Since we are on the threshold of the so called season to be jolly, which in reality, as families reunite for the holidays, is a period of heightened agitation and collective irritation, mitigated only by the consumption of vast amounts of alcohol that facilitate the requisite merriment, I couldn’t think of a better recipe to present to you this week.
I myself am not a fan of mulled wine, yet was forced to unearth a recipe upon the request of my late father who delighted in the idea that I produce an alcoholic drink I could, or would not consume; needless to say I am a legendary lightweight with a very large appetite and immensely low tolerance for liquor, the consequences of which have frequently landed me in quite a soup, if not in the soup itself at many a sit down dinner party.
But without much further ado, I give you this very precise recipe that is astonishingly easy to prepare, its startling effect wholly disproportionate to its incontestable modesty … as Leonardo Da Vinci once said, “Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication”, which in fact is the quote I used by way of introduction to an essay I once wrote, titled, ‘The Frightful Duplicity of Language’.
Ingredients
YIELD: 4 GLASSES
- 1 bottle red wine (make it a decent one to avoid an unseemly hangover, but don’t waste your vintage stuff on this either … I have used a humble, but not obsequious Chateauneuf-du-Pape)
- ¼ cup brandy (preferably French cognac and not local Honey Bee, but not an expensive XO either for it is a waste)
- 10 cloves
- 3 cinnamon sticks
- 1 teaspoon ginger powder
- ⅓ cup solar brown sugar
- 1 peeled and segmented orange
Method
First and foremost gather together all your ingredients (IMAGE 1), then simply place the wine, brandy, cloves, cinnamon sticks, ginger powder and brown sugar in a large pot (STEP 1), then peel your orange, separate the segments and remove as much of the white pith as you are able to without tearing the orange (STEPS 2 & 3), add them to the wine (STEP 4), place the pot over medium heat (STEP 5), once it has come to a simmer, give it a stir (STEP 6), then turn down the heat to low and let it simmer for 20 mins (STEP 7).
Now, using tongs, lift one orange segment out at a time and place it in each glass (STEP 8), then ladle the wine in (STEPS 9 & 10 – if you wish to sieve it to remove the cloves and cinnamon, go ahead, but I quite like to leave them in), and voila, serve this heavenly nectar to warm yourself and your guests in what is a habitually aggressive Delhi winter (FINAL IMAGE).
Above: Final Image