My winter drinks

Cold winter time is a time for warm, comforting drinks. As the nights grow longer, there’s nothing quite like gathering with friends by a crackling fire, mugs in hand, sharing stories and laughter. Below is my selection of drinks for this magical time.

Bombardino or Vov caldo

As the wiki site explains, Bombardino is a popular skiing drink. The alcohol content is high (around 30% ABV), so if you want something softer, you can skip the brandy and enjoy only hot egg liqueur and whipped cream. This is called “Vov caldo” and is also commonly found in skiing huts (around 20% ABV). For something even softer, you can dilute the egg liquor with wine and you get German egg punch (around 15% ABV).

The main ingredient in all cases is the egg liquor, so below is the recipe for my favorite one. The recipe has several variations, but all of them are fairly simple with only a few ingredients.

Egg liqueur recipe

Ingredients:

• 4 egg yolks
• 150 g powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 1/3 cup rum

Instructions:

1. In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and powdered sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Gradually whisk in the whipping cream and rum until well combined.
3. That’s it! Your egg liqueur is ready to use. Enjoy it warm or chilled.

Grog

Grog is in its broadest sense an alcoholic drink usually made with rum or similar spirit. And it stands to reason that there are as many recipes for making grog as there are drinkers of grog. There are some that really pick your interest, like coffee grog or navy grog with honey. Below is my traditional and simple  contribution to the rich mosaic of grog around the world.

Ingredients:

• 7 oranges
• 2 lemons
• 200 g sugar
• 200 ml rum (dark rum is recommended for a richer flavor)
• 2 black tea bags
• 750 ml water (for tea)
• 500 ml water (for sugar syrup)

Instructions:

1. Brew the tea: Steep the tea bags in 750 ml of hot water for 7 minutes. Remove tea bags and set tea aside.
2. Make a caramelized sugar syrup: In a saucepan, caramelize the sugar over low heat, stirring constantly to prevent burning.
3. Once the sugar is caramelized and golden brown, carefully add 500 ml of water. Be careful, it will steam and splutter!
4. Stir until the caramelized sugar is completely dissolved, creating a syrup.
5. Combine the tea, sugar syrup, rum, and the juice of the oranges and lemons.
6. Gently warm the grog (do not boil) and serve in mugs. Garnish with orange slices, if desired.

Mulled wine

This is a winter drink favored by many (including me). And it comes in two flavors: red and white (surprise, surprise). The preparation is similar and also leaves some room for improvising, but there is one notable exception. For the mulled white wine, the sugar is simply added. For the mulled red wine, the sugar is first caramelized and then the wine is added. This provides fuller flavor to the mulled wine and is nicely complementing the tannins in the red wine. The ratio of sugar to the wine is about 1 tablespoon of sugar to 250 mL of wine. It all depends how sweet you want your drink to be and how much acid is in the wine. Usually 100 mL of water is also added per 200 mL of wine, but you can also skip tha if you want more alcohol in your drink., Finally, cloves, cinnamon and sliced orange are added for the flavor. The last thing that you should be careful about is the cooking – the wine mix should not boil, it is finished as soon as the wisps of fumes start showing on the top (the temperature is about 80-90 °C). Otherwise you will decrease the alcohol content and change the overall flavor of the mulled wine. 

Ingredients:

• 1 liter wine (red or white)
• 0.5 liter water
• 4 tablespoons (60 g) sugar
• 2-4 cinnamon sticks
• 1-2 teaspoons whole cloves
• 1 orange, washed and sliced

Instructions:

For Red Wine:

1. In a large saucepan, caramelize the sugar over low heat, stirring constantly.
2. Carefully add the water and wine (in that order!), stirring until the caramelized sugar is dissolved.
3. Add the cinnamon sticks and cloves.
4. Heat gently until the first wisps of steam appear.
5. Add the sliced orange.
6. Serve hot in mugs or heatproof glasses.

For White Wine:

1. In a large saucepan, combine the wine, water, sugar, cinnamon sticks, and cloves.
2. Heat gently until the first wisps of steam appear.
3. Add the sliced orange.
4. Serve hot in mugs or heatproof glasses.

Brambola

This is a special one. And will take awhile to write, so please wait a bit.