Vin Chaud
Mulled Wine

This recipe comes from a friend of mine in France. It's really easy, and really works during the holiday time of year, when the evenings come early and the snow is falling outside the window.

Here's the recipe:

quote:

Ingredients:

* 1 bottle red wine
* 4 cinnamon sticks
* 1 5-inch by ½-inch piece of orange zest (white pith removed)
* 4 tablespoons granulated sugar
* 2 cardamon pods
* 5 whole cloves
* 1/3 cup Cognac

Mix all the ingredients together in a large saucepan. Bring the mixture to just under a simmer over the lowest heat setting on the stovetop. Do not allow the wine to boil. The mulled wine is hot enough when the sugar has dissolved and pulling and lifting a spoon from the wine brings up steam. If desired, strain the spices from the wine by pouring it through a fine-mesh sieve or a cheesecloth-lined collander. Add 1-2 teaspoons of Cognac to a mug and ladle the mulled wine over it.

Here’s how easy it is to make -

Start with the goods:



Left to right behind the oranges: stick cinnamon, whole cloves, apricot brandy, red wine, cardamom and sugar

Note on liquor: the recipe calls for cognac, but I had none available to me. I did a search for a substitute on the internet, and apricot brandy was suggested, so I gave it a try. Results were, in my opinion, pretty darn good!

Note on cardamom: recipe calls for seed pods, but I was lucky just to have ground cardamom, so I used that. It did provide great warmth and flavour, but I probably used a little too much. I would recommend 1/2 teaspoon as a beginning, and adjust from there.

Note on oranges: from a "zesting" standpoint, these were not good oranges to use, as the peels were extremely thin. Because of this, we zested what little we could, and then squeezed juice out to make up for it. I believe this had good results and provided a really nice citrus burst that worked very well with the spices.

This is a very easy recipe to make - simply measure out your spices:



Zest your orange (or, in our case, zest and squeeze):



Open your bottles:


Add your orange:



Add the cognac or brandy:


Add the wine:



Then heat slowly at a low temperature. It is important not to bring this to boiling, and to stir very often so as to infuse the spices into the vin chaud.

Here’s a bad close-up of a beautiful combination of flavours:


I almost apologize for including it, but it smelled great, and the colours playing off each other promised a very warm, spicy treat that was a perfect accent for a winter day.

I heated the vin chaud very slowly on just about the lowest setting. This took some time, but I believe that time was well spent, so that the spices could work their magic into the wine. When it got to the point where lifting the spoon brought up wisps of steam, I judged it to be ready, and served it.

First, I added a couple of teaspoons of brandy into the bottom of a mug, then added the vin chaud.

I could have strained it, but chose to leave the spices in:



Either way works, but if you want something a little less rustic and a little more refined, go ahead and strain as described in the recipe.

The verdict was unanimous - this was really good stuff! I cannot think of a better way to shake off a cold, winter day, and I do believe this will become a definite Christmas tradition in our home.



Winter’s not over, so go ahead and get these few ingredients, and give this a try!