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Egg Nogg

Egg nog is a chilled beverage 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
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Egg Nogg

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 Nogg

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Whip the whites and yolks of 6 eggs until stiff.

  2. Add ½ cup sugar and mix well.

  3. Pour into 1 quart of rich milk.

  4. Add ½ pint of good brandy and a little nutmeg.

  5. Stir to thoroughly mix the ingredients.

Fold in the whites

  1. Fold in the whipped whites of 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 whites trap air for lightness, while yolks add richness and body.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the sharpness of the brandy.
Rich milk
Forms the liquid base and gives the drink its creamy texture.
Brandy
Adds strong flavor and aroma to the drink.

The step that matters

Fold in the whipped whites. Whipped egg whites hold air that gives the eggnog its light, frothy body. Stirring them in vigorously deflates the foam, so fold gently until just combined.

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.

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