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Recipe: Bull Cook’s Tom and Jerry

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From Bull Cook and Authentic Historical Recipes and Practices by George Leonard Herter and Berthe E. Herter (1960/1970)

BULL COOK’S TOM AND JERRY

“In 1821 in England, Pierce Egan wrote the book, Life of London, or Days and Nights of Jerry Hawthorne and His Elegant Friend, Corinthian Tom. The book was about the rather wild life of these two young men during the Regency Period in England. The book was popular and Pierce Egan no dummy. To publicize the book he named a drink of his “Tom and Jerry.” The drink not only became well-known, but for a while, the drinking spots of England were even called “Tom and Jerries.” The drink that Egan made actually was just the traditional English, Holland and German eggnog with milk or cream substituted for beer, ale or wine. The original Tom and Jerry was made as follows.

            For as many drinks as you desire to serve, take the whites of the eggs and beat them until they are stiff. Now beat the egg yolks separately. Then mix the beaten egg whites and egg yolks together in a bowl adding two level teaspoons of sugar for each egg used. Add one-half cup of whole milk or cream for each serving and one-half ounce of brandy and one-half ounce of rum. Add 1/8 ounce of cinnamon and 1/16 ounce of nutmeg for each serving. Mix all ingredients together a bit but not too much and serve in cups. Tom and Jerries can be served warm or cold. They should, however, never be served too hot or the alcohol will leave the brandy rum.

            William Shakespeare wrote, “Nog is a kind of strong beer brewed in East Anglia.”

            A century or two after Shakespeare, eggnogs were mentioned in Scotland as “the white and yolk of eggs are stirred with hot ale, cider or wine.”

            The Pilgrims that came to New England from England served eggnog frequently using wild bird eggs for the eggs. The Aztec Indians of Mexico also made eggnog drinks from wild bird eggs.

            In 1825, the newspaper Brother Jonathan published in New York mentioned  that eggnogs were quite popular at parties.”