Tom and Jerry
A Tom and Jerry is a hot drink of egg batter, spirit and milk: one egg separated and beaten with 15ml of sugar syrup into a light batter, spooned into a warmed mug with 30ml of cognac and 30ml of dark rum, then topped with about 120ml of hot milk and finished with grated nutmeg. About 2.4 UK units. The milk goes in steaming, never boiled. The egg is not cooked. Hot milk warms the batter but does not cook it through, so treat the drink as containing raw egg, as well as milk. The NHS says hen eggs with the British Lion stamp can be eaten raw, partially cooked or well cooked, including in pregnancy. The Oxford Companion says the name is often traced to Pierce Egan’s Life in London of 1821, whose heroes were Jerry Hawthorn and “Corinthian Tom”, and to the stage play of the same year, but that there is no evidence for it; its earliest printed reference to the drink is a Salem Gazette item of 1827. Jerry Thomas printed a recipe in 1862, using hot water where ours uses milk.
Glassware: Heatproof Mug
Garnish: Nutmeg grated over the foam at the last moment
Ingredients
1, separated
White beaten to soft peaks, yolk whisked pale, folded together; the egg stays raw in the finished drink. The NHS says hen eggs with the British Lion stamp can be eaten raw, including in pregnancy, while other hen eggs should be eaten well cooked; pasteurised carton egg is the alternative. Contains egg, so not for anyone allergic.
15ml
Sugar dissolved one to one by weight in water and whisked into the yolk. It sweetens the batter and helps it hold, and the milk adds a little sweetness of its own.
30ml
VS or VSOP at 40% ABV. It brings grape and orchard fruit and keeps the drink from tasting heavy. Milk flattens anything older, so there is no need to spend more.
30ml
A dark rum at 40% ABV, which stays audible through egg and milk where a light rum disappears. Brandy or rum alone also works; the even split is our choice.
120ml
Heated until it steams, never boiled. It lifts the batter into foam. Older recipes use hot water instead, which makes a lighter drink.
Instructions
Warm a heatproof mug of about 300ml with hot water.
Separate the egg. Beat the white to soft peaks, and whisk the yolk with the sugar syrup until pale.
Fold the white into the yolk to make a light batter.
Heat the milk until it steams; do not let it boil.
Empty the mug, spoon in the batter and add the cognac and dark rum.
Pour in the hot milk slowly, stirring gently so the batter rises into a foam.
Grate nutmeg over the top.
Our version
Made by the mug rather than from a bowl of batter: one egg and 15ml of syrup per drink, 30ml each of cognac and dark rum, and about 120ml of hot milk where older recipes use hot water.
Source: our own specification.
Expert Tip
Warm the mug first. Batter spooned into cold china stiffens and sinks, so run hot water into the mug while you beat the egg and tip it out just before building. Heat the milk until it steams and stop there. Boiling milk scalds the batter and the drink turns grainy; pour it slowly down the side and stir gently as the foam rises. Beat the batter shortly before you need it and keep it cold. Folded white and yolk hold their air for a few hours in the fridge, then slacken, and a quick whisk brings them back. Because the egg stays raw, do not keep leftover batter for another day.
Behind the Tom and Jerry
Flavour Profile
A Name From an 1821 Bestseller
The Oxford Companion, in an entry by Audrey Saunders, says the drink is often said to have been created by Pierce Egan to promote his 1821 book Life in London, whose main characters were Jerry Hawthorn and “Corinthian Tom”, and the play based on it, but that there is no evidence for the theory or for the drink being served in England in the 1820s. The New York Times says the drink is frequently, though not definitively, credited to Egan.
Jerry Thomas printed a Tom and Jerry in his 1862 guide, as a bowl of egg batter with rum, cinnamon, cloves and allspice, served with a wine-glass of brandy and boiling water, and the New York Times says he often boasted of inventing it.
Raw Egg, Hot Milk
The batter is raw egg, and the drink keeps it that way. Milk heated to steaming warms the foam without cooking it. Boiling milk sets the egg in grains instead, and the foam collapses.
Treat it like any raw-egg drink. The NHS says hen eggs with the British Lion stamp can be eaten raw, and the batter is made fresh and used the same evening. It also contains milk, so it is neither egg-free nor dairy-free.
The Batter
Separating the egg is what makes the drink. The white, beaten to soft peaks, and the yolk, whisked pale with the syrup, are folded back together so the air stays in. That foam is strong enough to rise through hot milk, where a whole egg stirred in would sink.
Cognac and Dark Rum
Recipes have argued brandy against rum for as long as the drink has existed. We split the base: cognac for fruit and polish, dark rum for depth that survives the milk. All cognac makes a lighter drink, all rum a darker one.
The Oxford Companion says that by the 1950s Tom and Jerry had become a regional specialty, popular in the Great Lakes region and served at home over the year-end holidays rather than as a winter bar drink, and the New York Times calls it especially popular in Wisconsin and the states bordering it.
