Posted by Chris on March 2, 2008
I think Karl’s description of Gluhwein is the most accurate and sentimental one I have ever seen about Glogg. He’s right, though - God bless him. His glogg recipe looks just as nice - sweet, hot, boozy. mmm, goodness.
2 cups red wine
2 cups port
4oz. brandy
Mulling spices
2 Cinnamon sticks
Optional:
Aquavit / Grain alcohol
Slivered almonds
White raisins
Combine the wine & port together in a saucepan. Put the cinnamon sticks and about a palmful of mulling spices in a cheesecloth, tea ball or other such spice restraint in the saucepan with the wine mixture. (Mulling spices can be purchased as a mix, and is typically a mix of sweet and aromatic spices like cardamom, clove, allspice, orange peel, maybe some peppercorn, so on.)
Being careful not to get the mixture too hot - above about 175 degrees F will kill the alcohol - heat the wine to a temperature above warm but not yet hot. Let it heat long enough to let the spices open up - you’ll smell them. Shouldn’t be longer than a half hour, but let your nose tell you.
Remove spices & cinnamon sticks and add your brandy, as well as the aquavit if you have it/choose to use it. Serve in an Irish coffee mug with slivered almonds and white raisins at the bottom. After you finish the glögg, the wine-sloshed remains are a nice treat.
I would like to point out that what he calls “mulling spices” are also available in syrup form, which is much easier to use than the typical spice blends and requires no strainer or cheese cloth.
Reheated is a food blog dedicated to showcasing the food and recipes in The Reheated Cooking Thread at Fazed.net.
Posted by Chris on February 29, 2008
Sarah of “What’s up with ELM” (and also the owner of ELM) wrote this article about her cool day at the snowshoe event with the ELM members. ELM (Equilibrium Lifestyle Management) is (first, a really cool idea) “a fitness and lifestyle management group based in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island, BC. [whose] mission is to assist you in achieving your vision of living a healthier and more balanced lifestyle.”
Back to the mulled wine in the hot tub…
After a day of showshoeing at Forbidden Plateau, the members of ELM enjoyed a nice dinner together and had mulled wine in the hot tub. This definitely goes into the gluhwein moments list - and I think I will add it to wine events as well.
I know most of our readers are from the US but check out ELM. It seems to be a great group to bring out your inner courage and zest.
Posted by Chris on February 25, 2008
I thought this would be an appropriate first post in our new section called “Gluhwein Moments” since Tina at Carrots and Cake just had her first glass of mulled wine.
I had never tried mulled wine so before ordering, I asked our waitress for a description– mulled wine is basically steamed red wine with cloves and cinnamon and a slice of orange. Sounded delicious to me, and it was!
“Gluhwein Moments” is as simple as it sounds - a place to post the many special moments had around gluhwein / mulled wine. We see hundreds of articles where people are experiencing gluhwein in a way that you don’t see with other drinks - not even with beer. It’s like gluhwein can help make a moment - whether at a Christmas market, relaxing with friends, at the base of the ski slopes, or out to see a band on a “freezing” night.
Here’s to Tina night and getting things started off with mulled wine.
Posted by Ela on
It’s still winter in many parts of the world and what better way to deal with the cold air and short days than a hot drink that will warm your body and please your soul?
This time we are extending our map and taking a trip to Japan with Tomonori Takenouchi through an article from Yomiuri Shimbun, one of the Japan’s most internationally distributed newspapers. He does a great job of showing us how multicultural this piece of Asia is. The amazing variety of places and hot drinks offered would melt anyone’s heart and make winter the favored season.
Starting with Japanese traditions, hot sake and hot shochu (Japanese grain alcohol), and continuing with an atypical serving of a beer, hot beer, and hot cocktails like hot buttered rum the author of the article ends with our favorite one: gluhwein or mulled wine. A special blend, just ready to be served is available for gluhwein lovers in Tokyo at Vom Fass shop.
We appreciate the information about the origins of the drinks, serving suggestions, names of the places, and prices.
In the honor of the traditional Japanese drink Sake World is a nice site where you can get more educated about the sake drink and the history and culture associated.
And if you want to try a special warm drink CocktailTimes.com offers an original suggestion.
