White Lady Recipe on Food52 (2024)

The original white lady recipe in Harry Craddock's "Savory co*cktail Book," published in 1930, doesn't contain any egg whites. However, almost every recipe you'll find after that inexplicably does. Maybe it's because bartenders learned what I learned: While a white lady made without egg white (a gin sidecar, essentially) is a great drink, one made with egg white is absolutely sublime.

I've taken a few other liberties with this drink, but my favorite has to be the addition of the thyme-infused Cointreau. —Jeffrey Morgenthaler

This is one of those co*cktails you make to impress. The thyme-infused Cointreau really puts this recipe over the top. Simply combine some thyme sprigs and a bottle of Cointreau in a canning jar. Yes, you have to wait a week, but the results are so well worth it, and after you strain it and bottle it, you can keep it on your liquor shelf for as long as you'd like. It's well worth the extra step, and you'll have a fun thyme-infused twist for whatever co*cktail experiments you come up with. The original co*cktail was made with crème de menthe, triple sec, and lemon, according to Liquor.com. The developer made the change, basically, because he felt like it, and the changes have stuck to this day. This definitely isn't a "classic" white lady, per se. But it's got the familiar players of gin, lemon, some sweetness from a double simple syrup, which you can see how to make below, and of course the egg white.

Note: To make double simple syrup, combine two parts sugar to one part water in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Promptly remove the pan from the heat once the sugar is dissolved. (You don't want to bring it all to a boil.) To store, you can sterilize a bottle or jar by filling it with boiling water and pouring some over the lid, too. Dump the water out right before you fill with the hot syrup and seal the jar. Let cool before use. —The Editors

Directions

1. Thyme-Infused Cointreau
2. In a 1-quart (960-milliliter) canning jar, combine the Cointreau and thyme. Let sit, agitating regularly, for 1 week. Strain through a strainer lined with a coffee filter set over a bowl. Bottle the infused Cointreau; it should keep indefinitely.

1. White Lady
2. In a co*cktail shaker, combine the gin, lemon juice, egg whtie, simple syrup, and 1 ounce (30 milliliters) of the Thyme-Infused Cointreau. Shake without ice until the egg white is frothy. Add ice and shake again until chilled.
3. Strain into a chilled co*cktail glass. Twist the orange peel over the drink, discard the peel, and serve.