I am enjoing a "smart" eggnog

[_Keith]

What is your favorite holiday beverage?

One of mine is a "smart" eggnog. That is a glass of eggnog with a double shot of bourbon. Not sure where the "smart" came from. I heard it on an SNL skit and have been using the term ever since.

So, what is your holiday concoction?

[bgl]

Definitely glögg! When we introduce glögg to our (American) friends here and tell them it's red wine that's been heated (with additional ingredients) they're extremely suspicious, but after they taste it they can't get enough! Googled it and found this:

Glögg

Glögg is a Swedish drink for a cold winter evening (in July for instance if you’re in Australia). It is heated, spiced and sweetened wine, a bit like the German Glühwein. Below is a recipe, though maybe the measurements don’t make sense outside Sweden, and some of the ingredients may not be standard stock. But it will be nice even if it’s not exactly like the original, so it doesn’t really matter!

What to use:

3 sticks cinnamon

2-3 pieces dried Seville orange peel

2-3 pieces dried ginger (not ground)

some 10 cardamom seeds (whole)

some 10 cloves (whole)

1 cup (2.5dl) water

Also:

sugar

1 bottle of red wine (or similar amount of black currant or grape juice for a non-alcoholic alternative)

Some of these things are hard to find in some places, such as dried whole ginger (and how big is “a piece” anyway?). When in doubt, use fresh rather than powdered dry, as the powder makes it nigh well impossible to sieve/filter it all at – the whole thing just clogs up. If you can’t find dried peels of Seville orange (this has been known to happen), it is possible to substitute a smaller quantity of the thin orange part of the peel of an ordinary orange. In the end you’ll probably have substituted just about everything, but that will work too, I’ve tried it.

What to do:

Heat spices and water to boiling, then turn off heat and let stand overnight

Sieve/filter out the spices

Add the wine (or juice)

Add sugar to taste (that should be a minimum of one deciliter (=2/5 of a cup); we’re talking Swedish cooking here!). You probably have to heat it first so that the sugar dissolves, then see if you want to add some more

Heat. Note that alcohol evaporates at 72 degrees Celsius (or is it 78?) so you want to be a bit careful!

Some naughty people would spike the whole thing with a splash of vodka... (optional)

Serve hot with raisins and blanched almonds (dropped into the cups after serving). Glögg is normally served in tiny cups (the cups from your Turkish/Japanese/etc. souvenir tea set will be perfect), and some tiny spoons are useful for fishing out the raisins and almonds.

The socio-cultural context for glögg is either as a pre-dinner drink in the winter, or as a separate event, usually at about 4 or 5 pm, a bit like a cocktail party. On the side, pepparkakor is the kind of thing to nibble, but you’ll have to look for the recipe for them somewhere else!

The extract keeps very well (that’s why they used to sail all the way to Indonesia to get spices – they work as preservatives), so you can make more and keep it in a bottle, handy for whenever you fancy a glögg on a cold evening (which is probably only about four times in a season; it’s rather sweet); it will keep for at least a year.

Skål!

[John in Andalucia]

Bo,

That sounds like good old variation on Mulled Wine. I like the addition of the raisins and almonds.

Here is a recipie for Victorian Mulled Wine that we served up last Christmas.

* 1 bottle Sparkling Wine

* 140ml (1⁄4 pint) Blackcurrant Syrup

* 3 large Oranges

* 9 Cloves

* 1 Cinnamon Stick

* 1⁄2 tsp Ground Mace

* 1⁄2 tsp Ground Ginger

* Vodka or Gin to taste (optional)

* 285ml (1⁄2 pint) Fruit Juice (optional)

* Sugar to taste

1. Preheat oven to 180°C: 350°F: Gas 4.

2. Stick 3 cloves in each orange and place the whole oranges in a deep oven-proof dish, bake for around 20 minutes.

3. Slice the oranges into a bowl.

4. Heat the wine, but do not allow to boil, (adding the fruit juice if using) with the cinnamon, mace and ginger.

5. Add the blackcurrant syrup and the oranges and cloves and continue heating.

6. Sweeten to taste, then add the vodka or gin.

7. Serve immediately.

[oppalm]

love the eggnog and bourbon. I do believe you could just as easily make a "stoopid" eggnog by doubling that "double shot", making it a quadruple of bourbon. And if you are counting calories , forget the eggnog and just do the "quad of bourbon" no ice in a plastic tumbler. Now thats a holiday.

[Kim]

Ah, Glögg! In Balboa Park here in San Diego there is a celebration called "December Nights", formerly known as "Christmas on the Prado". (I'll gloss over that part.) The International Houses which have a permanent presence in the park all have food booths selling typical dishes: waffles with lingonberries from Norway, sausages from Poland, haggis from Scotland, you get the idea. The House of Sweden occupies the square in front of the Museum of Man and not only sells food, but also has a procession and songs featuring Swedish girls and boys dressed in traditional Christmas clothing, including one girl with lighted candles on her head.

