CHAPTER IX CUPS WHICH CHEER |
Claret combinations — Not too much noyeau — A treat for schoolboys — The properties of borage — “Away with melancholy” — Salmon’s Household Companion — Balm for vapours — Crimean cup — An elaborate and far-reaching compound — Orgeat — A race-day cup — “Should auld acquaintance be forgot?” — Sparkling Isabella — Rochester’s delight — Freemason’s relish — Porter cup — Dainty drink for a tennis-party. It is probable that there are almost as many recipes for claret cup as there are letters in Holy Writ, or acres in Yorkshire. This is the late Mr. Donald’s Cup. - One bottle claret.
- 1 wine-glass pale brandy.
- ½ do. yellow chartreuse.
- ½ do. curaÇoa.
- ½ do. maraschino.
- 2 bottles Seltzer water.
- 1 lemon cut in thin slices.
- A few sprigs of borage.
- Ice and sugar to taste. {92}
To my taste there is rather too much liqueur in the above. Here is a simple recipe for Badminton. Peel half a small cucumber and put it into a silver cup together with four ounces of sifted sugar, the juice of one lemon, a little nutmeg, half a glass of curaÇoa, and a bottle of claret; when the sugar is thoroughly dissolved, pour in a bottle of soda-water, add ice, and drink. The cucumber should not be left in too long, and a sprig or two of borage will improve the flavour.
Balaclava Cup. Throw into a large bowl the thinly pared rind of half a lemon, add two tablespoonfuls of sifted sugar, the juice of two lemons, and half a small cucumber, unpeeled, in slices. Mix well, and add two bottles of soda-water, two bottles of claret, and one of champagne; mix well, ice, and flavour with borage.
Another Claret Cup. Put into a large bowl three bottles of claret, a large wine-glass of curaÇoa, a pint of dry sherry, half a pint of old brandy, a large wine-glass of raspberry syrup, three oranges and one lemon cut into slices. Add four bottles of aËrated water, sweeten to taste, ice and flavour with borage. This is a good cup for a garden-party, or a tent at Ascot; and remember always that the better the ingredients the better the cup. More especially let your brandy be of the right brand.
Yet Another. Pour into a large jug one bottle of claret, two wine-glasses of dry sherry, and a dash of maraschino. {93} Add a few sliced nectarines, or peaches, and sweeten to taste. Let it stand till the sugar is melted, and then add a sprig of borage. Just before using add one bottle of Seltzer water, and a large piece of ice. Soda-water, Stretton water, or any other natural spring-water may be substituted for Seltzer.
One More, and a very simple one. Put into a bowl the rind of one lemon pared very thin, add sugar to taste, and pour over it a wine-glass of sherry; then add a bottle of claret, more sugar, a sprig of verbena for flavour, one bottle of aËrated water, and a little grated nutmeg; strain and ice.
My Ideal Claret Cup. Two wine-glasses old brandy, one wine-glass curaÇoa, and a little thin lemon-peel, sweeten to taste, and pour over the mixture two bottles of light claret. Just before using add a pint bottle of sparkling moselle, and two bottles of fizzing water. Flavour with borage, and put a large block of ice in the bowl.
Nobody who has not tried it can understand how much the addition of a little sparkling Moselle improves a claret cup. “For’ard On” Cup. Put into a large bowl three bottles of claret, a large wine-glass of curaÇoa, one pint of sherry, half a pint of old brandy, two wine-glasses of raspberry syrup, three oranges and one lemon cut into slices; add a few sprigs of borage, a little cucumber-rind, {94} two bottles of Seltzer water and three bottles of soda-water. Mix well, and sweeten to taste. Let the mixture stand for an hour, then strain, and put a large block of ice in it. Serve in small tumblers; and if champagne be substituted for claret, and noyeau for raspberry syrup, a most excellent champagne cup will be the result. Beware, however, of too free a hand with the noyeau. This liqueur contains hydrocyanic (otherwise Prussic) acid, and should only be used cautiously, unless evil be wished to your guests.
