Ottawa Foodies

re: poultry eggs and salmonella, Canada's egg supply is highly regulated and rarely has outbreaks of salmonella poisoning due to undercooked egg product. It's something that is more commonly found in Europe (Spain & Portugal in particular), from what I understand. Many people "coddle" eggs thinking this is pasteurization, alas, they would be wrong in thinking so since this method rarely gets the egg to the required temp to kill off the bacteria. Just my 2 cents.

Oh yeah, I LOVE eggnog. I'm going to buy some of that bomb-shelter (the kind that doesn't need to be refrigerated) eggnog the next time I hit Loblaws. I think I already said that, but I'll report back to you guys when I have some. Happy holidays!

Thanks FF! I'll check my local Loblaws before heading to the other end of the city.

Zym - Was the salmonella thing directed at me? I just think drinking eggs is gross, it has nothing to do with salmonella.

I dunno whether or not it's true, but someone told me recently that quail eggs are not subject to salmonella. So if you are really concerned about this, you could make some eggnog with those. Though they are really tiny and expensive so you'd need quite a few. But the packages of "egg beaters" from the supermarket should be safe. Or you could just pasteurise yourself (not sure how to do that without the eggs setting, but I'm sure someone around here would know).

But my understanding is this : salmonella gets on the eggs shells and only gets into the egg inside when you crack the eggs. So if you carefully wash your eggs before using them (and check carefully for hairline cracks), it should be very safe to use them raw.

Tiana, I saw some Soy Nog just last night in the organics section of the College Square Loblaws (Baseline at Woodroffe).

A couple of years ago I found Soy Nog at Loeb and I was so happy! The thought of drinking eggs grosses me right out. Last year I couldn't find any :( If anyone spots some, let me know!

FiH: Let us know how it turns out! I made my own last year. It was easy and delicious... much better than any of the store bought brands that I'd had before!

Am I the only one that finds the name a little off-putting? I wouldn't drink it for years just because I couldn't wrap my head around it. (I was a very picky child / teenager.) And the French name only made things worse: "lait de poule", or chicken's milk!

I'm going to attempt making my own eggnog this year - I'll let you know how it turns out! As for spirits in eggnog, it's all about rum for me.

Ahh eggnog. I'm a fan of Neilson's carton eggnog. I'm especially curious to try the PC stuff that doesn't need to be put in the fridge. Personally, mixing a spiced dark rum of any sort makes my eggnog a happy thing. Perhaps a little brandy as well.

Coworkers of mine swear by the eggnog they sell at Aubreys (vendor 1391) I was told it has to be ordered in advance, so it must be good! If anyone could share their review I'd appreciate it.

On another note - what's everyone's favorite spirit to mix w/ eggnog? I'm a fan of Appleton rum or Southern Comfort.

So... we all know where to get cartons of eggnog, but the brands all taste so different.

I'd appreciate any help from eggnog aficionados on the topic. Which brands are best and where do we find them?

I don't like eggnog... except this one. I don't know if its the nog-to-egg ratio but man is it good.

I didn't know about the bottle deposit... to bad, I could have saved up the bottles and brought them back to exchange for another eggnog.

Personally, its by far and away the best eggnog I've ever had. I've never made homemade eggnog nor have I had ever had homemade eggnog so I can't say how it compares to others.

I would like to add a comment in light of zymurgist's comments on the deposit.

With regards to the deposit. I have bought the eggnog lots over the years and what I was always told, by Aubrey's owner (Brian if I remember correctly) was that Cochrane dairy had a deposit on the bottles to ensure they got them back as they have ran into shortages in the past. They now use plastic bottles but up until Christmas 2006 (I think it was then), they used old fashioned glass milk bottles. At that time, I believe the deposit was $3 per bottle.

I am a semi-regular at Aubreys - meaning I buy almost all of my good quality meat there (say 15-20 visits per year), and it would strike me as odd for them to do what zymurgist recounted. I am not doubting at all that someone said that, I am just curious if it was one of their core employees or a new or temporary one. It would be very out of character for them in my experience. .

Cheers

I bought some of this when I was down buying my thanksgiving turkey this year. Yup, it's really good, but I cannot say it was significantly better than anything else I've ever had. Then again maybe I'm just not an eggnog feinschmecker. One thing I really didn't like was there is a $1 deposit on the container. The guy told me straight up that it's just a ploy to get me back into the store to return it. Pretty crappy if you ask me. And it didn't get me back, it just got me upset about the whole thing.