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Drink

Egg Nog

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

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 very light.

  2. Stir in the white sugar until dissolved.

  3. Gradually pour in the brandy and whisky.

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

Finish

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

Egg yolks
Add richness and body, and help thicken and emulsify the drink.
Egg whites
Whipped to a froth, they add a light, airy texture to the finished eggnog.
White sugar
Sweetens the drink and balances the alcohol.
Rich milk
Provides the liquid base and creaminess.
Brandy
Adds alcohol flavour and aroma and helps preserve the drink.

The step that matters

Beat the egg whites to a froth and gently stir them in last.. Whipped whites hold air that lightens the drink, but overbeating or stirring vigorously deflates them, leaving the eggnog flat and dense.

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.

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

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