Eggnog isn’t a cocktail, it’s a dessert. The idea of drinking something sweet, highly spiced and incredibly rich at the beginning of a meal or at cocktail hour has never really appealed to me, so I prefer to serve eggnog as an elegant New Year’s dessert, garnished and lightened, with a big dollop of smooth Italian meringue, some crunchy toasted almonds and a few gratings of fresh nutmeg.
This dish has a few antecedents. During the holidays, my mother always kept a giant tureen of eggnog on the back porch with a huge cloud of meringue on top of it. There was a big, heavy silver ladle inside of it, an heirloom handed down from my father’s mother, and you were expected to help yourself — maybe, if you were sure no one was watching, taking a few generous gulps before topping off your glass and rejoining the rest of the party.
The other prototype for this version of eggnog is the French bistro dessert called Ile Flottante, or Floating Island, which is simply a big mound of cooked egg white swimming in a sea of custard sauce.
Italian meringue is simply a super smooth meringue in which the egg whites are cooked by whisking them with hot sugar syrup cooked to the soft-ball stage. This recipe for Italian meringue has less sugar in proportion to egg whites than most recipes, which means that after about eight hours or so, it will start to separate. So of course that means you should make the Italian meringue no more than eight hours before you serve it.
Eggnog with Italian Meringue
Makes about 3 cups.
Ingredients
- 2 cups milk
- 3 cloves
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla paste
- Fresh nutmeg
- 6 egg yolks
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- Pinch salt
- ¾ cup rum, bourbon or whiskey
- Italian meringue (below)
- Candied almonds for garnish (optional)
Directions
Place the the milk, cloves, cinnamon, vanilla and a few gratings of fresh nutmeg in a pot and place over medium heat.
Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is slightly thickened.
Make an ice bath. Fill a stainless steel bowl with ice and a little water and place a smaller stainless steel bowl inside of it.
Temper the custard. Scald the milk mixture and slowly pour 1/3 of the milk mixture into the egg yolk mixture and whisk to combine. With a wooden spoon, stir the mixture into the remaining milk mixture.
Cook the custard over medium heat, stirring constantly using a figure-eight motion. When the custard starts to give off a lot of steam, the foam begins to disappear from the surface of the custard and the mixture coats the back of the spoon, pour the custard into the ice bath.
Add the salt.Stir occasionally until cool. Refrigerate in a covered container until ready to use.
Add the liquor of your choice ( though eggnog is still delicious without it). Serve the egg nog in chilled martini glasses (a three ounce portion is plenty). Top with a generous amount of Italian meringue and a few gratings of nutmeg. Garnish with almonds if using.
Italian Meringue
Ingredients
½ cup egg whites
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup water
2 teaspoons light corn syrup
Directions
Place the egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer outfitted with whisk attachments.
In a small pot, whisk together the sugar, water, and corn syrup. Place a candy thermometer in the pot,and over high heat bring the sugar syrup to soft ball stage, about 238f ( this will take about 20 minutes). When the sugar syrup reaches 235f, start whisking the egg whites on medium speed.
When the sugar syrup reaches 238f, remove from heat. Turn the mixer on high and carefully pour the syrup into mixer between the bowl and the whisk.
Whisk the meringue until the bottom of the bowl is cool, about 6-7 minutes. Transfer the meringue to an airtight container and refrigerate until ready to use (this can be done up to 8 hours ahead of time).
