Tom and Jerry
The Tom and Jerry is eggnog rebuilt for a cold night: one egg separated and beaten into a batter, sweetened, spooned into a warm mug with cognac and dark rum, then raised into a foam under hot milk and grated nutmeg. The name is usually traced to Pierce Egan, the London journalist whose 1821 book Life in London followed Jerry Hawthorn and Corinthian Tom through the capital’s taverns; the drink, the story goes, was invented to promote it. Jerry Thomas printed the recipe in 1862 and claimed the invention for himself, but the chronology is against him: the drink was in print before he could walk. What is certain is that he made it famous, and that America adopted it hard enough that parts of the Midwest still treat the batter as a December staple, sold by the tub. The batter is the whole trick. Beaten white folded through ribboned yolk makes a foam sturdy enough to survive hot milk, so the drink arrives as a warm custard cloud rather than a milk punch. Two spirits share the base: cognac for polish, dark rum for depth.
Glassware: Irish Coffee Mug
Garnish: Freshly Grated Nutmeg Grated over the foam at the last moment
Ingredients
1, separated
The batter: white to soft peaks, yolk to ribbon, folded back together with the air kept in.
15ml
Sweetens the yolk and steadies the foam, which is most of what it does here. Fifteen millilitres is enough for one mug, since the milk brings its own faint sweetness and the drink is not meant to be a dessert.
30ml
Half the base, bringing orchard polish and keeping the drink from turning heavy under the egg and milk. VS or VSOP is plenty; the milk flattens anything more expensive than that.
30ml
The other half, bringing molasses depth that stays audible through milk and egg where a lighter rum would vanish. Wisconsin argues brandy against rum every December, and the even split is the version that tastes complete.
Hot, to top
Poured slowly and steaming, never boiled: it lifts the batter into the drink’s custard cloud.
Instructions
Warm a mug with hot water and empty it.
Separate the egg. Beat the white to soft peaks; whisk the yolk with the simple syrup until smooth and pale.
Fold the white into the yolk to make a light batter.
Spoon the batter into the warmed mug and add the cognac and dark rum.
Top with hot milk, poured slowly, stirring gently to lift the batter into a foam.
Grate nutmeg over the top.
Expert Tip
Warm the mug before the batter goes in. Cold ceramic seizes the foam on contact and the foam is the drink, so run hot water into the mug while you separate the egg and tip it out at the last moment. The batter is a timing problem more than a technique problem. Beaten white folded through ribboned yolk holds its air for a few hours in the fridge and slackens after that, so beat it shortly before people arrive rather than the night before, and give it a quick whisk if it has gone loose. Milk goes in hot and never boiled. Boiling scalds the egg and the drink arrives grainy instead of smooth, so heat it to steaming, pour it slowly down the side of the mug, and stir gently as the foam rises.
Behind the Tom and Jerry
Flavour Profile
The Origin
The usual story credits Pierce Egan, the London sporting journalist whose 1821 bestseller Life in London followed Corinthian Tom and Jerry Hawthorn through the capital’s taverns and gin shops. Egan, the telling goes, added brandy to eggnog and named the result after his heroes to keep the book in the public eye. The tale is repeated everywhere and verified nowhere, but the chronology fits: the drink was circulating within a few years of the book, on both sides of the Atlantic. Forty years later Jerry Thomas printed the recipe in How to Mix Drinks, his 1862 bartender’s manual, and claimed he had invented it himself. Historians side with Egan, since the drink was in print while Thomas was still a boy. What Thomas genuinely did was make it famous, installing the Tom and Jerry as a fixture of the American winter bar for the rest of the century.
The Batter
The batter is what separates this from eggnog. Separate the egg cleanly. The white is beaten to soft peaks, the yolk whisked with the sugar until smooth and pale, and the two folded back together into a loose, airy cream. Folded rather than stirred: the point is to keep the air in, because that trapped foam is what survives the hot milk and gives the finished drink its cloud of a texture. A batter that sits too long deflates, so build the drink while it still holds a peak.
The Two Spirits
Splitting the base between cognac and dark rum settles the drink’s oldest argument by compromise. Early printings called for brandy; the rum arrived with the American taverns that adopted it, and Thomas himself hedged with both. Each does distinct work at thirty millilitres: the cognac brings orchard polish and keeps the drink from turning heavy, the dark rum brings molasses depth that stands up through milk and egg. All brandy makes it politer, all rum makes it darker; the even split is the version that tastes complete.
The Midwest Chapter
The Tom and Jerry faded from most bar books after Prohibition, but it never left the upper Midwest. In Wisconsin and Minnesota it remains a December institution: taverns keep bowls of batter behind the bar, supermarkets sell it by the tub, and families argue brandy against rum with real feeling. The drink survives there for the same reason it was invented, a cold climate and a long winter, and the region’s German and Scandinavian punch traditions gave it a natural home.
How to Serve It
Warm the mug first with hot water and empty it; batter spooned into cold ceramic seizes and sinks. Batter, then spirits, then hot milk poured slowly while you stir gently to lift the foam, and nutmeg grated over the top at the last moment. Jerry Thomas topped his with hot water, and purists can follow him for a lighter drink, but hot milk is the house serve: rounder, closer to custard, better against a dark evening. One egg makes one mug and the recipe scales honestly, so a bowl of batter beaten before guests arrive turns the drink into a December production line.
Make it at home
The Spirit
CognacGrape brandy from the Cognac region of western France, twice distilled in copper pot stills and aged in French oak. Ugni Blanc does nearly all the work, a thin acidic wine that makes poor drinking and excellent spirit, and the age classifications on the label are legally defined minimums.
Master the Techniques
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
Who invented the Tom and Jerry?
Can I make the batter ahead for a party?
Should a Tom and Jerry be topped with milk or water?
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