Egg Cream

The egg cream is New York’s most famous drink that contains neither egg nor cream — just chocolate syrup, cold milk, and seltzer, frothed into a tall, foamy glass that tastes like a chocolate soda’s refined older sibling. It was born in the Jewish soda fountains of Brooklyn and the Lower East Side in the early 1900s, and a properly made one is a thing of beauty: three distinct layers that you stir into perfection.

Why this recipe works: The magic is in the order and the seltzer. Chocolate syrup goes in first, then cold milk, then a blast of seltzer — poured hard so it churns the mixture into a thick, foamy head. The foam is the whole point: it lightens the drink and keeps it from being cloying. No egg, no cream, no ice — a true egg cream is served cold and straight up.

Key ingredients

• Chocolate syrup: Fox’s U-Bet is the canonical choice, but any quality chocolate syrup works.
• Cold whole milk: the creamier, the better.
• Seltzer: real seltzer from a siphon or bottle — not club soda, which is saltier.

Tips for the perfect egg cream

Chill the glass and the milk — an egg cream should be cold without ice, which would water it down. Pour 1 to 2 tablespoons of syrup into the glass, add cold milk to about two-thirds full, then shoot the seltzer in hard from height so it creates the foam; some fountain men use a spoon to direct the stream. Stir once or twice from the bottom to marble the chocolate through the milk, and drink immediately — the foam collapses within minutes.

Variations

Try vanilla or coffee syrup for a twist, or a chocolate-vanilla half-and-half, which is a beloved variation in some shops. There are no real leftovers to worry about — an egg cream is made to order and gone within minutes, which is exactly as it should be.

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