Carlos’ Countdown ’Til Christmas (2)

2 days until Christmas. The countdown continues.

Oh, how I love Mulled Wine. Or Glögg, which is what it’s called in my mother tongue.

Every year I would drinks litres of this stuff, sometimes mixing it with vodka, sometimes just enjoying it as is. The store bought Glögg you find in any store in Finland doesn’t contain any alcohol—shocking I know!—and could easily be heated and mixed with vodka for a very Merry Super-Jolly Christmas.

Here though, all the Mulled Wine I find already has alcohol in it which means—

Well. I’m not really sure what it means, I mean, I could still have vodka in it if I—or you—wanted to but for this recipe, let’s just not. We can still add it later anyway, which would be preferable since we wouldn’t want to heat vodka too much.

But that’s enough of that, now let’s make some Glögg.

This recipe comes courtesy of Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management, the revised edition dated 1869, which is quite an interesting book that we actually have.¹

1961.-TO MULL WINE. INGREDIENTS.- To every pint (500 ml) of wine allow 1 large cupful of water, sugar and spice to taste.

Mode.-In making preparations like the above, it is very difficult to give the exact proportions of ingredients like sugar and spice, as what quantity might suit one person would be to another quite distasteful. Boil the spice in the water until the flavour is extracted, then add the wine and sugar, and bring the whole to the boiling-point, then serve with strips of crisp dry toast, or with biscuits. The spices usually used for mulled wine are cloves, grated nutmeg, and cinnamon or mace. Any kind of wine may be mulled, but port and claret are those usually selected for the purpose; and the latter requires a very large proportion of sugar. The vessel that the wine is boiled in must be delicately cleaned, and should be kept exclusively for the purpose. Small tin warmers may be purchased for a trifle, which are more suitable than saucepans, as, if the latter are not scrupulously clean; they spoil the wine, by imparting to it a very disagreeable flavour. These warmers should be used for no other purpose. Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management, 1869