Eggnog is a funny thing. We crave it for one month a year, then never think about it again.
And when we do crave it, we love to pretend that this sinfully rich drinkable dessert (basically, it’s melted ice cream in a glass) is a perfectly reasonable and festive little pre-dinner aperitif. The more honest among us glug it down without pretense. After all, life is short; we should eat dessert first.
Technically, eggnog is cooked custard cream. The French — in a nod to the English passion for it — call it creme anglaise. The English themselves call it custard. By any name, it is the base of most ice creams.
In fact, if you felt lazy, you could just pull that pint of premium vanilla ice cream out of the freezer, let it defrost in the refrigerator, add some booze and a sprinkle of nutmeg, and pass it off as your very own custom-made eggnog. Even easier, you can buy eggnog by the carton at the supermarket. But I promise that the version you make from scratch at home will be the best you’ve ever had.