The egg cream
MARTIN JACKSON
Special to Jewish News
Egg creams were created by the Fox U-Bet company, which developed a recipe for its chocolate syrup in the early 1900s in order to create a market for the product. Introduced in New York City, it was an immediate success and has taken a place in the culinary folklore of America, or at least, New York.
It has no eggs or cream, but is made of chocolate syrup, seltzer and milk. There are rules to making a good egg cream, the kind New York natives know and love.
- Use Fox's U-Bet Chocolate Syrup. There is no point in substituting Hershey's or some other copy of Fox's - it just doesn't taste the same.
- Fill a glass about one quarter full of syrup. Then add a splash of seltzer. Stir.
- Add about half a glass of cold milk. Stir. Then add more seltzer and stir vigorously. There should be a nice foamy head. If a little bit runs over the glass, that's fine.
- Take a big drink and then bite into a pretzel rod. Drink some more.
- Have another.
- Vanilla egg creams are legitimate, but don't venture into strawberry or cherry. Syrups like hazelnut and almond aren't worth discussing.
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