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Drink

Egg Flip, or Mulled Ale

A warm ale beverage mixed with eggs, nutmeg, butter, and optionally brandy, served with dry toast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 24,377 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Egg Flip, or Mulled Ale

Ingredients

Directions

Make the ale base

  1. Boil one quart of good ale with some nutmeg.

  2. Beat up six eggs and mix them with a little cold ale.

Thicken and serve

  1. Pour the hot ale into the egg mixture, pouring it back and forth several times to prevent curdling.

  2. Warm and stir the mixture until it becomes sufficiently thick.

  3. Add a piece of butter or a glass of brandy.

  4. Serve with dry toast.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

192Calories
6 gProtein
18 gFat
2 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. See the original page.

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. Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together24,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together24,744 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Egg and nutmeg 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

Eggs
Thicken the mixture as they set with gentle heat, giving the drink body.
Ale
Forms the liquid base and carries the flavour of the drink.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel to the finished drink.

The step that matters

Pour the hot ale into the egg mixture gradually. Adding hot liquid to eggs too quickly scrambles the proteins and curdles the drink. Pouring back and forth several times warms the eggs gradually so they thicken smoothly.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Nutmegthe original
  2. Parsleyfits about as well
  3. Capersfits about as well
  4. Tarragonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, 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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