The Drink With Eggs
A Nog for Your Noggin
What would you say if I told you that I never knew that “eggnog” was supposed to be an alcoholic beverage until I was… older than I should’ve been to know that?
Let me frame this for you. My saintly, wonderful, gut-deep Baptist grandmother used to make homemade custard (something referred to, erroneously, as “eggnog” at times) every Christmas I spent at their lake house in Western Kentucky. It was rich, sticky, delicious and 100% alcohol free because spirits were how the devil turned you. And that stuff you buy in the fridge starting around Thanksgiving is booze-free, too. So, I could be forgiven in this particular drinks-related ignorance, right?
Wrong.
You see, “eggnog” started life as a boozy concoction. Most agree it was a “posset,” a hot, milky, ale-like drink. Sort of the agrarian version of bathtub punch—whatever you’ve got lying around, combine it and drink it because our lives are too tough not to drink. Monks drank a version of it with milk, eggs, and sherry—all items reserved for the wealthy. Once we Americans decamped for the New World, our version contained rum. Mexico has one (rompope) and Puerto Rico’s take (coquito) uses coconut milk and skips the eggs.
As for the somewhat guttural nature of the word (not to mention the concept of drinking raw eggs), one theory claims that eggnog derives from an Old English word for strong beer. There’s a school of thought that it derived from noggin, a word for a small cup that was first used 1588. Another version attributes the name to Colonial America where colonists referred to thick drinks as grogs and eggnog as egg-and-grog.
But enough of that. This holiday-themed drink falls firmly in the love it or absolutely despise it category. If you despise it, consider that you might just be drinking it the wrong way. That sugary stuff you buy in the milk section? It’s mostly egg-flavored milk drink and not nearly the proper representation of true eggnog. I’ve found a couple of recipes that I think might convert you.
Let’s start with George Washington’s version.
One quart cream, one quart milk, one dozen tablespoons sugar, one pint brandy, ½ pint rye whiskey, ½ pint Jamaica rum, ¼ pint sherry
—mix liquor first,
then separate yolks and whites of 12 eggs,
add sugar to beaten yolks,
mix well.
Add milk and cream, slowly beating.
Beat whites of eggs until stiff and fold slowly into mixture.
Let set in cool place for several days.
Taste frequently.
(Liz’s note: this last instruction should be added to most drinks. Also, may don’t let it “cool in place for several days.”)
That sounds seriously potent and potentially dangerous but people still use it to make traditional eggnog. As part of my deep dive into egg-based drinks, I discovered the flip. In the cocktail world, a flip is a cocktail with a full egg in it. It was originally a beer-rum-sugar cocktail whose heat turned into a froth, but it evolved to a method with a cold egg that provided the froth. The simple flip format is a spirit, a sweetener, egg. Think about that….When you grate some nutmeg on top, you've basically got eggnog lite.
Here’s a bourbon (Please. Try to act surprised.) version from Food and Wine:
In a cocktail shaker without ice, combine two ounces of bourbon, 3/4 ounce honey syrup (equal part honey dissolved in hot water), one whole egg, and two dashes of Angostura bitters. Shake that all up without ice; add ice and shake again; strain into a rocks glass without ice. Garnish with grated nutmeg.
And for purists, remember that separating the eggs allows you to use the yolks for creamy base, and the whites for a frothy head. Yes. I said that. To wit, this recipe sounds complicated but isn’t and you can make them one drink at a time instead of committing an entire punchbowl to the task because remember, half of your guests wouldn’t touch that stuff with someone else’s mouth.
(Also from Food and Wine) First, beat an egg white until it’s frothy, then pour into a glass and set aside. In a shaker without ice, combine two ounces of dark rum, one ounce of simple syrup (equal parts sugar dissolved in hot water), an ounce of half-and-half, and a whole egg. Shake all that up without ice, then add ice and shake again. Strain into a festive glass and top it off with the hard-earned egg froth. Garnish with grated nutmeg and ground cinnamon.