Cider Cup, or Cold Tankard. This is a favourite beverage for schoolboys and university students. I cannot say that I have encountered it since the early sixties, but ’tis a refreshing drink for the river-side and the cricket-field. Extract the juice from the peel of one lemon by rubbing loaf-sugar on it; cut two lemons into thin slices; the rind of one lemon cut thin, a quarter of a pound of loaf-sugar, and half a pint of brandy (I don’t think they allowed as much brandy as this at my old school). Pour the whole into a large jug, mix it well together, and pour one quart of cold spring-water upon it. Grate a nutmeg into it, add one pint of white wine, and a bottle of cider, sweeten to taste with capillaire or sugar, put a handful of balm and the same quantity of borage in flower, stalk downwards. Then put the jug containing this liquor into a tub of ice, and when it has remained there one hour it will be fit for use. The balm and borage should be fresh gathered. And here a few words as to the virtues of these.
In Evelyn’s Acetaria it is written:—“The {95} sprigs of borage in wine are of known virtue, to revive the hypochondriac, and cheer the hard student.” Salmon’s Household Companion, 1710, told us: “Borage is one of the four cordial flowers; it comforts the heart, cheers melancholy, and revives the fainting spirits.” “Borage,” wrote Sir John Hill, M.D., “has the credit of being a great cordial; throwing it into cold wine is better than all the medicinal preparations.” “The leaves, flowers, and seeds of borage,” says the English Physician, “all or any of them, are good to expel pensiveness and melancholy.” “Balm is very good to help digestion and open obstructions of the brain, and hath so much purging quality in it, as to expel those melancholy vapours from the spirits and blood which are in the heart and arteries, although it cannot do so in other parts of the body” (Ibid). After all this information, let not the garden of the melancholy vapourer be searched in vain for balm and borage. Perry Cup is made in the same manner as the above, with the natural substitution of perry for cider. Crimean Cup. This is an elaborate affair. One quart of syrup of orgeat (to make this vide next recipe), one pint and a half of old brandy, two wine-glasses of maraschino, one pint of old rum, {96} two large and one small bottles of champagne, three bottles of Seltzer water, half a pound of sifted sugar, and the juice of five lemons. Peel the lemons and put the thin rind in a mortar with the sugar. Pound them well, and scrape the result with a silver spoon into a large bowl. Squeeze in the juice of the lemons, add the Seltzer water, and stir till the sugar is quite dissolved. Then add the orgeat, and whip the mixture well with a whisk, so as to whiten it. Add the maraschino, rum, and brandy, and strain the whole into another bowl. Just before the cup is required, put in the champagne and stir vigorously with a punch ladle. The champagne should have been previously well iced, as no apparent iceberg is allowable in this mixture.
Do not make too free with this mixture, if you are about to ride the favourite for an important race, or you will be seeing five winning posts, like the late “Jem” Snowden. Orgeat. You do not often hear this compound called for nowadays, but here is the programme for its manufacture:— Blanch and pound three quarters of a pound of sweet almonds, and thirty bitter almonds, in one tablespoonful of water. Stir in by degrees two pints of water and three pints of milk. Strain the mixture through a cloth. Dissolve half a pound of loaf-sugar in one pint of water. Boil and skim well, and then mix with the almond water. Add two tablespoonfuls of orange-flower water and half a pint of old brandy. Be careful to boil the eau sucrÉ well, as this concoction must not be too watery. {97}
A Crimean Cup for a much smaller party can be made, without the addition of orgeat, as follows:— Put the peel of half a lemon or orange into a bowl, add a tablespoonful of sifted sugar, one small glassful of maraschino, half that quantity of curaÇoa, and a wine-glassful of old brandy. Mix well together, and add two bottles of aËrated water, one bottle of champagne, and a block of ice.
