Holiday Recipes: Mulled Wine Two Ways

Mulled Wine

A ruby-red remedy.

Serves 4

1 tablespoon green cardamom pods, crushed*

1 tablespoon black peppercorns

2 teaspoons whole cloves

3 cinnamon sticks

1 (750-milliliter) bottle dry red wine, such as Côtes du Rhône

1 cup brandy

Rind and 2 tablespoons juice from 1 lemon

⅓ cup honey

1 Bosc pear, peeled, cored, and cut into ¼-inch dice

*To crush the pods, use the back of a chef’s knife or smooth side of a meat mallet and press down. Normally, the black seeds are picked out and the shells discarded. In this recipe, however, the cardamom will be strained out, so the entire crushed pod can be added, shell and all.

Place cardamom, peppercorns, cloves, and cinnamon in a medium saucepan. Stir over medium heat until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add wine, brandy, lemon rind and juice, and honey and bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to lowest setting and simmer for 10 minutes.

Strain mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl and discard solids. Return mixture to saucepan and add pears. Simmer over medium-low heat until pears are fork-tender but still retain their shape, about 10 minutes. Serve.

The More, the Merrier

Mulled Wine can be easily multiplied and served to a crowd. Prepare the recipe in a large pot or Dutch oven instead of a medium saucepan. Serve it straight out of the pot, pouring servings into heatproof cups.

This recipe calls for lemon rind and juice, but you can use orange, clementine, kumquat, or any other fresh citrus you like.

Excerpted from Winter Cocktails by María del Mar Sacasa. Reprinted with permission from Quirk Books. 

María says that her recipe for white mulled wine is ” less expected but just as warming as its traditional red counterpart.”