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Drink

Egg Wine

A warm drink made by mixing beaten egg with a sweetened wine mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Egg Wine

Why it works: Egg and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 24,744 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Egg Wine

Ingredients

Directions

Make the egg wine

  1. Beat the egg and mix it with cold water.

  2. In a saucepan, combine white wine, water, sugar, and nutmeg; bring to a boil.

  3. Gradually pour the boiling mixture into the egg while stirring well.

  4. Return the mixture to the saucepan and heat gently, stirring continuously for no more than 1 minute. Do not let it boil to prevent curdling.

Serve

  1. Serve with dry toast.

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

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  2. White wine + nutmegtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,659 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  3. Sugar + nutmegtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together23,364 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  4. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  5. White wine + sugartop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,586 recipes

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

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
Egg proteins thicken the warm liquid into a light, creamy body as they gently set.
White wine
Provides the main liquid and a light acidic, fruity flavour base.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the acidity of the wine.
Nutmeg
Adds warm, aromatic spice flavour to the drink.

The step that matters

Heating the egg mixture gently. Egg proteins set when heated, so if the mixture boils it can curdle and turn grainy. Heating gently for under a minute, while stirring, keeps it smooth and creamy.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, white wine, sugar):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, white wine, sugar. 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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