
Alton Brown's Aged Eggnog
Maybe it's the fact that I work in science, but I do love Alton Brown and his approach to all things culinary. His sometimes prop-heavy explanations why things are happening in the kitchen (check the popcorn episode of Good Eats) and his precision in ingredients as well as description make Good Eats one of my all time favorite cooking shows. I've made a couple of his recipes before and when I stumbled upon a recipe for aged eggnog, I got intrigued although I'm usually not a big fan of said beverage.
His version, however, heavy on booze and egg yolks, promised to be different, simply by the fact that the beverage is aged in the refrigerator for at least 2 weeks to mellow it out. In the past I wasn't very fond of the brew, mostly because I only had the booze-free store variety.
I only made some minor changes to the recipe. I've substituted brown sugar for parts of the granulated sugar for a deeper caramel color and flavor. I'm aware that this might not be what you're looking for in eggnog, but I loved it. This eggnog makes a perfect pairing for all kinds of Christmas treats, like my Ausstecherle (Butter Cookies) or Zimtsterne and is apparently also pretty good as creamer in your cup of coffee.
Ingredients
- Large Eggs - 6, yolks only
- Granulated Sugar - 4 oz.
- Dark Brown Sugar - 4 oz.
- Whole Milk - 2 cups
- Half & Half - 2 cups
- Heavy Cream - 2 cups
- Bourbon - 1 cup
- Cognac - 1 cup
- Jamaican Rum - 1 cup
- Nutmeg - 1/2 tsp, freshly grated
- Cardamon Seeds - 1/4 tsp, ground
Instructions
- Separate the eggs and put the yolks together with the sugar into a large bowl. Safe the eggwhites for a different use, like my delicious Zimsterne.
- Whisk the yolks, sugar, and spices until pale and fluffy, and the sugar is completely desolved.
- In a separate bowl or large measuring cup combine the dairy and the liquor.
- Stir dairy/liquor mix into the eggs
- Fill into bottles (I'm using empty cleaned out liquor bottles) and put into your fridge to age for 2 - 3 weeks.
- After the aging period, serve with some freshly grated nutmeg on each glass. Makes a great creamer for coffee, too.