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Drink

Egg Nog

A creamy, sweet beverage made with heavy cream, sugar, egg yolks, brandy, and folded egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Egg Nog

Why it works: Cream and sugar 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 ↓

Egg Nog

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Beat the heavy cream until thick.

  2. Add ¼ cup sugar and mix well.

  3. In a separate bowl, cream the egg yolks with a little sugar.

  4. Combine the creamed yolks with the whipped cream.

  5. Stir in the brandy.

Finish and chill

  1. Gently fold in the beaten egg whites.

  2. Taste and adjust with more brandy or sugar if needed.

  3. Keep in a cool place until ready to serve.

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. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  2. Cream + brandytop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,635 recipes

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

  3. Egg + brandytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).

  4. Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,939 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

Sugar and brandy barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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

Heavy cream
Whipped to thickness, it gives the drink a rich, light body.
Egg yolks
Their emulsifying fat and proteins make the mixture smooth and rich.
Egg whites
Beaten and folded in, they add lightness and an airy texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the richness of the cream and yolks.
Brandy
Adds flavor and aroma, and its alcohol helps keep the drink from tasting flat.

The step that matters

Gently fold in the beaten egg whites. Egg whites hold air only when beaten to the right stiffness. Stirring them hard deflates the foam, so the drink turns dense instead of light and airy.

“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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