Skip to main content
Drink

Egg-nog

Egg Nog is a festive drink made with eggs, sugar, milk, brandy, nutmeg, and whipped egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Egg-nog

Why it works: Milk and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,685 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Egg-nog

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Whip the whites and yolks of the 6 eggs into a stiff cream, adding the sugar.

  2. Pour the mixture into a quart of rich milk.

Finish

  1. Add the brandy and a little nutmeg for flavor.

  2. Stir and thoroughly mix the ingredients.

  3. Fold in the whipped whites of the 3 additional eggs.

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

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Brandy + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,311 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  3. Milk + brandytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,738 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

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

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Egg + brandytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).

Egg and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 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

Eggs
Whipped yolks and whites thicken the drink and give it a rich, creamy body.
Egg whites
Whipped whites trap air, adding a light, frothy texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the whipped eggs hold a stiff, stable foam.
Rich milk
Provides the main liquid, adding richness and a smooth, creamy mouthfeel.
Brandy
Adds a warming alcohol aroma and flavor that carries the spices.

The step that matters

Fold in the whipped whites. Folding gently keeps the air bubbles in the whipped whites. Vigorous stirring deflates the foam, leaving the eggnog denser and less light.

Swap the nutmeg

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

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

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

More egg nog recipes

Frozen 4 See all 38 →

You might also like

Vegetable SoupVegetable Soup350 recipesRaspberry VinegarRaspberry Vinegar214 recipesBrown Coffee with EggBrown Coffee with Egg175 recipesBlackberry CordialBlackberry Cordial129 recipes