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EGGNOGGEDDON 2008! 24 December 2008 11:17 pm

Posted by Tracy in : dessert,eggs,family,food snobbery,geekery,pictures,silly , trackback

We like taste tests here at TracyFood, because science rules. Tonight at Peter’s parents’ house in Saranac Lake, we compared not two, not three, but four different kinds of eggnog:

You bet we played an awesome game of Fluxx after all that science, yes indeedy!

Fluxx broke Dad Boothe.

But back to the science. Here’s the breakdown:

We used the same brand of eggs and dairy for each recipe, and Bacardi Gold rum and E & J Original brandy for booze, so neither would have an ingredient advantage. The tasting was basically dessert after a substantial dinner of lasagna, salad, and bread (a valuable safety precaution against all that booze and richness hitting even emptyish stomachs). Everybody took a turn tasting small amounts of each eggnog and rating them from favorite to least favorite, and in the end Morgenthaler’s recipe edged out the Vegetarian Epicure ‘nog by literally just one point. Hillcrest and New England formed the second tier, in that order (although the Hillcrest was way too sweet for my taste, right around the Line of Drinkability. We calculated that the Morgenthaler ‘nog contained the most alcohol, followed by the Vegetarian Epicure, then the Old New England, and finally, the Hillcrest had no booze at all. Maybe if we had found a way to cut it with booze to match the other nogs, to be fair, that might have changed my ratings (Vegetarian Epicure first, Morgenthaler second, New England third, and Hillcrest fourth). Morgenthaler’s recipe has the huge advantage of making very few servings (we halved VE‘s and it was still way more than the five of us could handle in one night). However, I stand by my preference for the VE nog because of its delicious use of citrus: both lemon and orange zest.

In conclusion: NOM NOM NOM, science rules, and Susie Bright is right, the standard storebought eggnog (even Organic Valley) really does taste kinda like Elmer’s Glue. Sigh. And NOM. I think I’ll sleep very well tonight.


  • http://susiebright.com Susie Bright

    I am so honored to have been included in your “Flight of Eggnogs” I could just die! Sure wish I could have joined you for a blind tasting.

    lasagna on,

    xoxox Susie

  • http://www.tracyfood.com Tracy

    Hi Susie, so great to hear back from you! In my excitement about the taste testing, I completely forgot a link to your BoingBoing eggnog post, but now I’ve corrected that shameful omission.

    Best wishes,
    -Tracy

  • http://www.jeffreymorgenthaler.com/ Jeffrey Morgenthaler

    FOR THE WIN!!!!!!!

    Seriously, though, thanks for including me in the smackdown. Sounds like a delicious way to spend an evening.

  • http://www.tracyfood.com Tracy

    Jeffrey! Great to hear from you, too — and I’m looking forward to figuring out a way to work a little citrus into your ‘nog, to see if that’s the secret to making it my favorite.

  • http://leenaeats.com/blog leena!

    Tracy~ What a great holiday experiment! I love doing food and drink experiments. Although how you guys were able to move after all that delicious lasagna and heavy eggnog, I will never know. I guess you gotta take one for the team sometimes, huh? :) I take one for the team every time I eat more than my share of bacon. Which is, like, every other day. Happy holidays!