Mulled Wine

Ingredients:
1 bottle of Port
1 cup Water
1/2 cup Brandy
1/2 – 3/4 cup Granulated Sugar
1 medium sized Orange, sliced horizontally
2 Cinnamon Sticks
6-8 whole Cloves
1 Allspice Pod
1/2 tsp Mace

Directions:

• In a large Saucepan, heat the Wine, Water, Brandy, and Sugar on low-medium heat until Sugar is dissolved. Never allow to boil.
• Add the Orange, and Spices  and let steep on low heat for 1 hour.
• Serve Warm, strained.

Serves 12

NOTES: This English Mulled Wine recipe is my interpretation of Mrs. Beeton’s, as listed on paragraph 1961 of Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management, a Victorian guide to everything in the house with etiquette, tips, and recipes. I prefer to add Brandy to any mulled wine, as well as Orange for some citrus overtones. You can use a different Red wine than Port, but you’ll probably need more sugar. Her recipe is as follows:

1961.-TO MULL WINE.

INGREDIENTS.- To every pint 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, when 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.

Variations:
Glögg / Gløgg
Finnish Glögi
Glühwein