George Washington slept off his hangover here

So last night I decided to make George Washington's original colonial recipe for egg nog, which he came up with himself (perhaps with a little help from Martha) and which I found on the  Farmer's Almanac website.  Like many people my age, my only experience with egg nog came from a carton, bought at a supermarket during the holiday season.  Supermarket egg nog contains some of the same ingredients Washington's does, but adds stuff like high fructose corn syrup, carrrageenan, gum arabic, and mono and deglycerides to give it the super-thick egg nog taste we are all familiar with.  I wanted to try real homemade egg nog to see what it is actually supposed to taste like.


I was right, it was very different.  Colonial egg nog is, more or less, simply a rather plain platform unto which Mr. Washington loaded an unbelievable amount of alcohol.  I was surprised how bland it tasted without any liquor added (I was making it in a house where teenagers could have it, so I left the booze out).  It's rather like melted vanilla ice cream, without the vanilla flavoring.  Very eggy.  And yes, it does have raw eggs in it, but I'm guessing with the amount of liquor Washington added to it 1) any pathogens or bacteria did not stand a chance of living or reproducing in it, and 2) no one remembered it as "bland" if, in fact, they remembered anything at all the next morning.  Which I'm guessing they didn't.


So here it is:

George Washington's Colonial Egg Nog

"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."

Bottom's up

P.S.  I did actually add the liquor Mr. Washington recommended after the kiddos had gone to bed.  After all, he is the Father of our Nation, so it seemed somehow disrespectful to not take his full advice.  Alcoholically enhanced, this egg nog packs a bunch.  It's kind of like drinking tiramisu.  Delicious, as long as you don't have to drive your horse and carriage home after you've had some.