Egg-Noggin'

I went on  limb and made my own eggnog this year. Living in Israel, this is certainly not something we can find in the dairy section.  Despite our Jewish-ness, my very American father would bring home that rare quart carton of Dean’s eggnog.  Oh my.  He loved it.  And he’d come home to find perhaps a half cup left for him… Being raised on no junk food whatsoever, having the eggnog in the fridge was a temptation that was simply impossible to resist.

Needless to say, I have a sore, sore spot for eggnog.

And how hard could it be?

Not hard.  I found a recipe by Alton Brown that I kind of played with.  Essentially, if you want to do a cooked eggnog (which, believe me, if you want to avoid a nasty stomach bug, you want to do this – especially if you don’t know exactly where your eggs come from), is almost exactly an ice cream recipe.

• Separate 4 eggs
• beat yolks hard for several minutes, then whisk in 1/3 cup sugar
• heat 2 cups milk +1 cup cream + 1 tsp nutmeg to just below boiling
• slowly add milk to egg yolk while vigorously whisking
• Return milky eggy mixture to stove until hot enough to kill the beasties (go to just below boiling)
• remove from heat, transfer to a bowl, add half a cup bourbon (or brandy or rum or a mixture)
• cool in fridge
• beat egg whites, slowly adding 1 tablespoon of sugar, until stiff peaks form
• Add whites to yolk mixture and whisk
• Serve!

Easy, right?

Right.

Tasty?  That’s debatable.

It’s no Dean’s eggnog.  This is frothy.  Not as custardy.  And the alcohol does give it a noticeable kick.  In its way, it was satisfying.  But the raw egg whites still perturbed me.  It tasted so much like egg.  Not like the nutmeg-y creamy very yellow custard I was hoping for.  Next time, I think I’m going to cook my eggs longer (let them thicken), perhaps use a higher fat cream (or replace more of the milk volume with cream), and certainly cut the egg whites.

A sure sign that what you’ve created is potentially dodgy – your family won’t try it.  In my family, that’s not exactly the case.  We try everything.  The test with us is whether we decide to take, or ask for, another serving.  No takers here…

Gotta find another recipe…

But that will have to wait for next year.

[Via http://irenesharonhodes.wordpress.com]