Jewish actress Pauline Chalamet — one of the stars of the hilarious “Sex Lives of College Girls,” sister to Timothée and brand new mom — recently shared a list of things she recommends with the newsletter Perfectly Imperfect. One of those things was a tip that felt more than a little Jewish mom-coded:
“Cutting an onion in two and putting it under your bed when you start to feel sick. It really works. Yes, your room will smell like onion. But you’ll hopefully stave off that cold. (Best to use a new onion every night or reslice the original onion. Basically you want there to be onion juice evaporating in the air.)”
This hack, which I might be desperate enough to try this flu season, got me thinking about another Jewish mom sick day classic: gogol mogol, a mix of warm milk, raw eggs and sometimes honey, butter or a glug of rum or whisky.
Personally, I learned about gogol mogol through the press surrounding Barbra Streisand’s 2023 memoir “My Name is Barbra.” In the book, Babs writes that in 1960, her mother saw her set at New York City nightclub the Bon Soir, criticized her voice and told her she needed a “guggle-muggle.”
“That was a horrible concoction she used to make for me with warm chocolate milk and a raw egg, to fatten me up,” writes Streisand.
Babs wasn’t the only Jewish kid drinking gogol mogol at any sign of an ailment, but no one is clear where the drink originated. Its name is thought to be Yiddish (guggle muggle), Polish (kogel mogel) or Russian (gogol mogl), and is known as a classic Ashkenazi elixir. But food writer Sonya Sanford writes that it may have Sephardic roots, as the 16th-century Sephardic Jewish code of law states, in its section on caring for the sick on Shabbat, that one can strengthen their voice on Shabbat with raw egg or sweet syrup. In an interview with NPR, Yiddish teacher and Jewish food researcher Eve Jochnowitz says, “It seems to be one of those things — like chicken soup — it’s always been there.”
No offense to our Jewish ancestors, but no one on the Kveller team is excited to try this. Many of our readers, however, drank — or were forced to drink — this magic Jewish elixir as children. Did it work? Should we all be whipping up a batch of raw eggs this cold and flu season? Here are their thoughts:
Team gogol mogol:
My mom used to make this for us. I suppose it worked because I’m still here and in good shape for an almost 85-year-old. —Dee
It works. Doesn’t taste bad either. Try it — you might like it. It brings up the mucus.
My mother used to make it for every sick occasion and so as a child, I was always pretending to be ill. You have to make it with rum.
The milk is boiled first which in turn cooks the egg — so the eggs are not raw. With some sugar this drink is delicious.
My mother made the drink for me many times when sick as a child. She used egg yolks, milk and sugar and then heated it up. I don’t remember if it helped me feel better, but I do remember liking it. —Diane
My dad used to make this for me. He would make a chocolate milk version and I always felt betrayed because there would be egg slime in it. Still, it was comforting to have him bring me something to make me feel better. —Stacey
I love gogol-mogol. In my family we add a teaspoon of cocoa powder. Don’t need to be sick to enjoy! —Tanya
I ate far too much of this as a kid thanks to my Russian grandma. We would beat egg yolks and sugar, eat globs of it and wash it down with hot milk. (I’m like, 99.9% certain that this is why I’m an adult addicted to zabaglione.) My mom used to yell at my grandparents that my kishkes would get stuck together from all that sugar. —Ilona
My father used to make this for us when we had a bad sore throat or cough — and it worked! My parents were both Polish Holocaust survivors. It was something their parents made for them, and it helped us feel better. (It was quite the thing since my father never did any other caregiving for us. He worked long hard hours and came home late and exhausted.)
Team no thank you:
From the age of 13 to 17 my parents paid me to drink a guggle muggle. —Saul
Gogol mogol remedy survivor here. If I remember correctly, gotta chug it while piping hot! I really hated it. —Maya
My mom offered us a gogol mogul with every cold. The reason I say offered is because my brother accepted — I didn’t. —Linda
My grandmother would prepare a version of this that was definitely spiked with some mysterious alcohol. I never thought of it as an exotic drink or a tempting dessert, but more as a powerful incentive to stay healthy. —Cori
I remember my parents mixing up such a concoction (my father was a Holocaust survivor from Latvia and my mother was born on the Lower East Side), but I do not recall ever drinking it. My parents also ate p’chai and fricassee made with “pupiks and chicken feet.” Yuck to all of these “delicacies!” —Anita
At the age of 6, I contracted the whooping cough. My mother made me drink a gogel mogel every day to alleviate the cough. There was no vaccine available at that time. Yuck! —Ann
And a gogol mogol variation we might actually try:
This also sounds like a remedy for weak nails: soak hands in egg yolks, milk and honey!