Hot Yuzu Bath
Ingredients:
- 2 oz. Hot Shoshu (Japanese grain alcohol)
- 1/4 oz Yuzu Juice
- 1/4 oz Orange flavored liqueur
- Garnish: Orange wheel
Pour hot shochu, yuzu juice and orange flavored liqueur into a Japanese tokkuri cup. Drop orange wheel and serve while hot. (Cocktail created by Yuri Kato, Author of Japanese Cocktails).
Get warm and enjoy the winter wherever you are.
Posted by Chris on January 22, 2008
This one caught my attention because the post reminds me of a friend of mine who used to try to mimic recipes he’d tasted before. He is not a chef or anything - just liked trying it.
Jodi’s gluhwein recipe on Jodijalanna looks pretty good. She was given some spiced red wine and liked it so much she decided to make it herself so after a few attempts, she came up with something she is pretty happy with. The brown sugar sounds really good - that’s something we have never tried for some reason. It just makes sense, too. Here’s her recipe.
So this is the ingredient list/measurements, and directions:
Ingredients:
1 bottle of red or white wine
12 oz of water
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 Bag or Tied Cheese Cloth of :
Cinnamon Sticks (about 1 stick) .20 oz
Dried Orange Peel .35 oz
Whole All Spice .15 oz
Whole Cloves (about 18) .01 oz
OTHER .15 oz (this was bites and pieces remaining on my wax paper after measuring the above)
NOTE: My package had a floating cork on top, but I doubt that is necessary!
Directions:
Put wine, water, sugar and spice bag in pan or crock pot and let simmer slowly, do not boil, “for at least one hour - the longer the better.”
Try it and make sure to raise your mug to Jodi while you drink it.
Posted by Chris on January 19, 2008
At Home with Kim Vallee is all about “Inspiration for Stylish Living & Entertaining” and we think the idea of gluhwein on Valentine’s Day hits the nail on the head - or the heart with the arrow? That just doesn’t sound right but you know what I mean.
Kim’s post about the Valentine’s mulled wine set put our thoughts into motion. It makes perfect sense to share gluhwein and mulled wine with those you love on Valentine’s Day. Here are some of the reasons why:
- It’s red
- Or pink (if you use white wine)
- It’s sweet (just like your sweetie)
- It is always best to drink with friends and loved ones
- It goes great with chocolates
- It is a great mood stimulator
- It’s romantic
If anyone knows where to get one of these mulled wine sets in the US, please leave a comment about it. I would love to post it.
Enjoy!
Posted by Chris on January 17, 2008
According to Sophia, Christmas Glogg is the antidote to feeling irregular. You might want to read her post for that to make sense.
Sophia’s recipe is derived from her undergrad days when one of her professors had a Mexican crock he propped against a bed of coals (paints a beautiful image) and filled it with “mystery fluid” and a whole orange with a bunch of cloves stuck all over it. Here’s her concoction:
So here’s what you do in your own kitchen. Get some kind of apple or berry juice–I found cranberry-apple on sale. Find an old orange and stick some cloves in it, then pour the juice into a stainless steel pan and put the orange ball in with it, along with a stick of cinnamon. I found a lime in the fridge, so I cut a slice off and put it in with the peel on. You can add more spices, but if you ask me, those recipe books with the dozen or ingredients and all those references to spice bags, citrus peel, raisins, cardamom, and almonds are unnecessarily intimating. Just boil up the juice with the orange ball and cinnamon stick. Then take whatever booze you like and put some in your glass with the hot concoction. I put in about a third Merlot. This is supposed to be a “mulled wine” so brandy would probably be appropriate, but the important thing is to drink something you like. The advantage to using wine is that if you’re like me and real lightweight with booze–I fall asleep on half a beer–you can sip this slowly and feel a little mellow without having the urge to put lampshades on your head.
The interesting thing (to me) about this “glogg recipe” is its main base of fruit juice but it sounds good enough and I am up for it. Enjoy it and make sure to send a cheer out to Sophia before your first sip.
Posted by Chris on January 16, 2008
I just ran across this great video about making mulled wine from scratch produced by Expert Village Videos. It is broken into its various components from ingredients through serving and all the little details between. The production quality is nice and it is hosted by professional chef, Brandon Sarkis.
Please also see our video on how to make mulled wine using gluhwein mix (bottom of page), which was made in my kitchen one evening in one take. We’ll improve that one later.
Enjoy.
