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Egg Wine

A warm beverage made by mixing white wine, water, sugar, nutmeg, and egg yolks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Egg Wine

Why it works: Nutmeg and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 24,744 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Egg Wine

Ingredients

Directions

Make the wine base

  1. Combine the white wine and water in a pot.

  2. Sweeten to your taste and add nutmeg.

  3. Boil the mixture.

Combine with the yolks

  1. In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks.

  2. Pour the hot wine mixture over the beaten yolks, stirring continuously.

  3. Transfer the mixture between two bowls until frothy.

Serve

  1. Serve in cups.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Nutmeg + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together24,744 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  2. White wine + nutmegtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,659 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  3. Sugar + nutmegtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together23,364 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  4. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. White wine + sugartop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,586 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Nutmeg and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Lisbon white wine
Forms the main liquid and provides the base flavor and acidity of the drink.
Eggs
Egg yolks thicken and enrich the drink as they cook gently in the hot wine mixture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the acidity of the white wine.

The step that matters

Pouring the hot wine over the yolks. If the hot mixture is poured in too quickly or not stirred constantly, the yolks can heat unevenly and scramble instead of blending smoothly. Stirring while pouring gradually raises the yolks' temperature so their proteins thicken the drink without curdling.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (white wine, sugar, egg):

  1. Cinnamonfits about as well
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Gingerfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against white wine, sugar, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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