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Egg-nogg

A rich alcoholic egg mixture made with yolks, sugar, brandy, rum, peach brandy, cream, topped with whipped egg whites and sugar, garnished with nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Brandy and rum 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 ↓

Egg-nogg

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Beat the yolks of 30 eggs until light.

  2. Gradually add 2 ½ pounds of fine sugar while beating.

  3. Slowly pour in ½ gallon of French brandy or whiskey to cook the eggs.

  4. Add 1 quart of Jamaica rum and 1 quart of peach brandy.

  5. Fill the bowl with rich cream.

Top and serve

  1. Beat the egg whites until very stiff, adding sugar to taste, and spread over the top.

  2. Grate nutmeg over the entire bowl 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. Brandy + rumtop 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 + peachtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together84 recipes

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

  4. Peach + nutmegtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together342 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

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

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, giving the eggnog its rich body.
Fine sugar
Sweetens the base and helps stabilise the beaten yolks.
French brandy or whiskey
Its alcohol gently cooks the egg proteins, thickening the base while adding flavour.
Jamaica rum
Adds aromatic depth and flavour to the base.
Rich cream
Adds fat and moisture, producing a smooth, creamy texture.
Egg whites
Whipped to a stiff foam, they form a light, airy topping.

The step that matters

Slowly pour in the brandy or whiskey. Adding the alcohol too fast can curdle or unevenly thicken the yolks. Pouring slowly while beating lets the alcohol cook the egg proteins gradually into a smooth, uniform base.

Swap the peach

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits about as well
  3. Raisinfits about as well
  4. Peachthe original

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