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Drink

Egg Nog

Egg Nog is a beverage made with powdered sugar, eggs, brandy, rum, milk, and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Egg Nog

Why it works: Brandy and rum 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

  1. Beat the yolks of the eggs separately and stir them into the powdered sugar.

  2. Add the brandy, rum, and milk, mixing well while stirring constantly to prevent curdling.

  3. Beat the egg whites to stiff froth and place on top of the mixture.

  4. Sprinkle a little nutmeg on top before serving.

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 + rumtop 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. Rum + milktop 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 thicken and enrich the drink, while whites beaten to froth add a light, airy topping.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the drink and dissolves readily into the beaten yolks.
Milk
Forms the liquid base, giving body and creaminess to the drink.
Brandy
Adds alcoholic strength and warming aroma to the drink.
Rum
Adds depth of flavor and further alcoholic character to the drink.

The step that matters

Stirring while adding the liquids. Adding brandy, rum, and milk while stirring constantly keeps the egg yolks from curdling, since proteins in yolks can coagulate when exposed to alcohol and uneven mixing. Smooth blending keeps the texture silky.

Swap the nutmeg

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

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

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