“I’ll raise your salary, and endeavour to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon, over a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop, Bob. Make up the fires and buy another coal scuttle before you dot another i, Bob Cratchit!”. So says Ebenezer Scrooge to Bob Cratchit after his overnight conversion to goodness and generosity at the end of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Since then, this hot port and wine punch has been associated with Christmas. It is thought that the name of the punch refers to the bowl it was served in which resembled a bishop’s mitre. Mulling (heating) wine, cider or ale is an ancient custom throughout Europe and hot wine punches were particularly popular in guildhalls and universities during the Middle Ages.
Equipment
Weighing scales
Measuring jug
Roasting tin
Heatproof glass or ceramic bowl
Sieve
Non-reactive saucepan
Heatproof glasses
Preparation method
Preheat oven to 160C/320F/gas 2.5.
Wash and dry the fruit, then stud each fruit with 5 cloves.
Roast in the oven for an hour in a non-reactive tray, and then transfer the fruit to a glass or ceramic bowl.
Add the sugar, stem ginger syrup and the red wine to the roasted fruit, cover and leave it in a warm spot in the kitchen overnight, or anywhere up to 24 hours.
After macerating for enough time pierce the fruits with a skewer to allow the juice to escape into the wine.
Transfer from the bowl to the non-reactive saucepan, add the port, cinnamon and cardamom pods and heat until it begins to ‘smoke’, taking care not to let it boil or the alcohol will evaporate.
Turn off the heat and serve in warmed heatproof glasses, removing the cinnamon stick and cardamom pod as you serve.
Tip: If you don’t have heat proof glasses, place a metal teaspoon in the glass before you pour the Smoking Bishop into it and this will prevent the glass cracking from the heat.
Victorian
Serves:
8
Prep Time 10 minutesminutes
Cook Time 1 hourhour20 minutesminutes
Resting time 8 hourshours
Total Time 9 hourshours30 minutesminutes
Ingredients
3Seville oranges or two oranges and a lemon
30gdemerara sugar
370mlclaret
370mlbottle Ruby port
15cloves
2dried green cardamom pods
1cinnamon stick
2tbspstem ginger syrup
Nutrition
Nutrition Facts
Smoking Bishop
Serving Size
100 ml
Amount per Serving
Calories
131
Percent of Daily Value*
Sodium
1.1
mg
0
%
Potassium
7.8
mg
0
%
Carbohydrates
7.5
g
3
%
Fiber
0.1
g
0
%
Sugar
8.3
g
9
%
Protein
2
g
4
%
Calcium
4.1
mg
0
%
Iron
0.1
mg
1
%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
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