The egg cream is primarily afountain drink. It has been bottled under various brands,[5][6][7] but is still not well-represented on shelves in the US. This may be partially due to the drink's tendency to go flat quickly when prepared fresh.[8]
The ingredients of an egg cream:Fox's U-Bet chocolate syrup,[9] seltzer, and whole milk
The peculiarity that an egg cream contains neither eggs nor cream has been explained in various ways. Stanley Auster, who claims that his grandfather invented the beverage, has said that the origins of the name are "lost in time."[10]
The egg cream originated amongYiddish-speakingEastern European Jewish immigrants in New York City, so one explanation claims thategg is a corruption of the Yiddishecht ('genuine' or 'real'), making an egg cream a "good cream".[11]
Another explanation comes from reports that it grew out of a request forchocolat et crème from someone, possibly the actorBoris Thomashefsky[12] (who had experienced a similar drink in Paris).[13][14] His heavy accent altered the name into something like "egg cream," which then developed into the current term.
However, food historian Andrew Smith writes: "During the 1880s, a popular specialty was made with chocolate syrup, cream, and raw eggs mixed into soda water. In poorer neighborhoods, a less expensive version of this treat was created, called the Egg Cream (made without the eggs or cream)."[15] In fact, an 1850 source already presents a similar egg cream, but without the soda water and flavored differently: "How to Make Egg Cream. Take the yolk of an egg, with a dessert spoonful of cream or new milk, and, if convenient, add two drops of oil of cinnamon."[16] In 1885, George Peltz showed the froth being created by whipping the egg: "Egg Cream.—Beat a raw egg to a stiff froth; add a tablespoonful of white sugar and a half wineglass of good blackberry wine; add half a glass of cream; beat together thoroughly, and use at once."[17]
The term "egg cream" then was in fact used for mixtures that included both before it came to be used - by a process that is not well-documented - for a drink that included neither.
^Smith, Andrew F. (2014).New York City: A Food Biography. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 111.
^Blake, John Lauris (1850).The Farmer's Every-day Book: Or, Sketches of Social Life in the Country: with the Popular Elements of Practical and Theoretical Agriculture, and Twelve Hundred Laconics and Apothegms Relating to Ethics, Religion, and General Literature; Also Five Hundred Receipts on Hygeian, Domestic, and Rural Economy. Derby, Miller and Company. p. 566.
^Peltz, George A. (1885).The Housewife's Library: (many Volumes in One) : Furnishing the Very Best Help in All the Necessities, Intricacies, Emergencies, and Vexations that Puzzle a Housekeeper in Every Department of Her Duties in the Home : Household Management, Domestic Cookery, Home Furnishing, Home Decoration, Polite Deportment, Trying Emergencies, Care of Children, Games, Amusements, Etc., General Hints. Edgewood Publishing Company. p. 250.
Wharton, Rachel."The Return of The Egg Cream".Brooklyn Eats. Heritage Radio Network. Archived fromthe original on 14 January 2011. Retrieved2 January 2011. (Radio episode)
