Terrific second-hand find for Christmas. It's Victorian Cups and Punches and Other Concoctions, published by Cassell in 1974. I like Cassell's cookery books from this period. Neat little numbers in hardback, charming Victorian engravings, thickish paper and lovely old-fashioned typography. I bought this for a trifling two pounds.
All sorts of goodies in this book: punches, cordials, cups, bishops, mulls, shrubs, cardinals, bishops, caudles, possetts, nightcaps and usquebachs. Some recipes, picked at random:
West Indian Sangaree
Crush four ounces of loaf sugar to powder, and pour upon it a large wine-glassful of lime-juice. Stir until the sugar is dissolved, then add a bottle of madeira, half a pint of pure French brandy, and two pints of cold spring water. Grate the fourth part of a small nutmeg over the sangaree, put a large lump of ice into it, and serve. Sponge cake or savoy biscuit is generally serverd with sangaree.
Mulled Ale
Put half a pint of ale, a clove, a little whole ginger, a piece of butter the size of a marble, and tea-spoonful of sugar, into a saucepan, and bring it to boiling point. Beat two eggs with a table-spoonful of cold ale, and pour the boiling ale into them, and into a large jug. Pass the whole from one jug into another for some minutes, and at a good height. Return it to the saucepan and heat it again, but do not allow it to boil. Time, a quarter of an hour. Probable cost 6d. Sufficient for one person.
Bishop Oxford Nightcap
Take two drachms each of cloves, mace, ginger, cinnamon and allspice, boil them for thirty minutes in half a pint of water, and strain. Put part of a bottle of port in a saucepan over the fire, add the spiced infusion and a roasted lemon stuck with six cloves. Take four ounces of sugar in lumps and grate over the outer rind of a small lemon, place them in a punch-bowl, and add the juice of a lemon, pour in the hot wine etc., then the remainder of the bottle of port, and serve. A Seville orange may be roasted instead of a lemon.
