An egg cream is a classic New York City beverage consisting of chocolate syrup (Almost always Fox's U-bet chocolate syrup.), milk, and seltzer (soda water), probably dating from the late 19th century, and is especially associated with Brooklyn. It contains neither eggs nor cream. The name is probably derived from the white frothy head on the drink, which resembles whipped egg whites.
Though almost universally made with chocolate syrup, they were sometimes requested with other flavors, especially vanilla or strawberry.
The egg cream is almost exclusively a fountain drink; although there have been several attempts to bottle it none have been wholly successful, as its fresh taste and characteristic head requires mixing of the ingredients just before drinking. The drink could be described as a "poor man's ice cream soda," as it has a similar overall flavor, but traditionally sold for only a slight premium over an ordinary fountain soda.
According to the Fox's U-bet chocolate syrup website, the recipe for "the original Brooklyn Egg-Cream" is:
- 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
Lou Reed, in his song "Egg Cream" from the album Set the Twilight Reeling, describes it thus:
- "When I was a young man—no bigger than this
- A chocolate egg cream was not to be missed
- Some U-Bet's Chocolate Syrup, seltzer water mixed with milk
- Stir it up into a heady fro—tasted just like silk
- You scream, I steam, We all want Egg Cream"
Also, in the Louise Fitzhugh book Harriet the Spy, an egg cream is Harriet's favourite drink, and she often had one while reviewing her case files in a diner.