Four Milk and Egg Drinks
The Tom and Jerry beside our Eggnog, Brandy Milk Punch and Hot Buttered Rum
Spirit
- Tom and Jerry
- 30ml cognac, 30ml dark rum
- Eggnog
- 30ml brandy, 15ml dark rum
- Brandy Milk Punch
- 50ml brandy
- Hot Buttered Rum
- 60ml dark rum
Egg
- Tom and Jerry
- One, beaten into batter, raw
- Eggnog
- One, raw
- Brandy Milk Punch
- None
- Hot Buttered Rum
- None
Dairy
- Tom and Jerry
- About 120ml hot milk
- Eggnog
- 60ml milk, 30ml cream
- Brandy Milk Punch
- 90ml milk
- Hot Buttered Rum
- 30g butter
Served
- Tom and Jerry
- Hot
- Eggnog
- Cold
- Brandy Milk Punch
- Cold
- Hot Buttered Rum
- Hot, with 150ml hot water
UK units
- Tom and Jerry
- About 2.4
- Eggnog
- About 1.8
- Brandy Milk Punch
- About 2.0
- Hot Buttered Rum
- About 2.4
| Element | Tom and Jerry | Eggnog | Brandy Milk Punch | Hot Buttered Rum |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spirit | 30ml cognac, 30ml dark rum | 30ml brandy, 15ml dark rum | 50ml brandy | 60ml dark rum |
| Egg | One, beaten into batter, raw | One, raw | None | None |
| Dairy | About 120ml hot milk | 60ml milk, 30ml cream | 90ml milk | 30g butter |
| Served | Hot | Cold | Cold | Hot, with 150ml hot water |
| UK units | About 2.4 | About 1.8 | About 2.0 | About 2.4 |
How to Serve It
In a warmed heatproof mug of about 300ml: batter, then cognac and rum, then steaming milk poured slowly while you stir, and nutmeg grated over at the last moment. For a party, beat a bowl of batter shortly before guests arrive, one egg per mug, and keep it cold between rounds.
Served cold and shaken, an Eggnog; hot with butter and spice instead of egg, a Hot Buttered Rum; cold with milk and no egg, a Brandy Milk Punch.
Make it at home
The Spirit
CognacCognac is a grape spirit distilled twice from white wine in copper pot stills in the Cognac area of western France and, under INAO’s specification, aged at least two years in oak and sold at no less than 40% ABV. The letters on the label are minimum ages, by the BNIC’s account: VS at least two years, VSOP four, XO ten. A VS or VSOP is what our cocktails assume.
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is in a Tom and Jerry?
Is the egg in a Tom and Jerry cooked?
Does a Tom and Jerry contain dairy?
Who invented the Tom and Jerry?
Can I make the batter ahead?
How is it different from eggnog?
Why must the milk not boil?
How strong is a Tom and Jerry?
Sources.
Correct as of 19 October 2026.
- The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails (Audrey Saunders), “Tom and Jerry” (secondary source: early 1800s; often said to be Pierce Egan’s, no evidence; earliest known printed reference the Salem Gazette of 20 March 1827; Jerry Thomas popularised it; a regional specialty by the 1950s, popular in the Great Lakes region).
- New York Times Cooking, “Tom and Jerry” (secondary source: frequently, though not definitively, credited to Pierce Egan; Jerry Thomas often boasted of inventing it).
- Jerry Thomas, 1862 (Internet Archive scan), “How to Mix Drinks, or The Bon-Vivant’s Companion” (primary source: 174. Tom and Jerry: a punch-bowl batter of eggs, sugar, Jamaica rum and spice; served with a wine-glass of brandy and boiling water, nutmeg on top).
- NHS, “Foods to avoid in pregnancy” (official page: hen eggs with the British Lion stamp (or from the Laid in Britain scheme) can be eaten raw, partially cooked or well cooked, including in pregnancy; other hen eggs only well cooked).
You Might Also Like
Eggnog
This Eggnog is made by the glass: 30ml of brandy, 15ml of dark rum, one egg separated, 60ml of whole milk, 30ml of cream and 20ml of sugar syrup. The yolk is whisked with the syrup until pale, then everything is dry shaken for 10 to 15 seconds, shaken hard with ice for 10 to 12 and strained into a chilled double rocks glass, with nutmeg grated over. About 1.8 UK units. It is uncooked. The egg is raw, and the drink contains milk and cream. The NHS says hen eggs with the British Lion stamp can be eaten raw, including in pregnancy; drink it as soon as it is made. The Oxford Companion calls eggnog an American invention of the mid-Atlantic region in the late colonial era, with the first printed references in New Jersey and Pennsylvania newspapers in 1788. It is often said to descend from the posset, which the Companion describes as a medieval drink of curdled milk or cream and wine or ale, warmed and often thickened with eggs; we have found no primary record of that line.
Hot Buttered Rum
A Hot Buttered Rum is 60ml of dark rum poured over about 50g of spiced butter batter in a warmed mug, topped with 150ml of water just off the boil and stirred until the butter melts through, then finished with grated nutmeg and a cinnamon stick. About 2.4 UK units. The batter is butter, dark brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice, a pinch of clove and vanilla, so the drink contains milk. The Oxford Companion calls hot buttered rum a colonial-era drink once favoured for being medicinal; we have found no early recipe from then. Jerry Thomas’s 1862 bar guide prints a hot spiced rum of sugar, Jamaica rum, allspice and cloves, butter and hot water, and the Companion says a batter of butter, sugar and spices cures the slick that loose butter leaves. The batter is the method. Butter dropped into a mug alone floats in a slick; beaten first with sugar and spice, it melts evenly into the rum and water.
Brandy Milk Punch
A Brandy Milk Punch is 50ml brandy, 90ml cold whole milk, 15ml simple syrup and two drops of vanilla extract, shaken hard for 10 to 12 seconds and strained over fresh ice in a double rocks glass, with nutmeg grated over the top. About 2.0 UK units. It contains milk. Milk punch is old. By the Oxford Companion’s account it was first recorded in 1688, the earliest written recipe is from a 1711 cookbook, and in 1763 Benjamin Franklin wrote down a method that added brandy and lemon to hot milk so it curdled and could be strained clear. The quick, cloudy version here is the one the American South kept: it is common in New Orleans and traditional at Christmas across the Deep South. Whole milk is the choice that matters. It carries the brandy and the vanilla and stays light, where cream would turn the glass into dessert. The nutmeg reaches the nose first, so grate it fresh.
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 19 October 2026