Sunday, December 23, 2007 - WEKEND COOKBOOK CHALLENGE #23 AGAIN

Well, it’s Christmas, so to celebrate – I cook! (“Oh, there’s a shocker, Mikey!")  And every year I make eggnog.  The eggnog we buy in the store is full of gums, high fructose corn syrup, egg-type substitutes and with so many mono-dio-sodi-hypo-phosphate-gulta-moro-BHTA’s that it makes my head hurt.  But, not the eggnog served at the Diner and that's my next Weekend Cookbook Challenge entry.

Here, we use a recipe from the December 1998 Bon Appetit.  For all you health-conscious readers, this is tailor made for you (as long as you turn away now).

Christmas Eggnog

18 Egg Yolks

1 ½ cups of Sugar

4 cups of Heavy Cream

4 cups of Half and Half

2½ tsp. of Ground Nutmeg (too much, in my book.  1½ tsp. is fine)

Beat egg yolks with the sugar in large bowl until well incorporated. 

Bring dairy up to a bare simmer.  While beating the yolk mixture vigorously, add some (about a 1/3^rd) of the hot cream mixture slowly to temper the egg yolks.  Add the tempered yolks back into the rest of the cream mixture and whip until well combined.  Heat this over medium-low, constantly stirring until the yolk mixture has reached at least 140 degrees and coats the back of a spoon. 

Strain to filter out any scrambled eggs (yes, there will be some), add the nutmeg and cool.  It will be very thick and very egg-y – just the way eggnog is supposed to be, without any of the funny stuff.