School of Hard Nogs - Recap

The episode opens with Alton behind the Good Drinks bar. A cold and thirsty customer enters and Alton offers him something special from the back room: egg nog. When the visitor demurs claiming to dislike eggnog Alton assures him that’s because he’s never had real eggnog. Eggnog has a long history on both sides of the Atlantic. It’s easy, it’s delicious and it’s versatile. All of which makes it Good Eats.

Eggnog has much in common with pie. The two treats have been made basically the same way for centuries. Alton uses ingredients very much like those in a pie: sugar, whole milk, heavy cream, bourbon, nutmeg and of course eggs. The eggs must be carefully separated. Alton shares a technique for separating the eggs that doesn’t require an egg separator – a unitasker Alton disdains. A slotted spoon does the job just as well; Alton wiggles the eggs as necessary to encourage the membrane surrounding the white to slide through the slots. Before adding each white to the bowl he inspects it to ensure that no flecks of yolk snuck in; the fat in them would ruin any chance of beating the whites into foam later.

The yolks must be thoroughly mixed. Unless the fats, water, salts and other chemicals are blended completely the finished eggnog will be lumpy – and that’s not good eats. Alton beat the yolks until they lighten in color. This is the point at which they’re mixed and beginning to incorporate air. Then Alton adds cream, milk and nutmeg slowly. To finish this custard Alton needs… where’s the bourbon? Ah, there’s Thing with a large numeral “1” fastened around his digits. Seems he’s grabbed Alton’s bourbon and tied “1” on…

Other alcoholic components, like sherry, might be substituted in a pinch. But Kentucky bourbon is the true basis of this holiday favorite. Alton detours to the Maker’s Mark Distillery in Kentucky to learn how they distill this brown liquor.

Bourbon starts life mostly as corn mixed with a little wheat and a little barley (barley supplies the important enzyme amylase that breaks starches down into sugars). All this is ground, mixed with high quality water and then cooked to produce sugar. A special yeast ferments this to produce a product similar to young beer. This goes into the distiller which evaporates the most volatile components, concentrating the alcohol and removing many impurities. Another distilling step further refines the condensate to a “raw spirit” that is still clear. The raw spirit ages in specially prepared casks; they’re made of specific kinds of wood and the inside is prepared in specialized ways. During aging the spirit extracts chemicals from the wood that react with chemicals in the spirit to yield complex flavors. The wood chemicals contribute much of the “nose” of the finished product. Experts collect samples at least five times during aging to ensure proper maturation. They use a brass metal tube called a “whiskey thief” inserted through the bunghole to collect the samples.

Back in his kitchen Alton finishes the custard by adding the bourbon. The next step is crafting the foam. That requires clean beaters. The slightest trace of fat in the egg whites inhibits protein cross-linking that makes the foam. Alton dons a pair of rubber gloves to represent the sticky hydrogen bonds that allow proteins to link. Alton grabs a hand from off screen and pulls but the bond remains stable. That’s the proteins aggregating into structures. Next, Alton rubs a big glob of fat onto his gloves – egg yolks are mostly fat. Now when he tries to maintain a grip, it slips and his partners (representing other proteins) cannot hold on. With properly cleaned beaters, Alton beats the whites to soft peaks and adds just a little sugar. Then he pours the custard into this mixture and chills it before serving. Leftovers can be refrigerated and “refluffed” up to a few days later with egg beater or blender.

Congeners are a family of unpleasant chemicals – alcohols, esters, acetaldehydes, and similar things – thought to be responsible for hangover. Eggs contain the amino acid cysteine. This compound assists the body in acetaldehyde metabolism so eggnog (without the bourbon) may aid recovery from a hangover. Either way, eggnog is a delicious drink that… what’s that racket?!? It’s the Food Police and they’re not happy that Alton has made eggnog with raw eggs! Alton defends himself claiming that he used pasteurized in the shell eggs. The Food Police are unmoved. They confiscate Alton’s beverage – a hard nog indeed.

Alton starts again. The dairy component can be heated to the crucial temperature of 160°. Alton mixes milk, cream and nutmeg (but not the bourbon) and carefully brings this just to a boil, realizing that if it boiled over it would be bad eats indeed. While that heats, Alton beats egg yolks and sugar together, then slowly drizzles the hot mixture into the yolks, whisking quickly. This tempering process prevents the egg proteins from congealing. Finally he whisks in the bourbon and chills the mixture. The foam cannot be heated so Alton makes it from pasteurized egg whites, available almost everywhere.

Side by side, the two eggnogs are very similar. The cooked version is a little thicker; Alton prefers the thinner raw version.

Either version can become ice cream. Alton simply chills his eggnog until it reaches 40° and then follows the manufacturer’s instructions for his ice cream machine. Right out of the machine it is a delicious soft serve ice cream. Refrigerate it for several hours to enjoy a firmer product.

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