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The holidays wouldn't be complete without our several generations old egg nog punch recipe. Over the years we have lost track of whether the version we use originated with my great-great-grandfather or my great-great-great-grandfather but it's certainly authentic to early 19th century and probably older. (The family does date back to pre-colonial days).
12 XL/Jumbo eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 gal milk
1 pt heavy cream, lightly whipped
1.5 pints ryeseparate eggs: beat yolks stiff slowly adding sugar
blend in booze
blend in milk
beat whites to moderate meringue...firm peaks
fold in cream
fold in egg whitesLeave on the back porch for several days (this worked growing up back east...not so much now that I'm in Arizona)
grate nutmeg over each cup after ladling out of bowl
Now during the 80s, which was when i was first allowed to partake (though still not of legal age) rye whiskey was relatively uncommon. Jim Beam made one, and there was Old Overholt, but they weren't generally on hand in our house and somewhat difficult to find. We generally substitued a cheap blended american whiskey (seagram's 7, meh), sometimes bourbon (good but a lot of charcoal flavor) and tried canadian once (ugh).
Luckily there has been a resurgance of rye in the 21st century (Thank you Fritz Maytag and Anchor Distilling) so we're getting more authentic...overholt remains inexpensive and is now easy to find...and we all concur that rye works best flavorwise.
The above is the "authentic" family recipe, but for my entire life we've been making it with my grandfather's modification: the addition of some Myers Rum. Just a couple of jiggers. A little myers goes a long way in terms of flavor. If I whip up (literally) another batch this year I might experiment with some pusser's and be a little more liberal. Might try some brandy and/or cream sherry which appear in some other authentic recipes.
It's definitely better after its been sitting a few days.
Two centuries of uncooked eggs at the holidays and most of the family remains part of the 1%. :)
enjoy
jjw
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BananaBirkLarsen
Dec 13, 2011 10:46 AM
I'm trying out this recipe this year: http://www.jeffreymorgenthaler.com/20... (the top one). I have so far made it as per the instructions, but with added vanilla beans scraped and left to sit in the mix for a couple of days. I won't be buying brandy or rum until I'm paid on Thursday, though, so the basic mix will be hanging out in the fridge for a few days yet.
It already tastes far better than anything I've bought from a store. Letting it sit for a few hours seems key -- the nutmeg flavour took quite a while to fully infuse the mix and the vanilla beans are taking even longer.
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re: BananaBirkLarsen
BananaBirkLarsen
Dec 16, 2011 09:40 PM
This turned out fantastic, by the way, although next time I might cut the sugar by 1/4 or so. Also, I tried it both hot and cold and it is by far better cold. Heating it (even very gently) turned it into something closer to custard than I would like.
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re: EM23
And it is REAL eggnog and it is SPECTACULAR! I have a little bit leftover. It is sealed, in a jar, in my fridge and after I lose the 7 pounds I gained in December, I will sit by the fire and enjoy the rest of my delightful Martha Stewart Eggnog. Let the masses hate Martha--she knows how to make a killer eggnog. Ahhhh...I cannot wait till Christmas 2012!
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If you don't like the idea of raw eggs, you can make your eggnog mix, then heat it to 160F, then refrigerate as normal. It will last longer in the fridge that way.
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2009/dec... -
If it is for adults, the boozier the better! My MIL makes a great one that uses both rum and bourbon (maybe something like this: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/dri... ). This bears minimal resemblance to store bought (which I like to call chicken milk, on account of the french "lait de poule" that is on the packages here in the nominally bilingual northern socialist utopia).
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re: maple99
Heartily agree. Egg Nog is an adult beverage. Try a small batch to get the amount of cream and eggs to your taste. Big agreement on the fresh grated nutmeg. My first attempt, Joy of Cooking 1976, was way to thick. So we cut it with rum. Lots of rum.
Still can't remember who turned the lights out and closed the door.
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Heidi cooks and bakes
Nov 30, 2011 10:11 AM
I made it last Christmas. I used Alton Brown's recipe and I used the uncooked eggs. I couldn't believe how much better it was than ANY storebought version I've ever had in the past. It made a lot, and took a little time, but it was over the top, and totally worth it.
I don't have any problems eating uncooked eggs, and I don't have any immunocompromised people that I served it to. I'm going to make it again this year!
