Perfect Egg Cream. Sorry for the background distractions; we had to move fast to get the shot.
While this recipe is likely to produce a perfect egg cream, we can’t predict how many tries it will take you to get there. The good news is that the failed drinks will taste the same as the good ones so you can painlessly dispose of your mistakes. By the way, everybody talks about the appearance and texture of an egg cream, but what about the taste? Being made mostly of seltzer water, it’s a mild concoction that is especially pleasant on a hot summer day. So don’t feel bad if you have to drink several of them. Makes one egg cream serving (at a time).
Ingredients:
1 part Fox’s U-Bet Chocolate Syrup, preferably Kosher for Passover
2 parts very cold milk (try putting it in the freezer till ice crystals start to form)
4 parts very fresh* seltzer (not club soda or mineral water)
Method: start by pouring maybe 3/4 of an inch of U-Bet in the bottom of a glass, then add double that amount of milk. Add the spoon you will use to stir; it should be long enough to extend over the top of the glass. Now tilt the glass and pour in the seltzer, slowly so it will not form a head.
Overmixed Egg Cream. Note the uniform brown color and imperfect head.
Now comes the magic: place the glass on a flat counter and agitate the spoon vigorously, up and down as much as side to side, stirring at the very bottom but keeping the rest of the glass and ingredients as undisturbed as possible. What will happen (in a perfect egg cream) is that the layers will magically separate so you get syrup and milk on the bottom and a perfect white head on the top. Serve at once, before the head dissipates.
(What is more likely on your first attempts is that you will overstir, so the white foam gets mixed into the drink and the bubbles go away. Drink up and try again.)
*Can’t emphasize VERY FRESH enough. Best to use a soda siphon or start with a fresh can of seltzer for each drink. We used a half-liter bottle and it was losing its fizz by the third drink.
Yum….But it’s not complete without a long pretzel rod to eat with it. (The kind in the tall clear container on the fountain counter. Or a slice of drake’s marble cake.)
We did encounter the pretzel in our research but chose not to go down that rabbit hole. Only so much controversy can fit into one discussion. The marble cake sounds interesting, though.
Wow…a pretzel controversy…so much better than what’s in the news these days!
Indeed. We sure miss arguing about things that don’t make a difference!