Nothing says Christmas like George Washington's eggnog recipe
Courtesy of the Old Farmer's Almanac online, here is George Washington's very own recipe for eggnog. Be warned, it is heavy on the spirits in keeping with the tastes and customs of the day, and he doesn't specify how many eggs to use. Of course, this means you can adjust the eggs to your own taste and still claim complete colonial authenticity to your recreation of Washington's recipe:
One quart cream, one quart milk, one dozen tablespoons sugar, one pint brandy, 1/2 pint rye whiskey, 1/2 pint Jamaica rum, 1/4 pint sherry—mix liquor first, then separate yolks and whites of eggs, add sugar to beaten yolks, mix well. Add milk and cream, slowly beating. Beat whites of eggs until stiff and fold slowly into mixture. Let set in cool place for several days. Taste frequently.Love that last bit of advice from the Father of Our Country!
2 comments:
12 ... tablespoons?
To say nothing of the liquor, that's pretty wild.
But, hey, Merry Christmas! And if you've been drinking that egg nog, I'm sure you'll have one.
This reads quite unlike any eighteenth-century recipe I've seen. Supposedly this recipe survives in Washington's own handwriting, yet, despite all the attention paid to the first President over the years, it was never in print before 1948 and appears in no edition of his writings. Our capacity for myth is as bottomless as our capacity for egg nog.
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