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Drink

Egg Nog

A chilled beverage made with milk, sugar, egg, vanilla or brandy, and topped with whipped egg white and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Egg Nog

Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Egg Nog

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Combine salt, sugar, milk, and vanilla or brandy in a shaker and shake thoroughly.

  2. Strain into a glass.

Whip the egg white

  1. Separate the egg.

  2. Beat the egg white until very stiff.

  3. Add powdered sugar to the beaten egg white.

Finish and serve

  1. Combine the egg yolk, sugar, and milk in another shaker and shake thoroughly.

  2. Strain into a glass.

  3. Fold the beaten egg white into the yolk mixture.

  4. Serve with the remaining egg white on top.

  5. Grate a little nutmeg on top if desired.

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.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  3. Vanilla + nutmegtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,685 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
The yolk adds richness and body, and the whipped white adds a light, foamy texture.
Milk
Forms the liquid base and gives the drink its creamy body.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the richness of the egg and milk.

The step that matters

Fold the beaten egg white into the yolk mixture. Fold gently so the whipped egg white keeps its trapped air. Stirring or beating vigorously deflates the foam, which removes the light, airy texture the egg white is meant to give the drink.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Clovefits less well
  4. Peppermintfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, vanilla, 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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