Syllabub!

Earlier this week, El Esposo called me to tell me to listen to something on the NPR website. As you know, I am an NPR junkie, but these days I don't wander the house with a radio the way I used to. So I often will miss a story and EE will call to fill me in. Luckily, my dream of radio you can "tape" the way people used to use VCRs has come true and I can just go to the website! (One of the true benefits of getting this old is that many of the things I have wished for have actually been invented! Still wishing someone would make the refrigerator with a slot for the camera's photo card so that I could have pictures on my fridge without all the magnets. Come on! Isn't that something that would take off like wild fire? Anyone reading is free to use this idea. I have lots of them, but don't have any desire to be an inventor!!! Now back to the regularly scheduled blog post.)

So, EE calls and says, go see the story on syllabub, it's a colonial drink. Don't just read it (he knows me!), you have to listen to it. So I did. And I also went to the NPR blog where I watched a short video of them making syllabub at Colonial Williamsburg (a place I someday would like to visit--talk about a way to appreciate new ideas and inventions!)

You can listen or read the story here (it's long), and you can see the video here. Or you can just read my blog and look at our pictures! It sounded disgusting to me, but very historical so we gave it a try for our New Year's Eve celebration last night.

Grate zest of two lemons and squeeze the juice in a large bowl. Add white wine (German Rhine wine is the historical version, I used Liebfraumilch on sale for $4.98!) and heavy cream in a bowl. 1 to 1 ratio, or 2 to 1 ratio, or 1 to 2 ratio depending on whose version you use. They weren't very exact in the 16-18th centuries! I used one whole bottle of wine (about 4 cups) to one pint of cream. Add sugar. I used 2 cups, but would use a little less next time.

Beat with a birch twig whisk for up to ten minutes. I didn't have any birch twigs so I used the modern equivalent! Also, ten minutes is a long time for modern arms so I turned it over to El Esposo at about the half way mark.
Maybe a little before the halfway mark!
When it is nice and foamy, pour into festive glasses. Now let it sit. For a few hours, or all day, or a week. Again with the lack of scientificity in recipes in those days! Don't worry about no refrigeration. The wine and lemon juice have curdled the cream according to the Colonial Williamsburg guy!
Here it is after a few hours when we celebrated the NYC time New Year's Eve (we are old and can't stay up 'til midnight!). It was NOT disgusting! It was amazing! Like a slightly "happy" version of lemon cream pie!
Definitely a "recipe" worth keeping. Why did it go out of fashion???
Oh. It's gone... But don't worry, do you remember all the glasses sitting on the counter!

Happy New Year! And many happy Syllabubs!