Photography by Heartbeat Branding Co.
Holiday parties can be overwhelming in more ways than one. But Sean Norris knows the best way to prepare—a warm batch cocktail that’s sure to be a crowd pleaser.
Are you one of the millions of Americans who suffer from Holiday Party Disease? Whether it’s last-minute party preparation or your awkward uncle’s outbursts at dinner that make you unwell, you are not alone! Holiday Party Disease is treatable thanks to mulled wine. Dating back to 2nd-century Rome, the process of heating wine with various spices was believed to provide health benefits and good fortune. Side effects may include increased holiday spirit, elated guests, and an elevated tolerance for annoying family members.
Okay, but seriously, I want to share with you a fantastic recipe for mulled wine. This is a tasty, batched cocktail, served warm, that you can wow your guests with this holiday season.
While there are more steps to consider than with your typical cocktail recipe, this mulled wine recipe is still fun to put together and to personalize. In a way, it’s more like making dinner than mixing a cocktail—you’ll need to break out your kitchen tools for this one.
Tools:
Cheesecloth or muslin cloth
(for straining)
Large fine strainer
Y-Peeler (or the peeler you use
for potatoes)
Paring knife
Cutting board
Large funnel
Microplane or cheese grater
Measuring cups and spoons
Saucepan
Thermos (40-52 oz)
Coffee mugs
Kitchen scale
Teabags (optional)
Don’t worry, this isn’t nearly as involved as it looks. We just want the right tools for the job! Next up, ingredients!
Instructions:
Prep: The timing on this is pretty crucial, so you’ll want to have all your ingredients prepared and ready to go. When you begin cooking, you can make minor adjustments to suit your taste.
First, let’s take care of the nutmeg and vanilla. I recommend using a coarser grating for the nutmeg—this gives you a bit of wiggle room later, during the “cooking” process, as it’s easier to control the intensity of the spice. If you decide to use teabags, good call. Slip the gratings into a teabag, then tie the bag off tightly so nothing escapes. Now toss it into the pot.
Take your vanilla bean and—carefully—use your sharp paring knife to make a lengthwise slit down the outside of the bean. You should now be able to open up the bean and scrape the seeds into your pot.
Honey is super powerful and super viscous. If you pour it into a measuring cup or spoon, you’ll probably leave a lot behind. And if you attempt to eyeball it, you might end up using too much. We want an accurate baseline; that way, we can make small adjustments later. Set your pot on the scale and then hit the “tare” button to zero it out. Switch the unit to grams. Slowly pour, squeeze, or scrape honey into the pot until you reach 76 grams.
Take your orange and peel about five strips off and toss them into the pot. Don’t throw away the orange yet! More on that later…
Now look at the rest of your ingredients. These are all very powerful. You can always add more, but once it’s cooking, you can’t really remove the impact. For this reason, I recommend starting with my baseline quantities—add them to the pot now. If you’ve got a good palate, you can tweak the mixture later.
While the apple brandy is optional, I always find that it creates a depth of flavor that I don’t get without it. Pour at least an ounce to start (I pour 3.5 oz). Finally, pop open that bottle of Paul Cullen’s Rockin Rosso and pour the entire thing into the pot. Now open another bottle and pour yourself a glass to enjoy on its own—that’s some damn good stuff!
Heat it up: Go ahead and set your pot on the stove. Start with medium heat. We want to bring it up to just a simmer. Stir everything occasionally as it’s warming up. We want to be sure our honey is fully dissolved.
Let it simmer: Don’t get too distracted drinking that Rosso! The second our mulled wine begins to simmer, we’re going to drop the temp down to low for a nice, slow, controlled infusion of flavor. Let it do its thing for 10-15 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes. Pay attention to that teabag of nutmeg—give it a gentle press against the inner wall of the pan to express some of that flavor.
While that’s happening, take your cheesecloth and fold it so that it overlaps your strainer. If you have two strainers, you can sandwich the cloth so it will stay in place during the straining process. Set it aside for later.
Taste tweaking: At this point, your mulled wine should begin to fill the kitchen with a wonderful aroma. Take a spoonful and taste it. This is where your palate comes in. Remember, we started with a baseline—nothing here is written in stone. Is it drier than you would like? Add a small amount of honey. Lighter in body than you prefer? Add an ounce of apple brandy. Want more bite from those baking spices? Add another teabag with half as much nutmeg. Remember that orange you didn’t throw away? The essential oils in your orange peel strips provide plenty of aroma that you can likely smell. If you want a bit more orange on the palate, though, juice the orange and add small amounts to taste.
This is all about tweaking the taste to your liking, just like when you make soup. Add small increments of your ingredients over low heat. You can keep it in this state for 30-45 minutes while you make adjustments before it begins to over-infuse.
Strain, store, serve: Turn off the stove, grab your thermos, and place the funnel on top. With one hand, hold the strainer over the funnel while—slowly—pouring the mulled wine through the cheesecloth-lined strainer. If you have friends over, you can team up to make this easier—that heavy saucepan can be tricky to manage alone. Remember, this is red wine—don’t make a mess!
Technically, you could keep the mulled wine in the pan on low heat and serve it with a ladle, but it becomes bitter as time passes. Using the thermos allows you to stop the infusion process and carry the mulled wine around to serve your guests—or stash it away for yourself.
Garnish with the dehydrated orange and dried apricot. Serve 5-ounce portions in mugs and enjoy!
If you can, do seek out Paul Cullen’s Rockin Rosso. It’s a beautiful, bold, smooth Italian red wine. Think of it as the delicious cousin to a Barolo wine, minus the hefty price tag—perfect for mixing in a batched drink. You can find it on his website at paulcullenwines.com or at your local liquor store.
Take this recipe and make it your own. You’ll have a staple in your back pocket for every holiday season. Until next year, my friends! CS
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