Surprisingly, the few shifts I have done at 99 recently have seen a higher-than-expected number of patrons asking for a warm festive drink. As an experiment, a small batch of mulled wine was hand-crafted in the kitchen. It proceeded to sell very well leading us to devise a warm festive menu for this Sunday’s Corpse & Cocktail.
All over the world, different cultures have some sort of variation of mulled wine. The Germans have glühwein, the Croats kuhano vino and the Swedish, Glögg. It is Glögg that we will be serving on the menu this Sunday. Like many of these drinks, there is no set recipe and you really can experiment with a variety of fruits, spices and alcohol to obtain wonderful results. Use the following recipe as a guide rather than one to follow to the letter:
Glögg
(taken from “Swedish Recipes Old and New” by Lesley Jacobs Solmonson, 1955)
15 Blanched Almonds
0.5 Cup Raisins
4 Cups Red Wine (Australian Shiraz recommended)
4 Cardamom Pods
3 Whole Cloves
1.5 inch stick Cinnamon
0.25 Cup mix of Dried Apricots and Candied Orange Peel (see below)
0.75 Cup Brown Sugar (Demerara Sugar)
Peel of one-quarter Orange
1 Cup Martell VSOP
Add the almonds and raisins to the wine. Break open the cardamom pods. Add cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, raisins, candied orange peels, and dried apricots to a cheesecloth bag, tie closed, and add to the wine.
In a separate bowl, cover orange peel with the sugar.
Let all of the above stand overnight.
The next day: Heat wine mixture slowly to simmering. Do not allow to boil. Stir in sugar and orange peels until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat. Stir in brandy. Remove cheesecloth bag.
Ignite liquid, allowing it to burn for a 1 or 2 seconds, then extinguish (you do not want to burn off the alcohol completely) by covering the pot.
Remove orange peels if Glӧgg is going to sit for more than a few hours. Serve warm with a few raisins and almonds in the bottom of the glass.
Thanks to 12bottlebar.com for this. God Jul (Merry Christmas).
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