Name: Egg Nog
Ingredients: 1 egg; 2 teaspoons sugar; 1 tablespoon wine or brandy; ½ cup milk

Why it works: Egg and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Egg Nog

Ingredients

1 egg
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon wine or brandy
½ cup milk

Directions

Beat the egg until frothy.
Add the sugar and beat until creamy.
Stir in the wine or brandy.
Mix in the milk until well combined.

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.

Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together88,785 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together77,875 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Wine + milktop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,116 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (fenugreek, curry).
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + winetop 31% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together9,581 recipes

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

Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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

Egg: Provides structure and richness, and its proteins help the drink thicken and turn creamy when beaten.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps stabilise the beaten egg into a smooth, creamy texture.
Milk: Adds liquid and body, making the drink smooth and mellow.

“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.