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ClassicCreamy3 minutesKid-friendly

Egg Cream

New York's soda-fountain classic. No egg, no cream — and the pouring order is the entire recipe.

Prep
3 min
Serves
1
Glass
Highball
Difficulty
Easy

Ingredients

  • 1.5 oz chocolate syrup (a proper fountain syrup if possible)
  • 2 oz whole milk, very cold
  • 6 oz seltzer, very cold

Method

  1. 1Pour the milk into a chilled tall glass.
  2. 2Add the chocolate syrup and do not stir yet.
  3. 3Pour the seltzer in fast, aimed at the side of the glass, to build a thick white head.
  4. 4Stir the bottom only, leaving the foam intact. Drink immediately.

Notes

  • Everything must be cold — warm milk gives you no head at all.
  • Spritz the seltzer in hard. The foam is the point of the drink, and a gentle pour won't produce it.
  • It contains neither egg nor cream; the name is a century-old argument nobody has settled.

Common questions

Why is it called an egg cream if it has neither?

Nobody knows for certain. The likeliest explanations are a corruption of the Yiddish 'echt' (genuine) cream, or that the thick white head simply looked like beaten egg white.

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