Race-day Cup. Dissolve a quarter of a pound of sugar in a quarter of a pint of water, add the juice of two lemons, one wine-glassful of brandy, half a wine-glassful of cherry brandy, a dash of maraschino, and a bottle of champagne. Add also a small piece of cucumber-peel, two sprigs of borage, two thin slices of lemon, four strawberries, four brandy-cherries, and two bottles of Seltzer water; stir well, and ice for an hour after covering up the bowl. Before serving put in a block of ice, and serve in tumblers.
Loving Cup. Better a little flavoured brandy-and-water where love is than a Crimean Cup or a Halo Punch amidst bickerings and vexation of spirit. Rub the rind of two oranges on loaf-sugar and put the sugar into a bowl; add half a pint of brandy, the juice of one lemon, one-third of a pint of orange juice, and one pint of water. Add more sugar if required, and ice well.
I don’t know if the above is the way the Loving Cup at the Mansion House is made; {98} but probably one recipe is as good as another, when all you have to do is to sip the liquid and pass it on. The ancients knew not “cups”; simply because they knew not the virtues of Wenham Lake ice, or its imitations; whilst the “strong-waters” and alleged wines of the past did not blend particularly well, and there was no soda-water. Fearful and wonderful beverages were their compound drinks, however, many of which have already been analysed in these pages. But the recipe for Rochester Cup, which is taken from a comparatively modern book, smacks of the antique. At all events my own wine-merchant professes to be “out of” sparkling Catawba and sparkling Isabella. But here is the programme. Put into a bowl two bottles of sparkling Catawba, two bottles of sparkling Isabella, and one bottle of Sauterne; mix well, then add two wine-glasses of maraschino and two wine-glasses of curaÇoa; ice well, and add some strawberries, or a few drops of extract of peach or vanilla.
A very excellent Champagne Cup can be made from the recipe headed “Donald’s Cup” at the commencement of this chapter, substituting “the Boy” for the red wine of Bordeaux. And here is a simple little refresher, suitable for a breaking-up party at a young ladies’ school. {99} Chablis Cup. Dissolve four or five lumps of sugar in a quarter of a pint of boiling water, and put it into a bowl with a very thin slice of lemon rind; let it stand for half an hour, then add a bottle of Chablis, a sprig of verbena, a wine-glassful of sherry, and half a pint of water. Mix well, and let the mixture stand for a while, then strain, add a bottle of Seltzer water, a few strawberries or raspberries, and a block of ice. Serve in small glasses.
Should you wish to make Red Cup use one pint of port wine instead of white; and sometimes two glasses of red-currant jelly are added. In other respects, follow the directions already laid down for making Cider Cup; a little warm water being necessary to dissolve the jelly.
Freemason. This sounds a “for’ard” sort of potion:—Put into a bowl one pint of Scotch ale, one pint of mild ale, half a pint of brandy, one pint of sherry, and half a pound of sifted sugar. Mix well together, grate a little nutmeg over the top, and add a block of ice.
Mind, I, personally, do not believe in the blending of malt liquor with wine or spirits; and the above reads like a bile-provoker of the most persistent type. But compared With the next recipe—which some of my readers may think should come, for choice, under the heading of “Strange Swallows”—it is harmless indeed. {100} Porter Cup. Put into a tankard or covered jug one bottle of stout, one bottle of mild ale, and one wine-glassful of old brandy, with sugar ad lib.; then add a little powdered ginger, half a nutmeg grated; cover it over, ice for half an hour; before serving, stir in a teaspoonful of carbonate of soda, add a few strips of cucumber-rind, and put in, last of all, a block of ice.
One more cup, and I have done with this part of my subject. This is a ladylike concoction, as its name would seem to imply. Tennis Cup. Put into a bowl four tablespoonfuls of sifted sugar, the rind of one lemon and juice of two, one wine-glassful of brandy, one wine-glassful of ginger syrup, and a small piece of cucumber-rind; add two bottles of soda-water, one sprig of borage, and two sprigs of verbena. Ice well; and serve in small glasses.
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