The Authentic Brooklyn Fox's U-Bet Egg Cream
Afternoon Nosh at the Bakery Case
An egg cream contains neither eggs nor a drop of cream, yet it remains the undisputed king of the New York candy store—a working-class masterpiece born in the Jewish immigrant enclaves of early twentieth-century Brooklyn. To recreate that violently fizzy, pure white soda fountain head inside a heavy fountain glass, ready a long spoon, cold whole milk, and Fox's U-Bet chocolate syrup. Accept no substitutes, pour ice-cold seltzer straight down the center until the foam hits the rim, and never let it sit.
Ingredients
- Fox's U-Bet chocolate syrup3 tbsp
- whole milk1/3 cup
- plain seltzer8 oz
Method
- 01
Lay down the chocolate foundation.
Squeeze the Fox's U-Bet chocolate syrup into the bottom of a tall, chilled twelve-to-sixteen-ounce glass.
- 02
Mix the milk and syrup vigorously.
Pour in the ice-cold whole milk and stir forcefully with a long spoon until you have a smooth, rich chocolate milk at the bottom of the glass.
- 03
Execute the back-of-the-spoon cascade.
Invert your spoon and hold it just above the liquid line. Open a fresh bottle of seltzer and pour it directly onto the convex back of the spoon, allowing it to cascade gently down the inside walls of the glass until a thick, billowing white foam reaches the rim.
- 04
Drink the egg cream immediately.
An egg cream waits for no one. Drop in a straw and drink right away before the highly volatile foam collapses.
Notes
Sourcing the definitive syrup.
If you can find the Kosher for Passover version of Fox's U-Bet in the spring, buy it in bulk. It is made with real cane sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup and tastes exactly like the turn-of-the-century original.
Temperature is everything.
If your foam collapses immediately, your ingredients aren't cold enough. Keep the milk and seltzer in the coldest part of the fridge until the exact second you build the drink.
Respect the physics of the foam.
Skim milk will not foam properly, and heavy cream is far too thick. You need the specific fat-to-protein ratio of whole cow's milk to stabilize the froth. Likewise, use the most aggressively carbonated seltzer you can find—never lightly sparkling mineral water.