Tom & Jerry

Steps

1. 1

   Drop the two egg yolks into your mixing bowl and add the superfine sugar, cloves, cinnamon, and allspice. Whisk them together vigorously for about a minute until the mix turns pale yellow and looks thick and paste-like.

   ~60s

   !Leaving lumps of sugar in the yolk mixture because you didn't whisk long enough.

2. 2

   In a second, clean bowl, pour in the two egg whites. Whip them hard with your whisk until they hit stiff peaks, meaning when you lift the whisk, the peaks stand straight up without flopping over.

   ~90s

   !Getting any yolk or fat in the whites, which stops them from whipping up.

3. 3

   Scoop the stiff egg whites into the yolk batter. Fold them together gently with your whisk or a spatula, scraping from the bottom up, until you see no more streaks of yellow. This airy batter is what makes the drink fluffy.

   ~30s

   !Stirring too hard and knocking all the air out of the egg whites.

4. 4

   Put two heaping tablespoons of your finished batter into a heavy mug. Pour the hot water over the batter and stir with your bar spoon until the batter dissolves into a smooth, spiced liquid.

   !Pouring cold water over the batter, which makes it clump instead of dissolve.

5. 5

   Pour the 60ml of dark rum into the mug, or split it 30ml rum and 30ml Cognac if you want a richer drink. Give it a quick stir to mix the spirit into the spiced liquid.

   !Adding the rum before the hot water, which can cook the batter unevenly.

6. 6

   Slowly pour the 180ml of steaming hot milk into the mug while stirring constantly. The drink will swell up with a thick foam cap on top as the hot milk hits the batter.

   !Pouring the milk too fast without stirring, which breaks the foam and leaves the drink flat.

7. 7

   Grate fresh nutmeg right over the foam cap on top of the drink. Serve it right away while it is still piping hot and the foam is thick.

   !Using pre-ground nutmeg, which tastes dusty and loses its oily aroma.