Skip to main content
Drink

Egg Nog

A chilled beverage made with eggs, sugar, brandy, whisky, nutmeg, and milk.

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

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

Make the base

  1. Beat the yolks of the eggs until light.

  2. Stir in the sugar until dissolved.

  3. Gradually pour in the brandy and whisky.

  4. Add the grated nutmeg and milk, mixing well.

Finish the eggnog

  1. Beat the egg whites to a froth and gently fold 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.

  1. Brandy + whiskytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together330 recipes

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

  2. Nutmeg + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,685 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  4. Brandy + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,738 recipes

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

  5. Whisky + milktop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together287 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Yolks thicken and enrich the custard-like body, while whites add a light, airy foam.
White sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the alcohol and richness of the drink.
Brandy
Adds warm, fruity aroma and a sharp alcoholic note.
Old whisky
Adds depth and a woody aroma that complements the brandy.
Whole milk
Provides moisture and creaminess, diluting the spirits into a smooth drink.
Nutmeg
Contributes a warm, spicy aroma to the finished drink.

The step that matters

Fold in the egg whites gently. Beaten whites hold their froth because of trapped air. Stirring or overmixing them deflates the foam, which thins the eggnog and removes the light texture the whites are meant to provide.

Swap the nutmeg

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

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

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

Frozen 13Hot 7Sauce 4Fruit 4Lemon 4Southern 4 See all 231 →

You might also like

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