1958: Eggnog
- Total Time
- 1 hour
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 12eggs, separated
- 1cup granulated sugar
- 1cup bourbon
- 1cup Cognac
- ½teaspoon salt
- 3pints heavy cream
- Grated nutmeg
- 1 to 2cups milk (optional)
Preparation
- Step 1
In an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks with the sugar until thick.
- Step 2
Slowly add the bourbon and Cognac while beating at slow speed. Chill for several hours.
- Step 3
Add the salt to the egg whites. Beat until almost stiff.
- Step 4
Whip the cream until stiff.
- Step 5
Fold the whipped cream into the yolk mixture, then fold in the beaten egg whites. Chill 1 hour.
- Step 6
When ready to serve, sprinkle the top with freshly grated nutmeg. Serve in punch cups with a spoon.
- Step 7
If desired, add 1 to 2 cups of milk to the yolk mixture for a thinner eggnog.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
Bartenders beware — the prep time displayed is 1 hour, but you’re not going to be able to start whipping this up an hour before the party begins. Step 2 calls for chilling several hours, and Step 5 for chilling another. Perhaps while knocking back some of that bourbon.
Any idea of serving size and/or number of servings? I would guess a punch cup holds about 1/2 cup, but I'm not sure how to calculate the number of servings since the cream and egg whites are both whipped.
No doubt people will worry about food safety, but I can honestly say that my parents made this exact recipe and served it at their Christmas parties for years with never anyone becoming ill. My theory is all that alcohol kills any pathogens :-).
My family makes this every Christmas. It's a bit thick and rich for my taste, but is always extremely popular. Think meringue with alcohol.
It may help to realize that this ends up as a boozy whipped cream. As noted in the article, a spoon is recommended to eat it. I would like to put it on something rather than eat it by itself. Maybe a spice-cake?
Three pints of whipped cream is definitely too much - a pint is more than plenty. I also think the milk is necessary and not optional to bring down the thickness
I typically let my nog chill for 1-3weeks. I stir it everyday until it combines to a thick milk consistency. Those recipes include more milk than cream. This recipe is intensely thick (due to whipping the cream, regardless of milk added or not). I’m hoping this will mix together after a few days in the fridge like usual but be more cream consistency than milk. **I never recommend serving eggnog until it mixes, it’s just not right until it mellows. I’ll update when I test this recipe in a week
A bar by my house serves eggnog over the holidays, so I dabbled. I’d never had it before, it wasn’t important to me, and yet…it was so good that I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I decided to see if I could replicate. I followed the recipe. I don’t have a stand mixer so I used a hand mixer. Perhaps a small note, but, as my first nog, I wanted to be as precise as possible. Hand mixer and deliver? Yes it did. Someone asked, “is there no vanilla in this?” So I added a teaspoon. Perfection.
Boozey. It is like eating unfrozen "ice cream" eggnog. One guest stated that the nog would be lovely as a topping for another dessert. All of this is to say that this version of egg nog is not your usual nog. If you have only a stand mixer be prepared to off load your whipped egg yolks & sugar in another container while you clean the mixing bowl to whip the egg whiles. Then off load the egg whites while you whip the cream...you will need a very large punch bowl to contain it for guests.
Just like it was in the 1950’s!!!
This is a “fun”, lavish, meringue-like eggnog - one that you ladle into a cup and consume by the spoonful. I used Kentucky whiskey and Hennessy because that’s what I had on hand - delicious. But I do wish I could figure out the timing a bit better: i.e. how to whip the egg whites, set them aside while I whip the cream, and then fold in the cream and THEN fold in the whipped egg whites… without them (the egg whites) having liquified a fair amount while I was busy whipping and add the cream.
Part 2: Also, I would like to enjoy my eggnog more as a drink than a meringue. Recipe mentions milk as an alternative but how MUCH milk do I add and when? And how much heavy cream can I leave out - some, part or a total substitution? I’m not an amazing cook (intuitive) but I am a good recipe follower and this has me puzzled. Frankly, I’d rather sip a heavy creamy eggnog than spoon it up. Note: we decided that as a meringue it’d be fabulous with brownies or gingerbread or ginger snaps. Yum
This is delicious! I laminated recipe after first few years, now refer to it every December. Used only Woodford Reserve Bourbon this year, prefer with Cognac, too, but did not have and did not really matter. Everyone scraped their cups clean with a spoon. My mother hardly drinks and asked for "just a little more." Do not skip freshly ground nutmeg (or at least some kind of nutmeg)! Make the egg yolk/booze mixture night before, combine all three parts just before serving. Marvelous! Enjoy!!!
Now, this is a thing! Completely different to regular German Eierlikör, we all love this. We add whatever Booze is around. This time it was a leftover Hennessy. It all works! Thank you for sharing.
I clipped this recipe from NYT in 1978. My mother and I made it the first time when we found our New Year's plans sidelined by a blizzard. I am 20 years older now then she was then - great memory. It's still the gold standard eggnog. Way better than store-bought, but I still cringe when I see the first ingredient - 12 eggs!
Three pints of whipped cream is definitely too much - a pint is more than plenty. I also think the milk is necessary and not optional to bring down the thickness
This has become a tradition for our office holiday party. The full recipe yields about a gallon and a half of thick, meringue-like nog- the 40 servings noted in the recipe would be in the 4-6oz range, which is a lot considering how rich this is. I usually halve the recipe (maybe I don't quite halve the amount of booze) for the 30-person office party. Good fresh eggs help a lot; more bourbon and less cognac seem to make this more crowd friendly.
I typically let my nog chill for 1-3weeks. I stir it everyday until it combines to a thick milk consistency. Those recipes include more milk than cream. This recipe is intensely thick (due to whipping the cream, regardless of milk added or not). I’m hoping this will mix together after a few days in the fridge like usual but be more cream consistency than milk. **I never recommend serving eggnog until it mixes, it’s just not right until it mellows. I’ll update when I test this recipe in a week
What kind of bourbon would you recommend to use? Everyone seems to define bourbon differently?
It may help to realize that this ends up as a boozy whipped cream. As noted in the article, a spoon is recommended to eat it. I would like to put it on something rather than eat it by itself. Maybe a spice-cake?
My family makes this every Christmas. It's a bit thick and rich for my taste, but is always extremely popular. Think meringue with alcohol.
The calorie and macro (fats, carbs, protein) breakdown should be listed at the top of every recipe.
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