In The Kitchen

With 13 eggnog recipes before me, I see eggnog spelled as 2 words, with 1 and 2 g’s in nog, with eggs separated and not separated, with no egg whites at all, with and without cream, with whiskey and no rum, rum and no whiskey.  As a Virginian, I’ve never been conflicted about eggnog.  But recently when asked whether I preferred Virginia or Baltimore Eggnog, I began to do a little asking around and found a lot of conflicting information.  Being a farm girl from Central Virginia, we always made eggnog with our own raw milk and cream, eggs warm from the nest and whiskey from a neighbor and I used the same ingredients until today.

I know, however that I cannot share this recipe, not because it’s some large secret or that you may not have access to raw milk and warm hen eggs but because Ed died this fall.  So I thought that I’d create another eggnog recipe.  The best part of this job was the sampling. 

Here are my two best efforts and you can sample for yourself.

Using a stand mixer beat 1 dozen eggs until pale yellow, slowly add 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar.  More slowly add 3 cups fine brandy and 3 cups dark rum.  Continuing to beat slowly, add 1 quart whole milk and 1 quart whole cream and 1 tablespoon freshly grated nutmeg and set aside to chill.   Store in glass container with tightly fitting top.

In a large saucepan over low heat, mix 1 dozen eggs, 1 quart of milk and 2 1/2 cups sugar, cook over low heat until it coats the back of a metal spoon. Remove from heat and place pan in a bowl of ice and stir until cool.  Add 5 cups dark rum and 1 cup brandy and chill.  Before serving, beat 1 pint of cream to soft peaks, add 1 tablespoon freshly grated nutmeg and 1/2 cup sugar.  Fold into eggnog and serve.  

Happy Holidays