Aging eggnog may seem like an invitation for gut distress not holiday cheer, and if you just took eggnog and aged it, the result could be disastrous, but the way you make this eggnog eliminates that risk.
Alton Brown is said to have be the first to develop an aged eggnog recipe, but this process was made a bit safer by the folks at America's Test Kitchen.
They argued that saving all the dairy for the last step raised the alcohol level in the aging mixture, killing salmonella and any other potential pathogens in the eggs faster. Here, aging is your friend--up to a point. I left some of the booze, sugar, egg mixture for a couple months, and it was still safe, but it just got thicker. Three weeks or a month of aging seems to be a good sweet spot.
But why bother at all when you can buy eggnog at the supermarket? Well, homemade eggnog is far better, but the old way of making eggnog that my parents used was a lot more work, cooking, beating and folding egg whites, and such. This recipe is very easy to follow. And it doesn't have the eggy test or harshness of alcohol that other recipes do.
For this recipe, you need a big glass bottle or jar with a lid to store the booze-sugar-alcohol mixture in. I use Mason jars for this part. Then when you host your holiday party, you can either mix everything in a punch bowl if you expect to use it all then, or you can mix it in other containers. I rarely use it all at once, so I mix the eggnog and pour it into large glass juice jars and take them out of the fridge as needed. And if you have two quart jars of the original mixture, you can leave one in the fridge longer.
Once the eggnog base and dairy have been blended, the freshness clock starts ticking. How long it lasts in your fridge depends on how fresh your dairy products are. I have enjoyed aged eggnog for as long as a week after mixing.
The first step is to mix the eggs, alcohol, and sugar.
- 12 eggs
- 12 oz bourbon
- 4 oz cognac
- 2 oz plus 4 tsps rum
- 1.5 cups white sugar (I've never tried brown sugar, but it should be fine. It just adds a different flavor, and it is less sweet and more moist than granulated sugar.)
Beat eggs well, then slowly beat in the alcohol, then whisk in the sugar until it dissolves. Store in jars in the fridge for 3-5 weeks.
The original recipe calls for these three alcohols, but you could experiment with others, just be sure that you use liquors of similar proof to keep the alcohol leavel of the mixture high enough to kill any salmonella present quickly. I'm planning to use just spiced rum this year.
Ready to enjoy your eggnog?
- 6 cups whole milk
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- Nutmeg
To make the full batch, you'll need a big container to mix everything in. Put the aged mixture in a big bowl, then gradually add the milk then cream with a stick blender or beaters. Keep it chilled till ready to serve. You can add some fresh-grated nutmeg to the mixture when you blend the ingredients, but I prefer grating it fresh on each cup when serving. Or let people add it themselves so they get just as much as they want.
Of course, if it sits out too long and warms up, dispose of any unused eggnog. This is why I like to keep the aging mixture in multiple jars ready to mix with the right amount of dairy when needed.
And this recipe makes a pretty big batch. The recipe can easily be cut in half or in third, and dealing with smaller batches is an incentive to simplify the types and amounts of alcohol you add. Nobody wants to measure such small amounts of booze!
As I recall, the full recipe makes less than a gallon of eggnog in total, So half a recipe, less than two quarts.
Here are the amounts for half a recipe.
- 6 eggs
- 6 oz bourbon
- 2 oz cognac
- 1 oz plus 2 tsps rum
- .75 cups white sugar
- 3 cups whole milk
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- Nutmeg
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