The New York Egg Cream

The egg cream is unique to New York and, for some reason, has not spread to other places. It's composed of seltzer water, two inches of chocolate syrup and two inches of whole milk mixed in a regular sized glass. Some purists insist on one kind of chocolate syrup or mixing the ingredients in a specific order. But whatever method you use, it should come out tasting like an ice cream soda; so egg creams are called "the poor man's ice cream soda." Here are two videos narrating how to mix a New York egg cream. Despite the name, there is neither egg nor cream in an egg cream. Speculation about how the name arose is diverse; perhaps as a corruption of another name; or perhaps at one time egg was actually used, as well as cream. I myself am not a purist and used to make egg creams with regular soda (preferably cream soda) mixed with the usual two inches of whole milk and chocolate syrup, pouring the milk last to control the foam.