Type | Fountain beverage |
---|---|
Country of origin | United States |
Flavor | Various; primarily chocolate, but can be any flavored syrup |
Ingredients | Flavored syrup, milk, soda water |
An egg cream [1] is a cold beverage consisting of milk, carbonated water, and flavored syrup (typically chocolate or vanilla), as a substitute for an ice cream float. [2] Ideally, the glass is left with 2⁄3 liquid and 1⁄3 foamy head. [3] Despite the name, the drink contains neither eggs nor cream. [4]
The egg cream is almost exclusively a fountain drink. Although there have been several attempts to bottle it, none have been wholly successful, as its refreshing taste and characteristic head require mixing of the ingredients just before drinking.
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." [6]
The egg cream originated among Yiddish-speaking Eastern European Jewish immigrants in New York City, so one explanation claims that egg is a corruption of the Yiddish echt 'genuine or real', making an egg cream a "good cream". [7]
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)." [8]
Another explanation comes from reports that it grew out of a request for chocolat et crème from someone, possibly the actor Boris Thomashefsky [9] who had experienced a similar drink in Paris. [10] [11] His heavy accent altered the name into something like "egg cream," which then developed into the current term.
The egg cream features prominently in the creature feature horror film Squirm. When New Yorker Mick ( Don Scardino) visits his girlfriend Geri ( Patricia Pearcy) in the fictional town of Fly Creek, Georgia, he orders an egg cream at a diner, which confuses the Southern owner, who has never heard of them. Mick finds a worm in the drink, which causes a row with the sheriff sitting nearby, and foreshadows the worm invasion of the town.
In The Midterms, a season 2 episode of The West Wing, President Jed Bartlet ( Martin Sheen), drinks an Egg Cream in the oval office. In describing the drink to Toby Ziegler ( Richard Schiff), he says "I'm drinking the most fantastic thing I've ever tasted in my life. Chocolate syrup, cold milk, and seltzer. I know it sounds terrible, but trust me– I don't know where this has been all my life." Toby tells him it's an egg cream, and that "We invented it in Brooklyn," referring to his Brooklyn heritage.
Type | Fountain beverage |
---|---|
Country of origin | United States |
Flavor | Various; primarily chocolate, but can be any flavored syrup |
Ingredients | Flavored syrup, milk, soda water |
An egg cream [1] is a cold beverage consisting of milk, carbonated water, and flavored syrup (typically chocolate or vanilla), as a substitute for an ice cream float. [2] Ideally, the glass is left with 2⁄3 liquid and 1⁄3 foamy head. [3] Despite the name, the drink contains neither eggs nor cream. [4]
The egg cream is almost exclusively a fountain drink. Although there have been several attempts to bottle it, none have been wholly successful, as its refreshing taste and characteristic head require mixing of the ingredients just before drinking.
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." [6]
The egg cream originated among Yiddish-speaking Eastern European Jewish immigrants in New York City, so one explanation claims that egg is a corruption of the Yiddish echt 'genuine or real', making an egg cream a "good cream". [7]
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)." [8]
Another explanation comes from reports that it grew out of a request for chocolat et crème from someone, possibly the actor Boris Thomashefsky [9] who had experienced a similar drink in Paris. [10] [11] His heavy accent altered the name into something like "egg cream," which then developed into the current term.
The egg cream features prominently in the creature feature horror film Squirm. When New Yorker Mick ( Don Scardino) visits his girlfriend Geri ( Patricia Pearcy) in the fictional town of Fly Creek, Georgia, he orders an egg cream at a diner, which confuses the Southern owner, who has never heard of them. Mick finds a worm in the drink, which causes a row with the sheriff sitting nearby, and foreshadows the worm invasion of the town.
In The Midterms, a season 2 episode of The West Wing, President Jed Bartlet ( Martin Sheen), drinks an Egg Cream in the oval office. In describing the drink to Toby Ziegler ( Richard Schiff), he says "I'm drinking the most fantastic thing I've ever tasted in my life. Chocolate syrup, cold milk, and seltzer. I know it sounds terrible, but trust me– I don't know where this has been all my life." Toby tells him it's an egg cream, and that "We invented it in Brooklyn," referring to his Brooklyn heritage.