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Drink

Baltimore Egg-nog

A creamy, spiced holiday drink made with eggs, milk, cream, rum, brandy, sugar, and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Rum and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,058 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Baltimore Egg-nog

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Beat the yolks of 5 eggs until well combined.

  2. Mix in 1 cup of powdered sugar until smooth.

  3. Slowly add 1 pint of rum and 1 cup of brandy.

  4. Stir in 1 quart of milk and 1 quart of cream.

  5. Add 1 grated nutmeg and mix well.

Finish and rest

  1. Beat the whites of 5 eggs until stiff and gently fold into the mixture.

  2. Prepare the egg-nog the day before serving.

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.

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. Rum + brandytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,058 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Rum + nutmegtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together646 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  4. Rum + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together967 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  5. Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Emulsify and thicken the base, adding richness and a smooth body.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they lighten the texture of the finished drink.
Rum
Adds aroma and flavour while contributing to the drink's keeping quality.
Milk
Provides the liquid body of the drink along with the cream.
Cream
Adds fat for a rich, smooth mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Stiff whites hold air that gives lightness. Stirring them in vigorously deflates the foam, so fold gently with a spatula to keep the texture airy.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, rum, brandy, milk, cream):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, rum, brandy, milk, cream. 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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