Skip to main content
Drink

Egg Nog

A chilled holiday drink made with egg yolks, sugar, brandy, whisky, peach brandy, nutmeg, milk, and whipped egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 egg yolks until very light.

  2. Stir in the sugar until dissolved.

  3. Gradually pour in the brandy to cook the eggs.

  4. Add the old whisky and peach brandy.

  5. Mix in the grated nutmegs and whole milk.

Finish

  1. Beat the egg whites to a froth and stir 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. Peach + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together781 recipes

    Shared aroma: phellandrene (minty).

  3. Peach + nutmegtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together342 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Brandy + peachtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together339 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the base and add richness and a smooth, custard-like body.
Egg whites
Whipped to a froth, they add lightness and a airy, frothy top layer.
Brandy
Its alcohol gently cooks the egg yolks while adding warmth and fruity flavour.
Whole milk
Provides liquid and creaminess that dilutes the alcohol into a smooth drink.
White sugar
Adds sweetness and helps balance the strong alcohol flavour.

The step that matters

Pouring in the brandy. Adding the alcohol gradually while stirring the yolks helps prevent curdling and lets the eggs thicken evenly. Dumping it in at once can leave the base lumpy or thin.

Swap the nutmeg

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, brandy, whisky, peach, 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