For those of you on the “not in my mouth” side of the eggy drinks equation, I can state without equivocation that your Christmas drinking experience is not complete until you’ve had glühwein. This is in the spiced or mulled wine family, but the German/Austrian version is meant to warm you from the inside out après-ski or while shopping at an outdoor Kindle Market. And no, this is not where you shop for a new e-reader. It’s a Christmas-themed tchotchke fest. And one best-enjoyed while getting slowly looped on hot wine.
And yes, I have a first-hand story.
The first Christmas we lived in Istanbul, we were lucky to have a fellow automotive-Michigan-displaced ex-pat family we met in Japan, who ended up in Köln, home to one of the most famous Christmas markets in Germany. My mother and brother came from the U.S. and we met them there, for an incredible, European Vacation Christmas with friends. It even snowed and the experience was perfection-adjacent, especially with the glühwein added.
The thing to realize/understand about this particular beverage is, as it’s served warm or hot, the booziness gets to you extra quick so pace yourself. There are plenty of bottled versions of the stuff but honestly, it’s not hard to make and the smell of it will get your entire house in the holiday spirit. This recipe from Wine Enthusiast is our go-to every year:
Ingredients
2 cups water
1 cup orange juice
1½ cups sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
8 whole allspice berries
1 star anise pod
2 oranges, halved
10 cloves, whole
8 juniper berries
1 lemon, halved
1½ bottles Cabernet Sauvignon
Orange twists, for garnish
Cinnamon stick, for garnish
Directions
Combine water, orange juice, sugar, cinnamon sticks, allspice and star anise in a pot over high heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, and then reduce to a mild simmer.
Juice the orange halves into the simmering liquid. Stud the remaining rinds with the cloves and gently place into the pot. Add juniper berries. Next, juice the lemon into the simmering liquid, and place the halves into the pot.
Reduce the mixture to half of its original volume, add the Cabernet Sauvignon and heat until just below simmering. Ladle into glass mugs. Garnish with orange twist and cinnamon stick.
There is a famous Christmas carol ear worm about drinking and wandering down the road singing at the top of your lungs. The “Wassail Song” is of English origin. The drink it refers to is kind of the British version of mulled wine. It’s another one that will make your house fragrant for days. My favorite recipe is from Cookie and Kate, which is where I get a lot of my recipes these days. NOTE: her addition of bourbon had no weight in my decision-making process for choosing this one over the scads of other options.
Or maybe it did.
Who cares?
Ingredients
4 cups apple cider (or unfiltered apple juice, doctored up with warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice)
½ inch nub of fresh ginger, peeled and grated or finely minced
2 lemons, sliced
1 cinnamon stick
3 star anise (optional, but they’re pretty!)
½ vanilla bean, slit down the middle with the insides scooped out (or ¼ ounce vanilla extract)
Bourbon (plan on about 1 ½ ounces per drink)
Directions
In a medium saucepan, combine all of the nonalcoholic ingredients and simmer for at least thirty minutes, preferably over an hour.
Use a jigger or shot glass to measure bourbon into mugs. Pour in your hot spiced cider. Ideas for garnishing: cinnamon sticks, star anise, lemon slices and/or thinly sliced red apple (highly recommended).
I wish you a happy, healthy, hangover-free holiday drinking season!
xoxo
Liz
p.s. Next week is my birthday. I will be one step closer to 60. I am not happy about it. Send cookies. Or bourbon. Actually, just send bourbon.
p.p.s. Mr. Liz does a great job of making my birthdays fun and I anticipate this year will be no different.
p.p.p.s. Saturday January 11 at M. Judson books in Greenville I will be hosting a pop up book event from 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.! If you’re in town, or if you’re not and want a place to be in January that will only be about 40 degrees most likely, stop by and say hey, get a copy of Cul-de-Sac from me and I’ll sign it, we can pose for photos, all the fun stuff.