A Mulling We Will Go

'We will have mulled wine with wisdom, & buttered toast with story-telling & crack jokes & bottles from morning till night”.... the words may have been written by Herman Melville years ago, but the spirit of them still ring true, because when we think of mulled wine, we think of friends around a crackling fire on a snowy Christmas Eve, or carol singers enjoying the moment as the door opens and happy faces greet them with a mince pie or of hot roasted chestnuts in paper cones bought from a street seller. Or does mulled wine bring you other thoughts?




1/2 pint of good red wine
1 small glass whiskey, brandy or rum
6 fl oz lemondade
1 slice lemon
1 slice orange
1 clove
1/2 stick cinnamon
good pinch nutmeg
1 1/2 dessert spoons sugar.

1. Put everything except red wine and chosen spirit into saucepan
2. Heat until sugar has dissloved and simmer gently for 10 minutes
3. Add wine and spirit and reheat but not to boiling as it spoils the flavour serve as hot as possible into glasses. Don't forget a teaspoon added to the glass will prevent the it from shattering with the hot liquid.