Seattle(st)’s Best Coffee Egg Nog

Seattlest has a soft spot for the holidays, mainly because they make for a mean party. December in our northwesterly city is tailor-made for continuous holiday revelry: the days are short; the nights are long; and even the most stoic, stony citizen is all aglow. If you’re anything like Seattlest, you’ve got a half-dozen parties under your belt and another handful on the calendar. Whether giving or playing guest, when we hang the mistletoe, we mean business—and so, therefore, must our egg nog. Canapés, crudités, and candy are dandy, but liquor is quicker, preferably in copious quantities, with eggs, half-and-half, and the barest fleck of nutmeg.

Seattlest comes from a long line of serious noggers. We were schooled from an early age in the merits of what our cousin once innocently pronounced—in 1987, at age eight—“egg nog with boooooze in it.” In our family, nog is cause for celebration, for carousing, for combining four types of alcohol with five quarts of half-and-half and a dozen eggs. Each December, we shudder past the dairy aisle and its parade of paper cartons filled with oversweetened, overspiced, G-rated egg nogs, and we rush home instead to dust off our homemade brew, a recipe four generations old and still improving. Smooth, creamy, and beguilingly boozy, it’s a surefire holiday party trick. Fiery at the first sip, it softens deliciously going down—and with the handy bonus of softening the sipper as well. It’s worth a toast or two, or a whole month of them. Cheers to that.

J. P. Hartt’s Egg Nog

J. P. Hartt, great-grandfather of Seattlest Molly, made his original nog using double the quantities listed below, but because we don’t know anyone with a bowl big enough for that, we’ve scaled it down. Don’t worry; you’ll still have plenty to go around.

6 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2 ½ quarts (5 pints) half-and-half
1 fifth brandy
1 cup dark rum
½ cup bourbon
½ cup dry sherry
½ tsp nutmeg, preferably freshly grated

In a very large mixing bowl, beat the eggs to break up the yolks. Add the sugar, and beat on medium speed until the mixture is foamy and lightens a bit in color. Add the half-and-half, whisking to combine. Add the brandy, rum, bourbon, and dry sherry, whisking to mix thoroughly. Add the nutmeg, whisk to distribute it evenly, and chill until serving.

Yield: A lot.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@seattlest.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Molly in Food on December 13, 2005 11:44 AM

Comments [rss]

Lynn

i have found really good pasteurized eggs at Trader Joes you could also try Whole Foods or the PCC markets.. they will have them or i'm sure can get them for you.

Andrew

Can you tell me where to get pasturized eggs in seattle? I've been looking all over.

Molly

Courtney, I'm glad you brought that up! Although my family has never had any eggnog-related casualties, I know that it does happen. I've looked up raw eggnog tips in a couple of places, and here's what I've found.

-Alcohol--of which this recipe clearly contains plenty--inhibits bacterial growth, although it cannot be relied upon to kill bacteria. It may--and often does--do the trick, but it makes no promises.

-If you're uneasy, you can certainly make egg nog with pasteurized eggs.

-A second option, if you want to use regular ole unpasteurized eggs, is to slowly heat them to 160 degrees F on a food thermometer before using them. To do this, beat the eggs and sugar as usual. Set the mixture aside, and in a large pan, heat the half-and-half until steamy, stirring occasionally. Remove it from the heat, and slowly, gradually, add the hot liquid to the egg and sugar mixture, whisking constantly. Then return the whole mixture to the pot, and heat it until it reaches 160 degrees F. Remove it from the heat, stir in the booze and nutmeg, and the chill the whole mess. I have not tried this myself, but logic says that it should work. Hope that helps, and happy nogging!

Courtney Nash

As someone who has been unlucky enough to have had salmonella twice (neither case attributable to eggs exactly, but one was bad mayonnaise which is close enough), I have an akward relationship with eggnog. I love it and yet...I fear it so.