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There is no egg in it. There is no cream in it. Ask for an egg cream at a New York candy store or luncheonette and what arrives is cold milk, chocolate syrup and seltzer, stirred until the top turns to foam.
It is one of the simplest drinks you will ever make and one of the easiest to get wrong. The difference is almost entirely in the seltzer and the spoon.
What you need
- 3½ tablespoons Fox’s U-Bet chocolate syrup (vanilla works too)
- ½ cup whole milk, very cold
- 1 cup cold seltzer or club soda, divided
- A 12-ounce glass and a long spoon
Those amounts come from a diner-style recipe published by The Kitchn. Treat them as a starting point and adjust to taste after the first glass.
How to make it
- Pour the syrup into the glass.
- Add the milk.
- Stir hard with the long spoon while you slowly add about half of the seltzer, until the mixture is combined and starting to froth.
- Pour the rest of the seltzer onto the back of the spoon so it runs down into the glass. The foam should climb to the top.
- Serve right away. An egg cream waits for no one.
Why the seltzer matters most
Pressure is what builds the head. Fountain-style seltzer foams best, and bottled or canned seltzer will work if you pour it while you stir. Keep everything cold. Warm seltzer goes flat, and flat seltzer gives you chocolate milk with ambitions.
Pouring over the back of the spoon is not showmanship. It adds air and height to the foam. A tall narrow glass helps, since foam needs somewhere to climb.
Where the name came from
Nobody knows for sure. A write-up from Rockefeller University’s magazine calls the drink a disappearing New York City treat and says it was common in candy stores and luncheonettes until a decline that began in the 1960s. It says it is not clear exactly where it was invented.
The usual stories name Louis Auster in Brooklyn in the 1890s, who reportedly sold thousands a day, and Hymie Bell on the Lower East Side in the 1920s, who is said to have added cream, seltzer and eggs to a chocolate soda. Other theories trace the name to a French phrase or to a Yiddish one. Treat all of it as legend, because the same article treats it that way.
Tips and variations
- Use whole milk, which is what the recipe calls for.
- Vanilla syrup works in place of chocolate if that is what you like.
- Chill the glass if you have time.
- The order of syrup, milk and seltzer is an argument among devotees. The method above works. If your uncle says otherwise, let him be wrong happily.
- Scoop the chocolate that settles at the bottom with a spoon. Some people think it is the best part.
Questions people ask
Can I use chocolate sauce instead of syrup? You can, but a thick sauce sinks and does not dissolve well in cold liquid. Syrup mixes in cleanly. If you only have sauce, thin it with a splash of milk first.
Does it need ice? Traditionally no. The drink is served cold from cold ingredients and drunk fast.
Why did mine go flat? Usually the seltzer was warm, old or poured too slowly. Open a fresh bottle and stir while you pour.
