DrunkenBlog

Oh Glogg, you Devil

I've flaked out on a lot of year-end to-do list items regarding the site, so they'll now become 2006 to-do list items to do early, but there's one that I have to get out before I can enjoy the New Year's festivities in good conscience: Spreading the werd of Glogg.

It's still cutting it close in terms of incorporating it into a New Years celebration, however you've got a few hours to hit the liquor store and there are still some chillier months ahead.

Your eyes probably gloss over it by now, but right at the top of the site is the phrase "When all you have is a hammer, everything looks looks like a nail", and it's meant to remind one -- especially myself -- that few tools are universally ideal. I love white russians, but I rarely imbibe them with a meal, nor do I gravitate towards them during the winter months, nor are they necessarily ideal for entertaining a get together. I have a serious penchant for mulled cider -- with or without a shot of brandy -- however there is just something special about Glogg.

Glogg is basically a type of swedish mulled wine, the ancient form of recreational pharmaceuticals designed to make one forget that no one bathed, it was cold as hell, you couldn't go anywhere because of the snow, and your home was made of stones and straw and poo. It is in Glogg's nature to knock you on your ass before you're aware of what's happening, so do plan accordingly for what this will do to people.

Be aware this is just how I learned how to make Glogg, with a few variations, and that there are others. If you dig it, I'd encourage you to explore them. You can even find packets of ready-made "Glugg spices", but most of the variations come in the form of the types of fruit added to the mixture. You could theoretically chop down the recipe to an individual serving, but I can never have just one mug.

The ingredients, for approximately one gallon of Glogg:

• Bottle of red wine

  This could be a Merlot or Cabernet, either will be fine and while the taste of the final drink will change a little, it's just "different", not better or worse. It really doesn't need to be expensive, but if you get the super cheap stuff you might regret it.

• Bottle of Port wine

  Port wine can get confusing, but here are some things to remember:

  1. You want a "young" Port for Glogg. Older ports are great, but what you're really after is the fruitiness and rich sweetness of the young port. Anything under 3 years or so should be perfect, and less expensive to boot.

  2. Port wine can have sediment and such in the bottle. I'd highly recommend you strain it while pouring, but if you're careful and the port has been sitting awhile, you can pour until you see sediment along the sides and then throw away the rest.

  3. If it seems too complex, it isn't "necessary" to have Port included, but you'll notice it's absence.

• Bottle of Brandy or Whiskey

  This'll do it. I prefer it with brandy, but whiskey and such is popular also. You'll want a generous bottle. You can go all up and down the line with variations, but don't even step to it with something like vodka or gin or tequila. The drink will disown you.

• 8 to 10 inches of cinnamon sticks

• 2 dozen whole cloves

• Orange peel (one whole orange)

• 1/2 cup raisins

  I use raisins, because that is how I was taught, however I've had it with:

  1. Craisins (dried cranberries)
  2. Golden raisins
  3. Dried sweet cherries

  Aside from raisins, I'm really partial to the dried sweet cherries -- but I've only had those included in Michigan as they're grown there. From what I can tell, Michigan is crazy about pushing chocolate covered sweet cherries upon the world too, but they work in this recipe, it just really changes the taste. Not badly, just different, and to truly appreciate it it's probably best to start with raisins.

• Cardamom seeds (one tablespoon)

  This is where things can get a bit tricky. I'm really partial to using inexpensive stuff if it does the job, and going the low maintenance route, but it really pays to use whole cardamom pods here. Cardamom is that really lovely spice you find in Chai Tea, or Indian and some Scandinavian dishes.

  While you can just buy the seeds, they don't have near the flavor you will get from getting whole pods and removing them from their case. The pods should be green or orange, if they are tannish it's because they've been bleached (I don't know why they do this -- perhaps to look more like brown cardamom which you'd use for many indian dishes), but that causes them to lose a lot of their aroma. Each pod will give you about 1/6 of a teaspoon of seeds.

  If you are just stuck and have no way to find cardamom, you can try using equal parts ground nutmeg and cinnamon. You can find powdered cardamom, but I tried it and it just blows.

• 1 cup almonds (blanched)

  You can buy blanched almonds, however if you want to blanch them yourself, just drop whole almonds into boiling water for about 15 to 20 seconds. Drain them, and while they're still hot, press on the large end with the heel of your hand to separate them from their skin.

• 2 cups of sugar

  Just regular sugar, however, I had it with brown sugar not that long ago and it ruled.

It may seem like a lot, but it's not that bad, and most of the preparation is really easy.

Probably the roughest part of preparing Glogg, or any mulled wine, is needing to not use an aluminum pan. This will completely screw up the taste, as the wine interacts with the metal and bad things happen. You'll want to have a big stainless pot (or not so big if you're making a smaller batch), or it's possible to do it within a ceramic kettle.

Pour your wines into your pot or kettle, then add in all of the spices. Keep the brandy and the sugar back. You want to heat the wine over a low heat -- you do not want the wine to boil at all costs. I'm not kidding, as it can be easy to get impatient and want to hurry it up a bit, but this is a drink that takes awhile to prepare and stew. You want all those spices to leach out into the wine, not to destroy the flavor.

While that is going, put your several cups of sugar into a large sauce pan with half of the bottle of brandy. Heat slowly while stirring a bit, and after awhile the sugar will bubble up and melt down into a golden-brownish syrup. Now you get to light it on fire.

Sugar is great, but wonderful things happen when you caramelize it -- it takes on a richness and complexity with the flavors of the alcohol you can't really get another way. You do want to be careful though, and not be looking down into it while you do it -- google on how to flambe if you have no clue what you're doing as you'll be looking at a foot and a half of flame shooting up from the pan for a few seconds.

Right after it's burned down, add every last bit from the pan into the wine you and spices you have heating up slowly. You want to cover this, and let it slowly cook -- again, you want it hot but not boiling -- for over at least an hour. I usually do it for 1.5 to 2 hours, if you let it go for too long -- like say 4+ hours -- you can end up with something way too heavily spiced.

You then serve it in a handled glass, hot, with a garnish of a cinnamon stick because it just looks good. Some people serve with a garnish of an orange peel, and that works too. I've also had it with a bit of whipped cream on top, but I didn't really get it and thought it was unnecessarily screwing with perfection. Because I've done stupid things, I should also remind you that you do want to strain out the spices.

You may notice you have half a bottle of brandy left over -- this is your equalizer for your audience. This is intended to go into the Glogg depending on how much of it you like -- I usually add in half of what's left or sometimes the whole bottle, it just sorta depends on who'll be imbibing.

If it can seem like a lot of fuss for an evening, I do know someone who makes up a huge batch and then bottles it -- it can apparently age well for up to three months -- and then you can just take it out and heat it slowly whenever you're in the mood or have company.

I'm still working my way towards that, and either way, I've done my part on spreading the werd of Glogg, and it's time to wish you Happy New Year and go enjoy it myself.

 Posted by drunkenbatman
    December 31, 2005, at 10:00 PM