Lifting the Spirits, winter warmers and hot Christmas drinks
Keep the cold out and your hands warm with these wonderful warming winter drinks.
Making drinks that warm the Christmas cockles is easy – if you have the ingredients and a few minutes to spare. What’s trickier is matching them with food, but a lifetime of research suggests certain pairings work well.
Hot Buttered Rum
In a mug or toddy glass (always warmed first) pour a generous measure of dark rum, or even better spiced rum; add a quail’s-egg-sized pat of unsalted butter and a tsp of sugar. Spice with grated nutmeg and ground cinnamon, and top up with boiling water. Stir so the butter melts, then drink while hot.
Food suggestion: This rich tipple needs something sweet and light to accompany it – Madeira Cake, or Madeleines (perfect for dipping).
Steaming Bishop
One for a party. In a medium-hot oven roast a lemon stuck with a clove or three for 20 minutes. Meanwhile heat 300ml of water with some whole (to avoid later cloudiness) spices to your taste: nutmeg, cinnamon, anise and allspice are all good. The water should reduce by about half. Add the roasted lemon and 3/4 of a bottle of ruby port. Get the mix hot but not boiling. Sweeten to taste with sugar, at least 2tbsps, then strain into a warmed punchbowl to serve.
Food suggestion: Dickens evidently loved Steaming Bishop, mentioning it in A Christmas Carol among other books. Fittingly it pairs perfectly with warm mince pies and Christmas cake. ‘Bishop’ refers to the purple colour by the way.
Hot Grog
A naval tradition, simple, warming, and it fights scurvy, huzzah! In a mug or toddy glass put a tsp of brown sugar, a tot of strong dark rum, the juice of half a lime, and three tots of boiling water. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Drink hot.
Food suggestion: This compliments a beefy stew or sizzling sausages - the lime cuts through fatty juices.
Whisky-all-in
The classic cold-cure. Put 2tsps of runny honey in a mug, pour in a good shot of whisky (ideally phenolic Laphroaig or Lagavulin – extravagant but this could be man-flu) and the juice of a lemon, and top up with four shots of boiling water. For stage-two man-flu add two cloves.
Food suggestion: Another drink that cuts through fattiness, and goes well with that culinary panacea the bacon butty - though not at breakfast.
Mulled Cider Cup
A fruitier (and cheaper) variation on mulled wine. Warm a litre of cider in a saucepan, with a whole orange cut into slices, and an apple in thin wedges. Add ½-a-tsp of ground nutmeg, sugar to taste (it depends on the sweetness of your cider), two cloves, and a dash of Angostura bitters. Simmer gently for 30 minutes to infuse the fruit and spices. Remove cloves before serving.
Food suggestion: This one cries out for more fruit, so apple pie, Claudia Roden’s Orange and Almond Cake, or Edd Kimber’s Orange and Passionfruit Cake would all do nicely.
What drinks warm your winter cockles?
Fancy another? Try these
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