Tom and Jerry

By John, 11 November, 2023
Description

"Tom and Jerry hot cocktail"This old chestnut used to be enormously popular, and many homes had their own special Tom and Jerry bowls and mugs to bring out at Christmastime. 

A Tom and Jerry bowl? Where does the bowl come in? 

This is a complicated hot drink, requiring preparation and equipment, but it's worth it. You start by boiling a kettle of water and warming some glasses. Then you have to whip up some egg whites, and the yolks with sugar and spices, then you mix that part together in your Tom and Jerry bowl and put a spoonful into each warm glass, and then you can add the brandy and the rum (both), and finally the hot water and a sprinkle of nutmeg. 

Well, that's a lot, but most of it is in mixing up the Tom and Jerry batter, which you can do ahead of time and have it ready and waiting in your Tom and Jerry bowl for when your guests arrive. You can see that this would be a lot of work to make a single drink, and no more work to mix it up for six people or a whole party.

Yield
6 Servings
Preparation time
20 minutes
Cooking time
0 minutes
Total time
20 minutes
Ingredients
2 Egg Whites (whipped stiff)
1⁄8 t Cream of Tartar
2 Egg Yolk
2 T Powdered Sugar
2 pn ground cinnamon
2 pn ground cloves
3 pn ground nutmeg
1⁄2 oz Wray and Nephew Overproof Rum
9 oz Cognac (or brandy)
3 oz Dark Rum (Not black rum, use Jamaican or Mount Gay)
Instructions
  1. Put a kettle of water on to boil.
  2. If you will be serving in Toddy glasses, fill them with hot tap water to warm up while you prepare the batter. This is not necessary if you will serve in coffee cups.
  3. Mix the egg whites with the Cream of Tartar and whip until stiff.
  4. In another bowl, mix the yolks with the sugar and spices, then add the overproof rum.
  5. Combine the whites and the yolk mixture. This is your Tom and Jerry batter. Put it in a decorative bowl.
  6. To make the drinks, empty the hot water from the glasses, if you are using them.  
  7. Spoon two tablespoons of the batter into each glass.
  8. Put 1.5 oz of Cognac and half an ounce of rum in each glass. If you prefer, you can mix the spirits and put 2oz (1/4 cup) in each glass. Stir to mix.
  9. Add 2-3 oz water from the kettle to each glass.
  10. Sprinkle with nutmeg and serve hot.
Notes

Some people use hot milk instead of water, or a mix of both.

As you can see from the photo, it's not a very pretty drink, so it's fine to serve it in a coffee cup or a tea cup.

Source

Traditional