Egg Nog

© Copyright 2009. All rights reserved and enforced

Egg Nog is a thoroughly British drink. Generally, it is made from eggs beaten with sugar, milk or cream, with some kind of alcohol added. The alcohol is usually rum, but in the American South (especially in New Orleans) it is often Bourbon.

Commercial Egg Nog is usually UHT pasteurized to give it a long shelf life under refrigeration.

You can also buy Egg Nog flavoured syrup now, to add to coffees, milk shakes and smoothies.


Storage
Egg Nog cannot be frozen because it will separate and have a funny texture upon thawing.

History
Egg Nog began being made apparently in the 1700s, and was well known both in America and in Britain at the time. But in England, only the upper classes would have drunk it at first -- the ordinary people in the cities wouldn't have trusted any of the milk they had access to at the time. It was more popular in America, where people were closer to farms they knew and milk they trusted.

In England, they mixed it with Brandy, Madeira or Sherry. But in America, Rum was more popular, as the spirits used in England were heavily taxed by the time they arrived in the New World.

Literature & Lore
"Even the cows are celebrating for Christmas. Sheffield Farms report their dairy herds are giving eggnog by the quart, mixed to charge the merry bowl. Apparently the cows have added to their feed 'sugar and spice and everything nice,' including a touch of rum flavoring. This eggnog which you can order through the milkman (or having no milkman, a local branch of the company) combines rich cream with eggs, sugar, nutmeg, and the flavor of Jamaica rum. A smoothly blended pleasant drink as it is without spirits to use just as it comes from the bottle. No beating to do, no additions to measure in, nothing to do unless you wish to add a 'stick of dynamite' from your liquor shelf. This ready-made eggnog must be ordered three days in advance and is available throughout the holiday season, December twenty-third to January first, inclusive." -- Paddleford, Clementine (1898 - 1967). Food Flashes Column. Gourmet Magazine. December 1945.

Language Notes
Egg Nog literally means eggs inside a small cup -- apparently. There doesn't appear to be any general agreement on how to spell Egg Nog -- Eggnog (all one word) seems to be equally as valid.

Also called:
Ponche de Huevo, Rompope, Rompón (Spanish) Top...