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EveryCow

Milk drinks

Eggnog

Milk, cream, eggs and sugar, often spiked with rum or brandy and dusted with nutmeg: the Christmas drink of North America.

Eggnog is a rich drink of milk, cream, sugar and beaten eggs, flavoured with nutmeg and often mixed with rum, brandy or bourbon. It is drunk cold in the winter holiday season in the United States and Canada, at Christmas and New Year parties. Cooked versions heat the milk and eggs into a thin custard before chilling.

What goes in

Whole milk: 38%38%Cream: 19%19%Eggs: 13%13%Sugar: 13%13%Rum, brandy or bourbon: 13%13%Nutmeg: 6%6parts
  • Whole milk638%, The base.
  • Cream319%, Richness.
  • Eggs213%, Beaten; cooked in many recipes.
  • Sugar213%, Beaten with the yolks.
  • Rum, brandy or bourbon213%, Optional.
  • Nutmeg16%, Grated on top.

Rough parts by weight. The ring shows each input's share of the product.

Made step by step

Each drawing shows the operation for that step. Quantities and timings differ from house to house and herd to herd; this is one traditional way, in outline.

  1. Step 1: Churn Beat egg yolks with sugar until pale.
  2. Step 2: Cook Heat milk and cream and pour onto the yolks, then cook gently until it coats a spoon.
  3. Step 3: Set Chill the custard thoroughly.
  4. Step 4: Churn Stir in the spirit and fold in whisked egg whites if used.
  5. Step 5: Serve Serve cold with grated nutmeg.
  6. Whole milk: 38%38%Cream: 19%19%Eggs: 13%13%Sugar: 13%13%Rum, brandy or bourbon: 13%13%Nutmeg: 6%
    Finished Eggnog, by share.

From English posset

Eggnog is usually traced to the posset of medieval England, hot milk curdled with ale or wine. In the American colonies, where farms had plenty of milk and eggs and rum came from the Caribbean, it became a festive drink of the eighteenth century. George Washington's household is said to have served a strong version.

Holiday table

Eggnog appears in shops from late autumn until the new year. Many families have their own recipe, some aged in the refrigerator for weeks with the spirit. Puerto Rico's coquito, made with coconut, and Mexico's rompope are close relations. In Canada and the United States, eggnog is also stirred into coffee and baked goods in the season.

Where it is used

Christmas partiesNew YearIn coffee

The breeds behind it

Holstein FriesianMain dairy breed of North America.

Also part of it, and being written: American Milking Devon (Colonial-era breed of New England farms.), Jersey cattle (Rich-milk breed common on American dairies.), Canadienne cattle (Old dairy breed of Quebec.).

More on EveryCow

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Sources and further reading

About this page

Original text and drawings by the EveryCow desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. The shares are a rough, illustrative ratio, not a recipe: every family and dairy makes it differently. If we have something wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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