Recipes
Drinks from the old books, with and without alcohol. Each one names its source and scales to the size of your party.
Drinks from the old books.
Or start from what you have at home205–216 of 228 recipes
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Hippocras, Medieval Spiced Wine
Red wine with cinnamon, ginger, grains of paradise and sugar, poured through cloth until it runs clear: the spiced wine that closed a medieval feast.
Always alcohol-freeHot Egg Lemonade from the Soda Fountain
A whole egg shaken with strong lemon syrup and acid phosphate, then filled up with hot water and dusted with nutmeg: the winter fountain’s egg drink from 1894.
Always alcohol-freeHot Ginger, the Soda Fountain’s Winter Drink
A strong ginger syrup drawn into a mug and filled with hot water, no fizz at all: the soda fountain’s Hot Ginger, from Saxe’s 1894 guide for dispensers.
Always alcohol-freeHot Malted Milk with Salt and Pepper
Malted milk stirred into hot water and seasoned with salt and pepper in place of sugar, with soda crackers on the side: the 1890s soda fountain’s savory mug.
Lambswool, Hot Spiced Ale with Roasted Apples
Strong hot ale with the soft pulp of roasted apples, nutmeg, ginger and raw sugar beaten in: the Elizabethan winter drink, from the 1869 recipe.
Always alcohol-freeLemon Egg Phosphate, the Soda Fountain Sour
Lemon syrup, a whole egg and half a teaspoon of acid phosphate, shaken with ice and topped with soda: the soda fountain’s sour drink from What to Drink (1920).
Always alcohol-freeMelomeli, Roman Quince and Honey Syrup
Ripe quince warmed in honey and steeped overnight: Columella’s quince-scented honey, stirred into cold water for an alcohol-free Roman drink.
Monkey Gland, Gin and Orange Cocktail
Gin and orange juice in equal parts with grenadine and a dash of absinthe, named in 1923 after a surgeon who grafted monkey glands into aging men.
Always alcohol-freeMrs. Beeton’s Lemonade, Made with Boiling Water
Sugar rubbed over lemons until it drinks up their oil, then juice and a quart of boiling water, strained and left to cool: lemonade from Mrs. Beeton’s 1861 book.
Mulsum, Roman Honeyed Wine
Four measures of wine to one of honey: the drink Romans poured with the first course of dinner, made in five minutes, then left to cool.
Always alcohol-freeMustum, Roman Fresh Grape Juice
Ripe grapes crushed and strained into cloudy fresh juice, the Roman mustum drunk before it could become wine, kept cold and drunk the same day.
Always alcohol-freeOxymel, Pliny’s Honey and Vinegar Drink
Honey, old vinegar, sea salt and water, boiled into a sharp-sweet syrup: the sweetened cousin of the Roman soldier’s vinegar drink, and alcohol-free.
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Absinthe Frappé, Shaken until the Shaker Frosts
A pony of absinthe and a pony of water with a dash of anisette, shaken with fine ice until the shaker frosts, strained and topped with seltzer: the absinthe frappé of 1895.
Absinthium Romanum, Roman Wormwood Wine
Apicius’s Roman vermouth: mild white wine steeped for a day with wormwood, mastic, bay and saffron, unsweetened and bitter by design.
Always alcohol-freeAdynamon, Pliny’s Wine Without Strength
White grape must boiled with half its volume of water until the water is gone: the Roman ‘wine’ given to people who were not allowed wine. Alcohol-free.