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Drink

Egg and Milk Punch

A chilled drink made with egg yolk, sugar, wine or brandy, cream or milk, and folded egg white.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Egg and Milk Punch

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a goblet, stir together the sugar and egg yolk.

  2. Add the wine (or brandy) and mix well.

  3. Fill the glass with cream or milk until three-quarters full.

  4. Beat the egg white to stiff froth and gently fold it into the mixture.

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

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

  2. Wine + creamtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,887 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

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

  4. Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Sugar + winetop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together9,581 recipes

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

Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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

Egg yolk
Adds richness and emulsifies the drink, giving a smooth, creamy body.
Egg white
Beaten to stiff froth, it lightens the texture and forms a foamy top.
Cream or milk
Forms the liquid base, adding moisture and a soft, rich mouthfeel.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps balance the wine or brandy.

The step that matters

Beating the egg white to stiff froth. Egg white foams only when whipped to stiff peaks, which trap air and make it light. If it is under-whipped it will deflate, and if folded too roughly the foam collapses and the drink loses its lightness.

“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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