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Drink

Egg Nog

Egg Nog is a chilled beverage made with eggs, milk, sugar, rum, brandy, nutmeg, and beaten 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: Rum and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,058 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Egg Nog

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the eggs

  1. Beat the egg whites and yolks separately.

Make the base

  1. In a large bowl, combine the milk and sugar, then stir in the egg yolks.

  2. Add the rum and brandy, and flavor with nutmeg.

Finish

  1. Gently fold in the beaten egg whites.

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. Rum + brandytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,058 recipes

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

  2. Rum + nutmegtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together646 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  3. Milk + rumtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together967 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  4. Sugar + rumtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,908 recipes

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

  5. Milk + nutmegtop 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

Eggs
Yolks add richness and body; beaten whites add a light, airy texture.
Milk
Forms the liquid base and gives a creamy, rich body.
Sugar
Sweetens the drink and softens the bite of the alcohol.
Rum
Adds aromatic flavor and a spirited bite.
Brandy
Adds fruity, warming aroma and extra depth of flavor.

The step that matters

Gently fold in the beaten egg whites. Beaten whites hold air that makes the eggnog light. Stirring vigorously deflates the foam, so the drink turns flat and dense.

Swap the nutmeg

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, sugar, rum, brandy. 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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