The history of a classic chocolate egg cream soda is somewhat obscure, as is its name, but it has long been associated with Brooklyn, New York, and was certainly a part of my New York City childhood.
In the time of diners, luncheonettes and sandwich shops, every one of them sold egg creams, a mixture of chocolate syrup, milk, and seltzer — and containing no eggs or cream. Sweet without being cloying, refreshing and thirst-quenching, an egg cream is a soda for adults as well as kids.
And a home-made egg cream tastes just like the ones they used to make in long-ago soda fountains. The chocolate syrup that many recipes recommend is Fox’s U-Bet Chocolate Syrup, which I had difficulty finding at first because my local supermarket has it shelved with kosher products (it is, indeed, kosher). The only other ingredients are milk and seltzer. A tall chilled glass and a thick striped straw (preferably paper) will enhance your egg cream experience.
It takes a few ingredients and a few moments to stir up an egg cream. All that’s left is to pretend that you’re in Brooklyn, New York in 1967 and that your egg cream cost ten cents.
New York Egg Cream
Ingredients
- •¼ cup Fox's U-Bet Chocolate Syrup
- •½ cup milk*
- •seltzer
* Some recipes recommend whole milk, but lowfat works fine too.
Preparation
In a tall chilled 12-ounce glass, mix ¼ cup Fox’s U-Bet Chocolate Syrup and ½ cup milk. Stir with a long spoon until blended. Fill to the brim with seltzer from a freshly-opened (fizzy) bottle. Stir once or twice, add a straw, and serve.
