I got an email request today for help with a Wassail recipe. I have quite a collection of these, and in perusing them for this friend-of-a-friend, I found some seriously strange and wonderful holiday libations. This one is from my 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book, which vaunts itself on the flyleaf thusly:
The Savoy Cocktail Book
Being a
compendium of
Cocktails
Sours
Flips
Toddies
Coolers
Smashes
Daisies
Highballs
Egg Noggs
Tom Collins
Sangarees
Punches
Cobblers
Rickeys
Slings
Fizzes
Juleps, Shrubs
Frappe, Fixes and Cups.
Now that....THAT sounds promising.
So, without further ado,
Tom and Jerry Punch
Thoroughly beat up yolks of 12 eggs.
Thoroughly beat up whites of 12 eggs.
Thoroughly mix the two together adding
1 tablespoonful of
powdered sugar to each egg.
Thoroughly mix the three ingredients together. Use large punch bowl. Keep stirring so that sugar will not settle on bottom of bowl. Use medium-size stem glass, china mug with handle or small tea-cup. Put a tablespoonsful [sic] of batter in each cup. Add 1/2 measure Brandy and 1/2 measure Rum. Fill with absolutely boiling water. Sprinkle nutmeg on top. Serve with spoon.
So, who's coming over?! Tom and Jerries, my place, Friday night. Complimentary trip to the ER early Saturday morning - we'll rent a van.
19 comments:
Like the woman in Napoleon Dynamite said, "I want that!"
I'm going to try that recipe this year.
Ooooooooooky! Though I must admit that when I was a teenager, I always loved the milkshakes with a raw egg in them that my mom used to make me as study food.
Tell you what, I'll come over and be the designated ER driver. But, given how queasy I felt just reading that post, I won't be imbibing.
OK... first off, you top these things off with absolutely boiling water, so the egg will certainly not be raw. I eat eggs "over easy" all the time: I'm sure this drink is that safe.
Second, you've got egg and sugar + boiling water + rum. Not quite custard, but definitely custard-y.
Third, you've got sugar and rum together.
Fourth, you've got rum.
So I'm pretty sure this will be an interesting and worthwhile drink to try.
Of course, living in the sub-flipping-tropics, it won't get cold enough to drink something like that... but I definitely want to try it.
I am with CO. You add BOILING water. It doesn't take much to cook an egg, people. When you feel sick in the am, trust me, it is not the eggs.
Wouldn't the boiling water cook the eggs? So you would have alcoholic scrambled eggs?
I remember going to a Christmas party /get together at your apartment on Richardson and we drank your wassail. That was a long time ago. Your wassail is TEH YUM!
Cooked eggs or raw eggs... I'll be on that like a pack of pitbulls on a three-legged cat.
Sugar, rum, brandy, all hot... sounds too good not to try.
Wow, I haven't heard anyone talk about making a Tom & Jerry since I was a kid!
My grandmother always used to make these for family holiday parties. She even had a special 'Tom & Jerry' set to serve them in (matching bowl and mugs).
I can still remember how they smell! I've never actually had one since I was too young at the time to drink one.
*GAG* I thought wassail had fruit juice in it not slimy partly cooked eggs, I think thats called eggdrop soup!
Uber, wassail is different than Tom & Jerry - I just happened upon it while I was reading for other hot punches.
Denise, I can't tell you how much I love that your grandmother had a Tom & Jerry set. And I bet they smell divine. I'll be trying this too - just with a couple of eggs though. I have a friend who will be very into it...with organic eggs, of course!
Just tried the Tom and Jerry Punch.
Rather than waste a dozen eggs on a potential unwinner, I mixed it up with 1 egg. So to review the recipe:
- one egg
- one tablespoon powdered sugar
- 1/2 measure rum
- 1/2 measure brandy
First attempt: I misread the directions, so I used a teaspoon of sugar, and a teaspoon of batter in a cup. I also used a coffee mug, and tried to guess-timate the point to "make it up" with hot water.
I beat the egg white until it was all foamy, but not meringue: that appeared to be a winning consistency.
The first attempt was far too thin.
Second attempt: I mixed two more teaspoons of sugar into the egg to make it up to a tablespoon. I got a clean mug and doubled the recipe at Shan's suggestion, thinking the mug was bout twice a "glass cup."
The second attempt was much better than the first.
Conclusions and Comments: I won't make this again. The first attempt was a like a hot, watery, alcoholic egg-drop soup. The second attempt was considerably better; but the drink was still too thin to be an eggnog, too bland to be a punch.
I'll stick to wassail.
No fears about the raw egg: it flash cooks instantly; I had bigger concerns about the strings of egg in the drink: not nasty, but not very appetizing.
I'd drink it at a party to be polite, but I won't make it again.
Ox, re: the egg strings, blurrrgh. But I have a feeling you need to go all the way to soft peaks here. Not that the recipe states that, but I think it'll turn out much better...deal with the firm string that results from instant denaturation.
I'm gonna try it, but with the whites at soft peaks and the yolk at pale ribbons. And I think I'll use Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum, or possibly Orange & Brandy rather than regular.
As soon as I can afford to go the Liquor Store.
(And, one more thing: we are SO a bunch of effing geeks.)
i so loved your post ,...but the comments took the winnings.
i was excited to try it at the beginning then all mr ox's comments made it so much more tantalizing.. well except the string part..eesh.. but i recovered thanks to shan.
yummm it does sound like it should taste amazing!
thanks anyhow.. and Merry Christmas.
I think you nailed it with the soft peaks, Shan. If anyone else wants to try, I'd recommend beating the egg whites until they're basically meringue, then beat the yolks until they're a thick paste. That would probably turn the punch into a thin custard, rather than an alcoholic quiche-in-a-cup.
alcholic quiche-in-a-cup .... fell off my chair at that one!
We make this every year, and have since before I was born. My great aunt's directions are very specific-- you beat until your arm falls off (mountains of peaks). I use pasturized egss to avoid the salmonella issues.
Anna, thank you! Are there any other differences in the recipe? I'd love an insider's perspective.
I definitely remember the eggs being quite firmly beaten, very much like a meringue consistency.
I'll have to ask my grandmother about Tom & Jerry tips the next time I talk to her.
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