An EMAIL swap for our indulgence

An Original Receipt from our beloved era:-

An Excellent Method of Making Punch

"Take two large lemons with rough skins, quite ripe, & some large lumps of double-refined sugar, rub the sugar all over the lemons til it has absorbed all the yellow part of the skins; Then put into the bowls these lumps & as much more as the juice of the lemons may be supposed to require... Then squeeze the lemon-juice upon the sugar: & with a bruiser press the sugar & juice particularly well together, for a great deal of the richness and fine flavour of the punch depends on this rubbing and mixing process being thoroughly performed. Then mix this up 'very well' with boiling water (soft water is best), til the whole is rather cool. When this mixture - (which is now called the sherbet) is to your taste, take brandy and rum in equal quantities, and put them to it, mixing the whole well together again. The quantity of liquor must be according to your taste...this depends much on taste and on the strength of the spirit. As the pulp is disagreeable to some persons, the sherbet may be strained before the liquor is put in,...as when the sherbet & liquor are well mixed in it adds to the richness of the punch.
When only the rum is used, a half pint of porter is enough to soften the flavour well. And even when both rum and brandy are used, the porter gives a richness and to some a pleasant flavour."
Mrs Rundall's "Art of Cooking" 1806

I have broken this receipt down to present day standards.

Mixing bowl & pounder or mortar & pestle, punchbowl. Take one lemon and finely grate the yellow part into bowl, add ¼ to ½ cup of caster sugar (superfine) & pound the two together until sugar is quite yellow. Squeeze the juice of the lemon (remove pips).
Pound again the juice & sugar together until well combined. Add boiling water to this enough to pound the mixture to gain strong pungency & disolved sugar = sherbet. Add a good splash or contents of mini bottles (50ml/1.5 fl oz) of brandy and rum and as much port as desired. Port is a gentle warm fruity flavoured fortified wine, that is the basis of most old fashioned punches. If Port is not liked, a cream Sherry is an excellent substitute. Heat the mixture with more boiling water to make up your punch bowl. Stir well. Adjust taste to suit. Serve hot in winter and iced in Summer. For a Festive touch, add in 2 sticks of cinnamon, 3 cardamon pods & 5 whole cloves, .....

"Votre Sante`, and good health to all!"

THE SWAP:-

You will each have ONE partner to share your photographs of the punch you've made for your recipe. Do make a delightful concerted effort to dress up the table and make it look as if we were attending a Georgian - Regency small party of friends.
Along with the made up punch write to your partner a few lines in your Characters voice where they drank the punch, who came etc.
And also in your own voice of how it went for you while making it, what you thought of the flavour and if you might make it again. We would love to hear your results and thoughts on the forum under the Topic "Era Recipe Chatter" as we all love to share our saga's in the kitchen, both successes and not so favourable though we have not had too many of the latter which is eyebrow raising and pleasantly surprising.

May you have a delightful celebration whilst trying out this punch. This is an EMAIL swap to ONE partner, send photos of your punch, the table setting, and the few lines of in character, and your own voice. I've given a long send by, to try out the receipt upon your family and friends over the festive season.

Not into alcohol? Then try it with a non-alcoholic bottle of red wine or cordial like lemon lime and bitters for a similar colour taste.

There you are an easy swap to indulge your fancies.
Salute`

as always please contact us for any queries.