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Stay Warm Drink Recipes: Four Wassail Bowls

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Games grew up around the Yuletide bowl. For centuries Snapdragon has been played on Christmas Eve in every English shire. Remember the party at Dingley Bell and the great game of Snapdragon where fingers were burned aplenty? A handful or raisins are placed in a shallow dish, brandy is poured over, then ignited. The trick is to pick up the raisins through the flames. A hearty laugh goes around if the blue lapping tongue of the fire dragon sears a player’s finger. While the game proceeds, the song of the Snapdragon is sung by the circle of guests:

Here he come with a flaming bowl,
Don't he mean to take his toll!
Snap! Snap! Dragon!

and so on with infinite verses all to the honor of the dragon, traditional guardian spirit of the Wassail Bowl.

—Master Chef Louis P. De Gouy, The Gold Cook Book (1947)

WASSAIL ALE BOWL

1 quart ale
¼ oz grated nutmeg
¼ oz grated cinnamon
½ of a fifth bottle sherry wine
Juice and thinly pared peel of 1 lemon, peel cut into small pieces
Sugar
2 slices bread, each ½ inch thick, toasted
2 “well baked” apples

Bring ale “next to boiling” in a saucepan, or “until it foams,” remove from flame, and add nutmeg, cinnamon, sherry, lemon juice and rind, and sugar to taste. When sugar is dissolved, cover saucepan tightly and let infuse over “very, very low flame, but do not boil at all.” Pour mixture into a punch bowl. Float toast slices and apples in wassail. Serve in heated cups.

PURITAN HOLIDAY WASSAIL BOWL AND ALCOHOL VARIATION

“An old family recipe and one of the best.”—Winifred Green Cheney, The Southern Hospitality Cookbook (1976)

Makes about 3 ½ quarts—26 punch-cup servings

1 C fresh lemon juice
2 C fresh orange juice OR frozen concentrate, mixed according to instructions on can
2 C unsweetened pineapple juice
½ gallon apple cider
1 tsp whole cloves
1 stick cinnamon
¼ C sugar

Pour lemon juice, orange juice, pineapple juice, and apple cider into a large enamel or stainless steel pan. Tie cloves and cinnamon stick in a small cheesecloth bag and add to fruit juices. Bring mixture to a simmering boil over medium heat, cover pan, and allow mixture to simmer for 1 hour. Dissolve sugar in hot wassail before removing from heat. Serve hot in mugs or punch cups

VARIATION

“For extra kick, add 1 pint apple brandy or hard cider to cooked wassail. Heat but do not boil.”

Let’s revive the custom of hot punches, a delightful way to occupy oneself on Christmas Eve. Here is the recipe for the brew; you supply the other kind of spirits.

—Winifred Green Cheney, The Southern Hospitality Cookbook (1976)

POTENT HOLIDAY WASSAIL BOWL

Makes 3 ½ quarts—35 punch-cup servings

3 quarts beer
1 lb sugar
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp ground ginger
4 slices lemon
2 C dry sherry
10 to 12 spiced whole crab apples, studded with whole cloves

Combine 1 quart beer, sugar, nutmeg, ginger, and lemon slices in a large enamel dishpan or soup kettle, and cook over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Add remaining 2 quarts beer, sherry, and crab apples, and heat for 15 minutes, but do not boil. To serve, pour mixture into warmed punch bowl and float studded apples on top.

WASSAIL BEER BOWL

Serves 16-18

1 quart beer, hot but not boiling, plus an additional 2 quarts, heated with 4 or 5 slices lemon, seeded
1 lb powdered sugar
1 whole nutmeg, grated
½ to ¾ tsp powdered ginger
1 C sherry
6 slices toast, freshly made

Pour powdered sugar, nutmeg, ginger, and sherry into 1 quart heated beer, add additional 2 quarts heated beer with lemon slices, and bring mixture almost to boiling point “where surface will look pearly.” Remove from flame, taste for sweetening, and pour into a large heated punch bowl containing toast slices. Serve as hot as possible in punch glasses.