ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
Now a brief nod to nog, eggnog, the holiday drink some people love to hate.
MARIA DEL MAR SACASA: Do you politely refuse and make up a dairy allergy or say you're not drinking? Or are you wondering this woman has completely lost it, and is she trying to poison me?
SIEGEL: That's Maria del Mar Sacasa, author of "Winter Cocktails." Earlier this week, she gave us her eggnog recipe to win over those haters, a freshly mixed pumpkin eggnog.
SACASA: This tastes like melted ice cream. It does; I promise.
SIEGEL: Unfortunately, her eggthusiasm did not infect all of you. Listener Mike Gorman(ph) of Buffalo, New York, writes: To paraphrase Samuel Johnson's comment on cucumbers, eggnog should be mixed, chilled and then thrown out as good for nothing. Dan Brooks(ph), a dairy farmer in West Polid(ph), Vermont, does like a good eggnog, but it's got to be fresh. Over at our website, he writes this: We use raw milk, raw cream and fresh raw eggs from our own chickens. The whiskey, however, is pasteurized.
And finally Gregory Swim(ph) of Long Beach, California, suggests turning to a classic for your nog preparations. He writes this: There is no finer eggnog than the recipe to be found in "The Joy of Cooking." As ever with this Bible primer of great cooking, the recipe addresses concerns you wouldn't even anticipate, instructing the maker to let the mixed yolks, sugar and liquor sit for an hour to dispel the eggy taste. This luscious nog is really a bit of liquid heaven, how appropriate for the season.
Well, whether you're raising a glass to us or turning up your nose right now, we want to hear from you. You can write to us at our website, npr.org. Just click on contact at the very bottom of the page. You are listening to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.