Glögg

[Nekrha]

A winter warmer, Glögg is a Scandinavian recipe for a mulled wine. Perfect for keeping the winter chills at bay whilst getting happily sloshed. This is pretty much the way my old mum used to make it:

Ingredients:
3 bottles of dry red (get inexpensive cleanskins $3 - $4 each)
1 bottle of port (again inexpensive brand $5 - $6)
400ml vodka
1 teaspoon of cloves
1 teaspoon of cardamom pods
1 large, or 2 small cinnamon sticks (break in half)
2 tablespoons honey

Method:
Empty wine and port into a large pot.
Add honey.
Place cloves, cardamom and cinnamon into a 20cm square of clean open weave cloth (I cut a section from a new Chux superwipe) and tie into a packet with kitchen cooking string. Place spice packet into pot.
Heat for 90 minutes over a super low flame. Gently stir from time to time.

Important!! - do not let the mixture boil. Alcohol (ethanol, C2H5OH) boils at about 78C so keep the temperature below that. We want to get the spice into the wine without losing too much potency. If you have a cooking thermometer handy, check the temperature occasionally. The trick is to get it hot enough for the spice to infuse the wine and still keep it alcoholic.

Test for sweetness and add more honey as required.

After 90 minutes remove spice packet, add vodka and serve into pre-warmed cups. It's traditional to place almond slivers and a few raisins in the cup, but optional if you don't have.

You can pour the mix into the empty bottles and refrigerate. I've kept mine in the fridge for 12 months without and degradation.

Reheating:
Pour measured amount in a pan and heat over a low flame. Do NOT allow to boil. Serve hot.

Note:
Add more or less vodka for impact. It's only there to boost the alcohol %.

Drink while hot. Get pissed. Enjoy.

[Thoraf]

oohh.. nice post.. not into wine or vodka myself, but never can tell when this will come in handy

[Vexo]

Ha, vodka, really? I've never even heard about people using port! But then, it seems to be a completely different recipe. What country is your mom from, Nekrha? Ours is pretty much just red wine, spices and, very important, almonds. The more hardcore versions include almonds stored in finsprit (i.e. chemical alcohol, 96+%)... can pack a little punch.

Must be consumed with vast quantities of aebleskiver on the side though! And jam. Mucho jam! Gave friends of mine here in the US an aebleskive pan for their wedding present. She had a taste at a fair here in New York last Christmas and swore she'd go to Denmark just for this treat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86bleskiver

[Golgolath]

I feel like a Viking just reading this.

[Nekrha]

Ha, vodka, really? I've never even heard about people using port! But then, it seems to be a completely different recipe. What country is your mom from, Nekrha?

My parents are from Finland and Sweden. There are many variations on this recipe, but the basics of wine and spices don't change. The traditional method of sweetening (instead of using honey) is a real pain. Placing sugar on a metal gauze and heating with flame to drip the melted caramalized result into the wine is way too fiddly and time consuming.

Brandy is also another one to use in place of vodka, but that will add its own flavour to it.