Name: Egg Nog
Ingredients: 24 egg yolks; 1 cup white sugar; ⅔ cup brandy; ⅔ cup old whisky; ⅓ cup peach brandy; 2 nutmegs, grated; 3 quarts whole milk; 12 egg whites

Why it works: Brandy and whisky work together. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 330 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Egg Nog

Ingredients

Directions

Beat the egg yolks until very light.
Stir in the sugar until dissolved.
Gradually pour in the brandy and whisky.
Add the peach brandy and grated nutmegs.
Mix in the whole milk.
Beat the egg whites to a froth and gently stir them in last.

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.

Brandy + whiskytop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together330 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Peach + milktop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together781 recipes

Shared aroma: phellandrene (minty).
Peach + nutmegtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together342 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Brandy + peachtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together339 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Nutmeg + milktop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,685 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

Swap the nutmeg

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

Cinnamonfits better
Nutmegthe original
Gingerfits about as well
Clovefits less well

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