So I just made a caudle, for shits and also because custom and tradition are the best place to find awesome recipes everyone else forgot over the last few hundred years.
200ml white wine (I used some vaguely-fruity shit wine that was the cheapest at Asda, because seriously, the amount of stuff I was gonna put in this, it wasn't worth the extra quid to get the slightly-less-nasty version)
1 heaped tsp clear honey
1 tsp brown sugar
pinch ginger
pinch nutmeg
pinch saffron
pinch salt
yolks of 5 eggs
...wait, what?
Yeah. So this is a Beltane tradition, of sorts, which is why I found it yesterday.
Available recipes describe boiling the wine, saffron and sugar/honey (these are to taste, so ymmv) and then adding the yolks to thicken the consistency. Nowhere did I find the words "whip the egg yolks", which may be why mine ended up as scrambled eggs suspended in wine until I broke and put the damn stuff through the blender - but I suspect, if you do so beforehand, you get a medieval eggnog equivalent.
Of course, it would be more in-keeping to use ale as a base, I suppose - and this is also accounted for. Trouble is, I'm a cider cat; I just can't stand ale. I'll try it out sometime, but you may have to accept the verdict of the missus on that version.
Overall, I might leave out the salt next time, but it's easy to see where it fits into the scheme of a bonfire celebration. It's sweet, alcoholic, full of protein and a little bit spicy (though it could have stood to be spicier - more ginger, say I!), meant to be drunk hot, and with a thick texture. If I can manage to store the eggs somewhere cool, I might see if I can make it next time I'm in a field.
And later, for entirely unrelated reasons, we're going to make meringues.
200ml white wine (I used some vaguely-fruity shit wine that was the cheapest at Asda, because seriously, the amount of stuff I was gonna put in this, it wasn't worth the extra quid to get the slightly-less-nasty version)
1 heaped tsp clear honey
1 tsp brown sugar
pinch ginger
pinch nutmeg
pinch saffron
pinch salt
yolks of 5 eggs
...wait, what?
Yeah. So this is a Beltane tradition, of sorts, which is why I found it yesterday.
Available recipes describe boiling the wine, saffron and sugar/honey (these are to taste, so ymmv) and then adding the yolks to thicken the consistency. Nowhere did I find the words "whip the egg yolks", which may be why mine ended up as scrambled eggs suspended in wine until I broke and put the damn stuff through the blender - but I suspect, if you do so beforehand, you get a medieval eggnog equivalent.
Of course, it would be more in-keeping to use ale as a base, I suppose - and this is also accounted for. Trouble is, I'm a cider cat; I just can't stand ale. I'll try it out sometime, but you may have to accept the verdict of the missus on that version.
Overall, I might leave out the salt next time, but it's easy to see where it fits into the scheme of a bonfire celebration. It's sweet, alcoholic, full of protein and a little bit spicy (though it could have stood to be spicier - more ginger, say I!), meant to be drunk hot, and with a thick texture. If I can manage to store the eggs somewhere cool, I might see if I can make it next time I'm in a field.
And later, for entirely unrelated reasons, we're going to make meringues.
