“‘But punch, my dear Copperfield,’ said Mr. Micawber, tasting it, ‘like time and tide, waits for no man.'” -Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, 1850.
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Category: Drinks
Strawberry Vinegar and Effervescing Fruit Drinks
Fruit vinegars, also known as shrubs, were a popular way to conserve fruit in the 19th century. This version comes from Catharine Beecher, an educator, writer, and social activist, and older sister of Harriet Beecher Stowe.
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To Mull Wine
“ ‘He has given us plenty of merriment, I am sure,’ said Fred, ‘and it would be ungrateful not to drink his health. Here is a glass of mulled wine ready to our hand at the moment; and I say, “Uncle Scrooge!”…a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to the old man, whatever he is!’ ” -Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, 1843.
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Cider Punch
This punch recipe comes from Henrietta Nesbitt’s The Presidential Cookbook: Feeding the Roosevelts and Their Guests. Mrs. Nesbitt served as Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt’s housekeeper in the White House for 13 years. She writes in her chapter on teas and punches that two hundred guests would be considered a small tea party for Eleanor Roosevelt – many White House teas would include over a thousand guests. “When the guest list reaches the thousand mark…the only solution is fruit punch, and plenty of it.”
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Sherry Cobbler
“‘This wonderful invention, sir,’ said Mark, tenderly patting the empty glass, ‘is called a cobbler. Sherry cobbler when you name it long; cobbler, when you name it short.'” – from Martin Chuzzlewit, Charles Dickens, 1844
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Everlasting Syllabub
This is another version of syllabub from Hannah Glasse’s The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy. Although it contains the same basic ingredients as Whipped Syllabub, this version gives up all pretense of being a drink and commits fully to being a dessert. It’s basically alcoholic whipped cream, eaten with a spoon.
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Whipped Syllabub
Syllabub was a popular dessert drink in England from the 16th to the mid-19th century. There are a few different ways to make it; in early versions, a cow was milked directly into the mixture to make it foamy.
Since I am lacking a cow, I’ll be making whipped syllabub, a variation from Hannah Glasse’s 1747 book The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy. The whole book is available on archive.org. The full title of her book, by the way, is The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy: Which Far Exceeds Any Thing of the Kind Ever Yet Published. So modest. So humble.
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History in the Making 