The Canonical Brooklyn Egg Cream
Chapter 5 — Sides, Sweets & Drinks
A proper Brooklyn egg cream contains neither egg nor cream. It is a working-class alternative to the ice cream soda that relies entirely on precise fluid dynamics and cheap ingredients—Fox's U-bet chocolate syrup whipped in a fountain glass with a long-handled spoon. We make this the orthodox Brooklyn way: a dark, chocolatey base beneath a towering, unblemished, snow-white head of foam. Drink it fast, standing up while the foam crackles, preferably with a warm, salt-crusted bagel nearby.
Before you start
Chill your glassware.
Place a heavy-bottomed, tall fountain glass or Coke-style tumbler in the freezer for at least 10 minutes.
Ingredients
- whole milk1/4 cup
- plain seltzer water3/4 cup
- Fox's U-Bet Chocolate Syrup3 tbsp
Method
- 01
Establish the dairy foundation.
Pour the cold milk into the bottom of your chilled glass so it comes up about an inch to an inch and a half from the base.
- 02
Agitate the seltzer to create the kinetic froth.
Place a long spoon into the glass and vigorously pour the ice-cold seltzer directly onto the bowl of the spoon. This acts as a baffle, whipping the milk proteins into a thick, frothy white head that should reach just below the rim.
- 03
Drop the syrup dead center.
Do not pour down the side of the glass. Confidently pour the chocolate syrup directly into the center of the white foam, allowing its specific gravity to pierce the head and sink straight to the bottom without blemishing the top.
- 04
Execute the jerk to mix the base.
Insert your long spoon straight down to the bottom. Vigorously rock the spoon back and forth in a tight, scraping motion, keeping all kinetic action restricted to the bottom inch of the glass. You want a dark brown bottom and a pristine, unmixed white cap of foam.
- 05
Consume immediately.
An egg cream is a volatile thermodynamic state that will begin to collapse within minutes. Drink it quickly, and do not be afraid to gulp.
Notes
Accept absolutely no substitutions.
Skim milk will collapse the foam, and heavy cream will rupture the carbon dioxide bubbles. You must use whole milk. Club soda's minerals will ruin the structure, so stick to highly carbonated plain seltzer. And if you aren't using Fox's U-Bet, you aren't making an egg cream.
Stockpile kosher-for-Passover syrup.
Purists wait for spring to buy the kosher-for-Passover version of Fox's U-Bet, which swaps high-fructose corn syrup for real cane sugar, perfectly mimicking the 1895 original formula.