Anyway, one of the more popular attractions is the glögg booth. This year it was walled off, and they had a limit as to the number of people permitted inside for a taste. We stood in line for awhile while our daughter was inside with her friends enjoying the flavor and warmth, but the line didn't budge so finally we gave up and went to the line for Swedish meatballs -- which was also very long, but at least moving! The fish open-faced sandwich line was considerably shorter....

Anyway, we never did get our glögg, so I thank you for the recipe, Bö! Perhaps we'll warm some up for Christmas Eve.

[bgl]

Kim,

Sorry to hear you never got to taste the glögg. When you get over here, we have to keep that in mind! And we never missed "Christmas on the Prado", as it was called when we lived in San Diego. The procession of girls dressed in white is the Sankta Lucia celebration, which in Sweden is always celebrated on December 13th. Way back when I lived in Sweden and worked for an airline, Transair Sweden, the first thing that happened on December 13 (assuming it was a weekday) was a procession of stewardesses as they were called then (flight attendants in today's language!), making their way through the office, dressed in white and with candles, and singing the Sankta Lucia song (which is actually from Sicily!). And then everybody drank glögg until we passed out...! No, I'm kidding, but we did drink enough to make us unfit to work for the rest of the day. Keep in mind, this was at 8 a.m.!

Bo-Göran

[Kim]

Kim,

Sorry to hear you never got to taste the glögg. When you get over here, we have to keep that in mind! And we never missed "Christmas on the Prado", as it was called when we lived in San Diego. The procession of girls dressed in white is the Sankta Lucia celebration, which in Sweden is always celebrated on December 13th. Way back when I lived in Sweden and worked for an airline, Transair Sweden, the first thing that happened on December 13 (assuming it was a weekday) was a procession of stewardesses as they were called then (flight attendants in today's language!), making their way through the office, dressed in white and with candles, and singing the Sankta Lucia song (which is actually from Sicily!). And then everybody drank glögg until we passed out...! No, I'm kidding, but we did drink enough to make us unfit to work for the rest of the day. Keep in mind, this was at 8 a.m.!

Bo-Göran

Bo,

You always have a good story! We'll take you up on your offer. (I cannot imagine you unfit to work at 8 a.m., even in your youth!)

[Wai`anae Steve]

Being retired and none religious I have no favorite drink for any particular time of the year.

Papa (born in Germany) may roll over in his grave, well not really as we scattered his ashed up in the valley, but......

I'm really in to GOOD ALE.....any time of the year and as cold as you can get it w/out it freezing.

Wai`anae Steve

[bgl]

Kim,

Well, maybe "unfit" was a bit of an exaggeration. Let's just say that with the continued consumption of glögg throughout the day, nobody was in a mood to get any serious work done. And that went from the President "all the way down". Another funny thing - I was only 16 when I started working there, and I was the youngest in the office for several years. Nobody, including my immediate boss, was particularly concerned about that! As a matter of fact, one of my most memorable moments was when my boss managed to spill a full cup of glögg down the sleeve of my longsleeved shirt. And the rest of the day was VERY sticky! (Plenty of sugar in glögg)

Bo-Göran

[SubTropicRay]

Anything with Rum works well this time of year.

[metalfan]

I love red wine, and I love mulled red wine! Its the best. I have a recipe for a mulled red wine sorbet that is out of this world! Its called "Gluwein". We are having a party on the 27th, I was planning to serve mulled wine. I think I will try your recipes!

[palmmermaid]

I like mulled wine, too! Something nice and big like Carbernet to start with.

Have you ever tried mead? It is some heady stuff! No wonder the old English loved it.

Whenever I have to take a punch to a party or have a winter party, I make a hot spiced tea. It is usually gone. I made 2 gallons for the Begonia Society Christmas party and didn't bring home any! I serve it in a crock pot - a great vessel to keep hot drinks hot.

Haven't had glog but have had grog! I am having a party on the 21st and may try out the recipe. I have most of the ingredients (spices at least).

[Salvades]

Cocito is by far my favorite Holiday drink. It is a Puerto Rican Tradition.

Give it a try, its very easy to make

CoCito recipe

1 pint coconut rum

1 can coconut milk

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 can cream of coconut

1 pint eggnog

1 dash cinnamon

1 dash nutmeg

Mix coconut milk, sweetened condensed milk, cream of coconut, cinnamon, nutmeg, and eggnog in blender and blend for 1 minute. Slowly pour in coconut rum and mix until desired strength.

Serve and Enjoy! We usually drink it out of small cups, like the ones used for expresso. Yum

Happy Holidays

[PalmGuyWC]

I love all of your exotic recipes and it sounds very delicious, but fattening. I do it the simple way, Vodka on the rocks and the results is the same, but with no hangover.

Dick