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Drink

Old Virginia Eggnog

A frothy alcoholic egg mixture made with brandy, whiskey, cream, and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Old Virginia Eggnog

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Beat the egg yolks and whites separately.

  2. Add 1 tablespoon of sugar for each egg to the yolks, beating continuously until light.

Combine

  1. Stir in 1 pint of brandy and 1 pint of whiskey.

  2. Fold in half of the beaten egg whites.

  3. Add 3 pints of rich cream or 1 pint of milk and 2 pints of cream.

  4. Gently fold in the remaining egg whites.

  5. Do not add liquor after the cream.

Serve

  1. Grate a little nutmeg on top before serving.

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. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  4. Brandy + creamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,635 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

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

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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
Yolks and whites give the eggnog its body and a light, airy foam when beaten.
Sugar
Sweetens the base and helps the yolks beat to a light, stable texture.
Brandy
Adds alcohol flavour and aroma to the drink.
Whiskey
Adds alcohol flavour and aroma to the drink.
Rich cream
Supplies fat for a smooth, rich mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Do not add liquor after the cream. The record directs that liquor is added before the cream. Keeping the order as written matters for the final texture of the mixture, so follow the sequence given.

“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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