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How to Make a Downton Abbey-Inspired Christmas Wassail

From Town & Country

Nothing warms the spirits quite like a hot drink on a cold day. Here, a recipe for wassail, a British mulled punch, from the new Official Downton Abbey Christmas Cookbook, available to order now.


Wassail, a hot mulled punch usually made with cider and sometimes with ale, has been part of British Christmastime festivities for hundreds of years. In the eighteenth century, it was the custom to invite friends and neighbors to play cards and to enjoy dinner together on Twelfth Night.

The wassail bowl, full of roasted apples in sweet spiced cider or ale, was brought in at the end of the evening. First, each person scooped out an apple and ate it, and then the bowl was passed around the room and everyone would drink from it and wish one another good health.

By the era of Downton Abbey, the practice of drinking wassail had moved to Christmas and the roasted apples served only as flavoring and decoration. In season 5, episode 9, we see the kitchen table fully laden with the Christmas food preparations. Daisy is carefully preparing the turkey, and the footmen are in charge of transferring the wassail from copper kettles dotted with apples to glass punch bowls. Later, after singing carols by the Christmas tree, everyone helps themselves, ladling wassail into their glass cups.

Ingredients:

2½ cups (600 ml) apple cider

¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons

(200 ml) sherry

2 cups (450 g) firmly packed dark

brown sugar

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

1 cinnamon stick

For serving:

3 or 4 small apples

3 quarts (3 l) apple cider

2 lemons, thinly sliced

Shards of cinnamon bark

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).

Combine the cider and sherry in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer, making sure the mixture does not boil. Add the sugar, nutmeg, ginger, and cinnamon and simmer, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and let cool.

For serving, using a vegetable peeler, remove a strip of skin from around the equator of each apple. This allows steam to escape and prevents the apples from bursting in the oven. Arrange the apples in a small baking pan and roast until tender when pierced with a knife, 20–30 minutes. Let the apples cool.

When ready to serve, pour the spiced cider mixture and the plain cider into a large punch bowl and stir to mix. Pop the apples, lemon slices, and the cinnamon shards (if using) into the bowl for decoration. Ladle into cups and serve.

Recipe Note

This wassail is served at room temperature, but if you prefer a warm punch, the spiced cider and the plain cider can be heated before they are added to the punch bowl.

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