Christmas drinks
‘With all these winter warming delights available to the kitchen alchemist, you can bring a glow to those hard winter days ahead’
The cold days of winter come with their own pleasures: afternoon walks in the crisp air under a low sun; gathering berries from hedgerows; listening to your footsteps on hoar-frosted grass and, deep in winter, enjoying the snow. Coming in fromthe cold after outdoor pursuits like these calls for the welcome of a glass of something hot, and preferably alcoholic. Sitting in front of a blazing fire, making toast on toasting forks and drinking a glass of mulled wine is the stuff of which our winter traditions are made. There’s no hot drink more typical of Ireland than Irish coffee.We all know it
and most of us love it. As a wise man once remarked, an Irish coffee is the only drink to combine four essential food groups – sugar, fat, alcohol and caffeine. Certainly when it comes to winter warmth it’s a hard drink to beat.
Mulled wine Although Ireland isn’t a wine-producing country, we still have a long tradition of mulled wine. A traditional mulled wine recipe, reputedly Dr Johnson’s favourite, is made like this. Take a bottle of decent claret and pour it into a stainless steel pot. Add one thinly sliced orange, 12 sugar cubes and six cloves. Bring it nearly to the boil and then stir in one pint of boiling water, a quarter pint of orange curaçao and a quarter pint of brandy. Take it off the heat and warm a punch bowl by washing it in very hot water. Pour in the punch and serve it in wine glasses with a pinch of grated nutmeg in each. Tomake a simpler variation, often known as Glühwein, put a litre of red wine
into a pot with four slices of lemon, each studded with two cloves. Add three cinnamon sticks and four tablespoons of caster sugar, stirring the mixture over a moderate heat with a wooden spoon until almost boiling. Strain off the Glühwein and serve it in mugs.
Winter 2010 Irish Director 79
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