PUNCH (_Mrs. Williams_).
Rub loaf-sugar over the peels of six lemons to break the little vessels
and absorb the ambrosial oil of the lemons. Then squeeze out all the
juice possible from six oranges and six lemons, removing the seeds; add
to it five pounds of loaf-sugar (including the sugar rubbed over the
peels) and two quarts of water, with five cloves and two blades of mace
(in a bag); simmer this over the stove about ten minutes, making a
sirup.
This sirup will keep forever. It should be bottled and kept to _sweeten_
the liquors, whenever punch is to be made.
Mix then one pint of green tea, a scant pint of brandy, one quart of
Jamaica rum, one quart of Champagne, and one tea-cupful of Chartreuse.
When well mixed, sweeten it to taste with the sirup; pour it into the
punch-bowl, in which is placed an eight or ten pound piece of ice. Slice
three oranges and three lemons, removing the seeds, which put also into
the punch-bowl.
MILK PUNCH (_Mrs. Filley_).
Ingredients: Four quarts of Jamaica rum, three quarts of water, five
pints of boiling milk, three pounds of loaf-sugar, twenty-four lemons,
two nutmegs.
Cut thin slices, or only the yellow part of the rinds of the twenty-four
lemons. Let these thin parings and the two grated nutmegs infuse for
twenty-four hours in one quart of the rum. It should be put in a warm
place.
At the end of the twenty-four hours, add to the juice of the twenty-four
lemons (freed from seeds) the water, sugar, rum, and also the rum
containing the lemon-peel and nutmeg. Put all into a large vessel. When
the sugar is dissolved, add the five pints of boiling milk while the
mixture is being stirred all the time. It will curdle, of course. Then
cover it, and let it stand still one hour, when filter it through a bag,
until it is as clear and bright as a crystal. It may take three or four
hours. Pale rum should be used. This quantity will make enough to fill
about one dozen quart bottles. Cork them well, and keep them standing.
It may be used at once, but it will not be in perfection until it is a
year or two old. It will keep forever. The bag may be made
three-cornered with a yard square of rather coarse Canton flannel.
This punch is nice to serve with mock-turtle soup, or it may be used for
making Roman punch. Like sherry, it is a convenient beverage to offer,
with cake, to a lady friend at any time.