on Sep 2nd, 2007The last egg cream
If I were a real New Englander –Â and many who are say I never will be and they’re probably right — I’d be making a pot of baked beans this weekend. No, I’m proof that you can take the woman out of New York, but you can’t take New York out of the woman. So I’m making the summer’s last egg cream.
It’s the quintessential New York summer drink, oddly-named since it has neither egg nor cream. It’s just three ingredients: seltzer water, whole milk and Fox’s U-bet chocolate syrup. It has to be U-bet. Has to. Nothing else tastes like it.
I’m struggling to describe what sets it apart from other chocolate syrups and the best I can do is that it’s not sickly sweet and has a more grownup taste. Fox’s of Brooklyn has been around for more than 100 years and even though the company makes other syrups and products, this is the one it’s known for. The Brooklyn Bridge opened in 1903 and the egg cream soon followed. It was a fountain drink but who really invented it is debated. Apparently at one point it did use eggs and NYCvisit.com says it had whites to make it more frothy.
It wasn’t till the 1930’s that U-bet was added to the Fox syrup’s name. David Fox, grandson of founder Herman Fox, has said his grandfather went to Texas as an oilcatter and returned home without any oil but with a new expression: “You bet.”
The company’s official recipe follows, and even though it stresses seltzer from a pressurized siphon, I certainly don’t have one and make do with bottled seltzer, being sure to buy a brand that’s pressurized enough to carry a warning on the label to open it away from faces because the cap might fly off.  Not all brands have that. The syrup is widely available, but supermarkets don’t agree where to shelve it; I’ve seen it with ice cream toppings, other chocolate syrups and in the Kosher section. It is Kosher for Passover.
And if you’ve been searching for a seltzer siphon, Fante’s Kitchen Wares still sells them and the rechargers. They’re on the Useful Links page.
The Original Brooklyn Egg Cream
Take a tall, chilled, straight-sided, 8oz. glass
Spoon 1 inch of U-bet Chocolate syrup into glass*
Add 1 inch whole milk
Tilt the glass and spray seltzer (from a pressurized cylinder only) off a spoon, to make a big chocolate head
Stir, Drink, Enjoy
*Until a few years ago this was sold in a glass jar, so just squeeze away. ella
Wow Thank you so much for that I have always wondered about egg cream. I live in Dublin Ireland but will be trying very hard to get my hands on those ingredients and make some. Thanks again.
Laura
This was truly fascinating. I’ve always wondered about egg cream. And although we don’t have U-bet here in Canada I’m going to add this to my husband’s “let’s try to make it” list.
P.S. In your third paragraph the link to NYCvisit.com is invalid.
Eek! Link fixed..thank you! Glad you enjoyed it and if you ever order from Amazon US I think they sell it. (I’ve gotten my Canadian neighbors hooked on egg creams.)
@The Distant Rambler - Failte. I lived in Dublin for a time and loved it. I know there’s a Jewish population in Dublin; perhaps there’s an import store?