At an ex-pat holiday party in Shanghai in the 1920s, my grandfather tasted the finest eggnog he had ever had. It took him seven years to wheedle the recipe out of the host. Once he got it, he gave an annual party on the Sunday evening following Thanksgiving to make the nog. By Jonathan Hunt, CHOW.com. Ingredients 12 each Eggs large 2 cups Granulated sugar 1 cup Heavy cream 1 quart Whole milk (4 cups) 1 liter Bourbon (Jim Beam), about 4 cups 1/2 cup Myer's Dark Rum 1/2 cup Cognac good quality, use up to 1 cup 1 pinch Kosher Salt 1 whole Nutmeg 10 each Egg whites (optional) 1 1/2 cups Heavy cream (optional)

Instructions
1. Separate the 12 eggs. Combine the yolks and sugar in a large mixing bowl, and whisk until well blended and creamy. (Reserve the egg whites for another use).

2. Add the cream, milk, bourbon, rum, cognac (use the good stuff), and a pinch of salt.

3. Bottle it right away and refrigerate it until it's ready. An old liquor bottle works great, as do 22-ounce bail-top bottles, available in brewing supply stores. (My grandfather keeps the eggnog in the garage for three weeks, stirring occasionally, then bottles it... but aging in the garage is not recommended because the temperature can fluctuate.)

4. It's traditional to wrap the bottle in aluminum foil, together with a fresh whole nut of nutmeg tucked into the foil for grating later. Keep refrigerated for at least 3 weeks, or up to a year if you can.

5. I serve aged eggnog on the rocks with some freshly grated nutmeg on top. If you want to serve the eggnog in the traditional way, pour it into a punch bowl. In separate bowls, whip the 10 egg whites and 1 1/2 cups heavy cream to soft peaks and fold them into the eggnog. Serve in punch cups, garnished with freshly grated nutmeg.

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Yields: 1 gallon
     http://www.chow.com/recipes/10758

notes:  If you decide to bottle the eggnog, follow the step-by-step guide (http://www.chow.com/stories/10136) we created for our feature Make Your Own Soda Pop (http://www.chow.com/stories/10130). Be sure, however, to refrigerate the bottles right away. Unlike the soda recipes, eggnog does not ferment (so there’s no danger of explosion); it just ages under refrigeration. The actual bottling process is the same, though.

CHOW note: Unlike most eggnog recipes, this one calls for aging the eggnog for at least three weeks prior to consumption (or up to a year, says CHOW contributor Jonathan Hunt), which allows the flavors to meld. At CHOW, we aged the eggnog in the refrigerator in a clean 1-gallon jug, and it worked just fine. See http://www.chow.com/stories/10224 for reasons why this is safe.

WHAT TO BUY: The eggnog makes a great gift if you decide to bottle it. You can even get some customized labels (http://myownlabels.com/index.htm) to impress your friends.

GAME PLAN: It’s good to give the eggnog a full three weeks of aging, but you can drink it right away; however, the flavor will be less rounded.

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