Sherry and Egg

A raw-egg cordial of the sort that filled sickroom and saloon alike before refrigeration and before anyone knew what Salmonella was. It cannot be recommended today, and the reasons are specific to this drink.

• The egg is never cookedNothing here brings the yolk to a temperature that kills pathogens. A raw shell egg can carry Salmonella enterica on the shell and, less often, inside the yolk itself, and neither sherry nor time in the glass reliably reduces it.
• Alcohol is not a sterilant hereSherry runs roughly 15 to 20 percent alcohol by volume, and a pour over a single yolk dilutes further. That is far below the concentration and contact time that would matter, so the wine offers no protection at all.
• Who was drinking itPick-me-ups like this were pressed on invalids, the elderly and children — precisely the groups for whom a raw-egg drink carries the greatest risk of serious illness. If someone wants an eggnog-style drink today, use a current recipe built on pasteurised egg or a cooked custard base.
• "A drink of sherry"An unmeasured pour. The book gives no vessel and no measure; a small wine or sherry glass of a couple of ounces is the likeliest intent, but that is inference, not instruction.
• Yolk without whiteThe recipe specifies the yolk alone and unbroken. Keeping it whole is the only real technique here; the usual explanation is that a whole yolk slides intact while the white would string in the wine, though the book does not say so.
• Sherry, then and nowThe recipe does not specify a style, so any assumption about dry versus sweet is guesswork. Cooking sherry, which is salted, was never intended for drinking.