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Old Virginia Eggnog

A frothy alcoholic eggnog made with eggs, whiskey, rum, sugar, and milk or cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Rum and cognac brandy share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-propylphenol, which smells allspice, anise. The science ↓

Old Virginia Eggnog

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Beat the egg yolks until light.

  2. Add sugar and beat until light.

  3. Mix in whiskey, rum, and milk or cream, and beat until light.

  4. Fold in the egg whites that have been beaten to a froth.

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. Rum + cognac brandytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together68 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-propylphenol (allspice, anise).

  2. Rum + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together967 recipes

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

  3. Rum + sugartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,908 recipes

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

  4. Cognac brandy + milktop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together62 recipes

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

  5. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

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 base, while whites beaten to a froth add lightness and airy body.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the base and helps stabilise the beaten yolks, giving a smoother texture.
Whiskey
Adds alcohol flavour and aroma, and helps preserve the drink.
Rum
Contributes sweet, rich aroma and additional spirit flavour to the drink.
Milk or cream
Adds moisture and richness, giving the drink its smooth, creamy body.

The step that matters

Fold in the beaten egg whites. Egg whites beaten to a froth hold air that gives lightness. Folding gently, rather than stirring, keeps that air from collapsing, so the eggnog stays light and frothy.

“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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