Eggnog Success! My Recipe for Eggnog

If you’ve consumed store bought eggnog, and that’s all you know about eggnog, you’re missing out.  The real thing tastes nothing like the garbage you buy in the cartons.  Last night I did it.  It took two attempts, but I made good eggnog.  The first was ruined by too much sugar thanks to a YouTube video where the guy in the video is clearly retarded and doesn’t know the difference between a quarter cup and a cup and a quarter.  Anyway, I did it my way (by eyeballing it) and it came out great.  Here’s what I did:    

6 eggs (I bought organic, free-range eggs from a local farm because I’m drinking them raw and don’t want to screw around with question marks)  

1 cup sugar (this is definitely a matter of taste.  I used about 1 cup but I didn’t measure so I don’t know for sure).  

½ teaspoon vanilla extract  

Ground nutmeg  

¾ cup brandy  

⅓ cup dark rum or whiskey or white rum (I’ve seen recipes with all of them – I used Captain Morgans Original Spiced Rum)  

2 cups whipping cream (you can use either whipping cream or heavy whipping cream.  I used regular whipping cream).  

2 cups milk  

Step 1:  Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites.  Whisk the egg yolks and about a quarter cup of sugar together until you get a smooth liquid.  In another mixing bowl, whip (preferably with a machine) the egg whites until they expand to a “frothy peak” (it takes a few minutes to really get good thick froth).  Gently pour in the other 2/3 cup sugar.  After that’s incorporated, add the egg yolk/sugar mix.    

Step 2: Now add the brandy and Rum (or whatever), milk, vanilla extract, and half the whipping cream.  Mix it all together.    

Step 3:  In a separate bowl whip the whipping cream to get it moderately thick.  Fold it into the eggnog as the last step (I found it added a nice flavor and texture to the final product).    

Step 4:  Chill it or serve it sprinkled with nutmeg.    

Raw Egg Warning:    

There is a 1 in 20,000 chance of encountering an egg with salmonella.  I decided to roll those massive dice and do my eggnog without worry.  But, I did find this interesting video about whether or not the alcohol in eggnog kills salmonella.  The result?  It Does!  But it takes three weeks to do the job (believe it or not, 3 week old alcoholic eggnog is even safer to drink than it is directly after mixing).  Of course the other option is to buy pasteurized eggs (which I couldn’t find but I’m told exist).

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/12/can_you_count_on_booze_to_kill_the.html