The Spirit World

The recent egg-fest of Easter has kept me in a persistent eggitative-state of mind with the odd result of my needing to know what an “Egg Cream” soda is. I have never had one but have seen many sigh rapturously over the virtues of this drink. In my egg cream-virginal state, I imagine something like an egg nog but have a sense that if you added egg nog to soda, it might be more nauseating than rapturous. My inner jury is out on that one.

Its not really clear whether egg creams started out with egg in them but it seems that they no longer do. Many claim that the egg cream evolved in Brooklyn and that it is most authentic when made with milk, seltzer from a proper dispenser (i.e., not from a plastic bottle but from a siphon bottle. One could also try this adapter to siphon off of a plastic bottle), and chocolate syrup. New Yorkers would say that Fox’s U-Bet Chocolate Syrup is the best choice.

While recognizing that one may not have the siphon bottle or an olde time soda jerk fountain at your disposal, I submit to you the following recipe.

New York Egg Cream Soda

Ingredients:

Approx. 1/2 C cold whole milk
1 C bottled seltzer
2 TBS chocolate syrup

Directions:

Pour 1/2 inch of cold milk into a tall soda glass.

Add seltzer or club soda to within 1 inch of the top of the glass; stir vigorously with a long spoon (this will cause it to become white and bubbly with a good head of foam).

Very gently pour 2 tablespoons of chocolate syrup slowly down the inside of the glass; briskly stir with a long spoon only at the bottom of the glass where the chocolate sits.

The resulting drink should have a dark brown bottom and a 1-inch high pure white foam top (if you mix it too much, the foam disappears).

Makes 1 servings.