba foams nearly as well as egg white.
Variations
- Breakfast Martini — Gin, Cointreau, lemon and marmalade.
- Gin Fizz — Gin, lemon, sugar and soda.
- Breakfast Gimlet — Gin, lime and marmalade.
- Ramos Gin Fizz — Gin, citrus, cream, egg white and orange flower water.
Where it comes from
c. 2010s · London
Salvatore Calabrese’s Breakfast Martini of 1996 put marmalade in the shaker, and London bars spent the following two decades putting it in everything else; the Breakfast Gin Fizz is the Silver Fizz — gin, lemon, sugar, egg white and soda — with a spoon of marmalade for the sugar, so the foam carries bitter orange peel and the drink is tall, cold and faintly bitter. It appears on London brunch menus and in Difford’s from the 2010s. The marmalade must be loosened in the lemon juice before the shake, and the drink double strained so the peel stays in the shaker; a thick-cut Seville marmalade gives the most bitterness. Served without ice, as a fizz should be.
Sources
- Difford's Guide, Breakfast Fizz, 2014 (reference)
- Salvatore Calabrese, Classic Cocktails, 1997 (book)
- Liquor.com, Marmalade Cocktails, 2020 (reference)
Strength. About 1.47 US standard drinks at an estimated 11.6% ABV, estimated from the ingredients and technique, not measured. What that means.
A little character in every sip.
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