Bombardino!

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A classic Italian high proof eggyolk amaro

For 500 mL of Zwack Unicum (I want to use Fernet but I’m using the Unicum because I have a bottle, I fear it, and I need to figure out how to use it. It has comparable sugar and alcohol content to Fernet)

Guides suggest a minimum of 14% alcohol which definitely won’t be a problem using Zwack Unicum or Fernet Branca. Guides also call for 140 g/L of egg yolks and 150 g/L of sugar. with a little bit of hydrometer work and some extrapolation we find that Zwack already rings in at 7 brix or so which may only be about 70 g/L (very impercise).

To make 500 mL:
70 g egg yolks (really five yolks @ 77.2 g)
50 g sugar
450 mL or so of amaro.
.5 g of vitamin c powder as an antioxidant

Dissolve the sugar first into the alcohol (with patience) then slowly integrate the alcohol into the egg yolks.

These are the recommended proportions of an old agricultural science manual. Upon tasting it, I like the new mouth feel and see a contribution from the yolks but I really feel I need more. (if not 7 more yolks!) At its present state I don’t see how the liqueur would hold its own to coffee. Seven more yolks will even probably increase the volume by less than 100 mL.

Another 103.7 g of egg yolks.

!! totally worth using the 175 g or so of yolks.

Because I’m making this really quickly, there is some undissolved sugar (due to a lack of patience) and maybe some burnt yolk from the initial high alcohol. Like in a zabaglione, I can get rid of most of this by passing it all through a fine strainer.

There is surprisingly quite a lot for the strainer to remove but the final product is pretty cool. Strong but tamed by the texture of the yolks. A ferocious amaro becomes much more approachable. Now lets see how long it will keep.

I have no coffee but it adds a delicious complexity to earl grey tea.

*****update*****

I managed to drink this with some coffee and it was a delicious rich alternate to cream with extra flavor contrast. I have not worked intimately with Advocaat and have no understanding of how stable it is, but I do notice little flecks of egg yolk separating and I fear it may be from alcohol levels being higher than is stable. The particles can be easily strained off but its not that aesthetically pleasing. Next time I may dilute the intensity of the alcohol with some water. Fernet is full flavored enough that water won’t harm it too much.

****update****

I was trying to make this drink for a small newspaper article on winter egg drinks. I didn’t use the fortified yolk liqueur but merely a quick zabaglione with four yolks, 2 table spoons of sugar, 2 oz. of Fernet, 2 oz. of white wine. the results were really great in hot coffee. Awesome flavor contrast and a certain richness. It even works well in iced coffee.

****update****

So many people search for a Bombardino recipe according to my blog statistics. Of course nearly no one comments on anything. What exactly are you looking for? and how do you know of the drink? Strangely, the drink is rather common on European restaurant menus relative to its obscurity here in America. Any insights on this tradition?

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