Milk Punch

A historical recipe from The Lady's Own Cookery Book, and New Dinner-Table Directory, by Bury, Charlotte Campbell, Lady (1844).

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A historical recipe

The Lady's Own Cookery Book, and New Dinner-Table Directory; In Which will Be Found a Large Collection of Original Receipts. 3rd ed., by Bury, Charlotte Campbell, Lady (1844). Project Gutenberg eBook #29232.

From an old book: a historical recipe, not current advice. Its methods, additives and storage may be unsafe by today's standards. Its words name: preserving or pickling, food kept without cooking or cold storage. Check current food-safety guidance before following this.

Preserving. Old preserving methods may not make food safe to keep. Use current tested guidance.
Storage. The keeping times and places here are from before refrigeration. Follow current storage guidance.

Ingredients 7 ingredients

twenty quarts of the best rum
fifteen pounds of double-refined sugar
a quart of new milk
six quarts of good brandy
eight quarts of water
two quarts of boiling skimmed milk
one large wine

Cook safely

Keep children and pets away from the hob and the oven, and keep oven gloves and a lid within reach.

Boiling water and steam. Turn pan handles inward, away from the edge of the hob. Lift lids away from you, and pour hot water away from your body: steam burns too.
Sharp knives. Cut on a board that doesn't slip (a damp cloth under it helps), and curl the fingers of the hand that holds the food.

Method

To twenty quarts of the best rum or brandy put the peels of thirty Seville oranges and thirty lemons, pared as thin as possible.
Let them steep twelve hours.
Strain the spirit from the rinds, and put to it thirty quarts of water, previously boiled and left to stand till cold.
Take fifteen pounds of double-refined sugar, and boil it in a proper proportion of the water to a fine clear syrup.
As soon as it boils up, have ready beat to a froth the whites of six or eight eggs, and the shells crumbled fine;
mix them with the syrup;
let them boil together, and, when a cap of scum rises to the top, take off the pot, and skim it perfectly clear.
Then put it on again with some more of the beaten egg, and skim it again as before.
Do the same with the remainder of the egg until it is quite free from dirt;
let it stand to be cool.
Strain it to the juice of the oranges and lemons;
put it into a cask with the spirit;
add a quart of new milk, made lukewarm;
stir the whole well together, and bung up the cask.
Let it stand till very fine, which will be in about a month or six weeks--but it is better to stand for six months--then bottle it.
The cask should hold fifteen gallons.
This punch will keep for many years.
Many persons think this punch made with brandy much finer than that with rum.
The best time for making it is in March, when the fruit is in the highest perfection.
Take six quarts of good brandy, eight quarts of water, two pounds and a half of lump sugar, eighteen lemons, and one large wine-glassful of ratafia.
Mix these well together;
then throw in two quarts of boiling skimmed milk;
stir it well, and let it stand half an hour;
strain it through a very thick flannel bag till quite fine;
then bottle it for use.
Before you use this punch, soak for a night the rinds of eighteen lemons in some of the spirit;
then take it out, and boil it in the milk, together with two large nutmegs sliced.

Plating

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Cookware for this recipe

Saucepan
Chef's knife
Cutting board
Wooden spoon
Slotted spoon
Sieve