A fluke turned fatty eggnog into holiday trim. English colonists new to America’s ale- and wine-barren shores improvised on a drink served in small, handled “noggins” at pubs back home. Ale, also called “nog,” or dry sack wine was mixed in the noggin with milk and eggs. In America, rum–an ingredient in some grogs–ran freely. The colonists substituted the more potent liquor and dubbed it eggnog. Administered at bedsides as well as pubs, eggnog became a favorite cure for melancholy.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Nowadays, with much more effective cures for holiday blues available, eggnog just looks like a spur for postparty depression. The modern yellow slurry is just a liquid salt-free omelet sitting blandly in Christmas punch bowls, meagerly laced–if at all–with rum or rum extract and a stingy dusting of nutmeg. It has more the look and mouth-feel of something cooked up by Sherwin-Williams than by Williams-Sonoma. And far from the elixir it’s imagined to be, eggnog is about as fortifying as chilled hemlock or swollen cans of soup. Most eggnog recipes call for raw eggs, and while adding liquor to the mix may help ward off some household germs, it offers no protection against salmonella. And, of course, it moves more fat through one’s veins than Santa can squeeze through a chimney.
Gail Gand’s Cider Cup a la Stapleford
3/8 cup soda water
Brian Duncan, formerly the wine director at Spruce and currently a partner in (and wine director of) the just-opened Bin 36, offers another tonic for
1/2 shot each of Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum, Myer’s Dark Rum, and Bacardi Spice Rum
1 slice each of orange and apple
