A wine warmed with cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and sugar, fragrant and sweet, served at the end of the meal. A warming drink that prolongs the table and the exchange.

Why this dish? Hypocras, a sweet, spiced wine filtered through a 'Hippocratic sleeve', traditionally closed good meals and accompanied learned conversation. For a worldly abbot like Prévost, who frequented salons and select tables, it was the civilized drink of wit and sociability.

When the dishes are cleared and conversation ignites, nothing suits better than a glass of hypocras to warm the mind as much as the body. I have it prepared the day before: one puts into the wine the cinnamon, ginger, and a few cloves, with sugar, then lets it all marry overnight before passing it through a fine cloth until it is clear as a ruby. Drink it moderately, Sir—it is treacherous, and loosens the tongue more than one would think.

How it was made : Hypocras is attested from the Middle Ages to the 18th century. Its name comes from the 'Hippocratic sleeve', the conical cloth bag used to clarify it. It was served at the end of meals and during ceremonies. Sugar, more accessible in the 18th century, made it sweeter than in the Middle Ages when honey dominated.

The contemporary twist : Serve it on the rocks over a large ice cube, like a retro vermouth aperitif, with an orange zest.

Abbé Prévost · Charactorium