3600.—NEGUS.
Ingredients.—½ a pint of port wine, ½ a pint of boiling water, 2 or 3 thin slices of lemon, sugar and nutmeg to taste.
Method.—Heat the wine in a stewpan, but do not allow it to boil. Put the slices of lemon, a pinch of nutmeg, and 4 or 5 lumps of sugar into a jug, pour in the boiling water, stir gently until the sugar is dissolved, then add the hot wine and serve at once.
3601.—ORANGEADE.
Ingredients.—The juice of 15 oranges, the rind of 3 oranges, 2 quarts of water, ¾ of a lb. of loaf sugar, crushed ice.
Method.—Remove the peel of 3 oranges as thinly as possible, add it and the sugar to 1 pint of water, then simmer gently for 20 minutes. Strain the orange-juice into a glass jug, and add the remaining 3 pints of water. As soon as the syrup is quite cold strain it into the jug, add a handful of crushed ice, and serve at once.
3602.—PINEAPPLE SHERBET.
Ingredients.—1 pineapple, either fresh or preserved, 2 quarts of water, the juice of 4 lemons, ice, sugar to taste.
Method.—Cut the pineapple into slices, and chop it coarsely. Pour over it the cold water, add the lemon-juice, sweeten to taste, and strain into a large jug. Just before serving add a few pieces of ice.
3603.—PUNCH.
Ingredients.—½ a pint of brandy, ½ a pint of rum, 1 pint of boiling water, 2 or 3 ozs. of loaf sugar, 1 large lemon, a pinch of ground cinnamon, a pinch of grated nutmeg.
Method.—Remove the rind of the lemon by rubbing it with some of the sugar. Put the whole of the sugar, the cinnamon, cloves, brandy, rum and boiling water into a stewpan, heat gently by the side of the fire, but do not let it approach boiling point. Strain the lemon-juice into a punch bowl, add the hot liquid, and serve at once.
Punch is a beverage made of various spirituous liquors or wine, hot water, the acid juice of fruits, and sugar. It is more intoxicating in its effects than other alcoholic beverages, especially so when composed, as is usually the case, of several alcoholic liquids. Moreover, the strength of the spirit being partially disguised by the acid, sugar and flavouring ingredients, not only makes this beverage more palatable than it would otherwise be, but it probably causes the partakers thereof to unconsciously imbibe more alcohol than would be agreeable to them in another form. Punch was almost universally drunk among the middle classes until the latter half of the nineteenth century, but it has now almost disappeared. There are many different varieties; in the composition of "Regent's Punch," champagne, brandy and veritable Martinique are required; "Norfolk Punch" requires Seville oranges; "Milk Punch" may be extemporised by adding a little hot milk to lemonade, and then straining it through a jelly-bag. Then there are "Wine Punch," "Tea Punch," and "French Punch," made with lemons, spirits, tea and wine in fantastic proportions. But of all the compounds of these materials, perhaps for a summer drink, the North-American "mint julep" is the most inviting. Captain Marryat gives the following recipe for its preparation: "Put into a tumbler about a dozen sprigs of the tender shoots of mint; upon them put a spoonful of white sugar, and equal proportions of peach and common brandy, so as to fill up one-third, or, perhaps, a little less; then take rasped or pounded ice, and fill up the tumbler. Epicures rub the lips of the tumbler with a piece of fresh pineapple, and the tumbler itself is very often encrusted outside with stalactites of ice. As the ice melts, you drink." The Virginians, says Captain Marryat, claim the merit of having invented this superb compound, but, from a passage in the Comus of Milton, he claims it for his own country.
