Eggnog
Real eggnog, cooked gently into a custard and chilled until it pours like velvet, with fresh nutmeg grated over the top. It tastes like the holiday itself, and it keeps for days in the fridge.
The whole recipe in 60 seconds
Eggnog, in 5 ideas
- Cook it, do not just stir it. A gently cooked custard base is safer, silkier and richer than a raw one, and it keeps for days instead of hours.
- Temper the yolks slowly. A thin stream of hot milk, whisking all the while, is the whole difference between custard and sweet scrambled eggs.
- Nutmeg must be fresh. Pre-ground nutmeg cannot compete with a whole one grated at the moment. It is the flavor of the entire drink.
- Time is an ingredient. A night in the fridge lets the flavors marry and the texture turn to velvet; day-old eggnog honestly beats fresh.
- The spirits are seasoning, not the point. A modest pour of bourbon or dark rum deepens everything underneath, but the drink should still taste like eggnog.
What you need
Ingredients
- 6 large egg yolks
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg, plus more for serving
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
- 3/4 cup bourbon or dark rum (optional)
- Whipped cream, for serving
How to make it
Method
Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a heatproof bowl until the mixture turns pale, thick and falls in ribbons, about 2 minutes.
Combine the milk, cream, nutmeg and salt in a saucepan over medium heat. Warm until steaming, with small bubbles at the edges, about 160°F (71°C). Do not let it boil.
Whisking the yolks constantly, pour in the hot milk in a slow, thin stream. This is the tempering, and it cannot be rushed. Pour everything back into the saucepan.
Cook over medium low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon and scraping the bottom, until the custard thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon, 170 to 175°F (77 to 79°C), about 5 to 7 minutes. Take it off the heat the moment it gets there.
Strain the custard through a fine sieve into a pitcher. Stir in the vanilla and the bourbon or rum, if using. Cover and chill until completely cold, at least 4 hours and ideally overnight; it will thicken more as it chills.
Serve very cold in small cups or glasses, with a spoon of whipped cream and a fresh grating of nutmeg over each one.
If the custard goes a few degrees too far and turns grainy, blend it for 20 seconds and strain it again: it usually comes right back to silk.