Hippocras with Wine and Spices
Red or white wine sweetened with sugar and infused with cinnamon, ginger, and clove, filtered until clear. The ceremonial drink that seals festive meals of the Grand Siècle.
Red or white wine sweetened with sugar and infused with cinnamon, ginger, and clove, filtered until clear. The ceremonial drink that seals festive meals of the Grand Siècle.
They pour the hippocras to close the meal, and I take some, for to refuse everything would be yet another affectation. But see: I cut it with water, I do not abuse it. Good wine, sugar, a little cinnamon and ginger left to infuse overnight, then passed through a cloth until it is clear as an honest conscience — that is the whole secret. Drink a cup with me, and let it be frank: I hate friendships sworn with glass in hand and betrayed as soon as one leaves the antechamber.
- •Wine — a bottle (base)
- •Sugar — to taste (sweetness)
- •Cinnamon — one stick (spice)
- •Ginger — a piece (warm spice)
- •Clove and nutmeg — a few cloves, a pinch (fine spices)
Hippocras with Wine and Spices
Red or white wine sweetened with sugar and infused with cinnamon, ginger, and clove, filtered until clear. The ceremonial drink that seals festive meals of the Grand Siècle.
Why this dish? Alceste drinks his wine cut with water, as a sober man; but worldly custom dictates that the meal close with spiced hippocras, a ceremonial wine shared before parting. Even retired to his "desert", he knows the rite.
They pour the hippocras to close the meal, and I take some, for to refuse everything would be yet another affectation. But see: I cut it with water, I do not abuse it. Good wine, sugar, a little cinnamon and ginger left to infuse overnight, then passed through a cloth until it is clear as an honest conscience — that is the whole secret. Drink a cup with me, and let it be frank: I hate friendships sworn with glass in hand and betrayed as soon as one leaves the antechamber.
Ingredients (period version)
- Wine — a bottle (base)
- Sugar — to taste (sweetness)
- Cinnamon — one stick (spice)
- Ginger — a piece (warm spice)
- Clove and nutmeg — a few cloves, a pinch (fine spices)
Ingredients
- Fruity red (or white) wine — 750 ml (base)
- Sugar — 80 to 100 g (sweetness)
- Cinnamon stick — 1 (spice)
- Fresh ginger, sliced — 3 thin slices (warm spice)
- Cloves — 3 (fine spice)
- Freshly grated nutmeg — 1 pinch (fine spice)
Method
- Pour the wine into a large container, dissolve the sugar.
- Add the cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg.
- Cover and let infuse cold for at least one night (12 hours).
- Filter carefully through a fine cloth or coffee filter until the liquid is clear.
- Serve chilled in small cups, optionally diluted with a little water à la mode d'Alceste.
How it was made : Hippocras, a sweetened, spiced wine filtered through a "Hippocrates sleeve" (a conical cloth bag, from which it gets its name), was the ceremonial end-of-meal drink from the Middle Ages through the 17th century. It was prepared cold to preserve the aromas of the spices. Wine cut with water was the norm at table, considered healthier and more civilized than neat wine.
The contemporary twist : Served warm in winter, it becomes the direct ancestor of mulled wine — but true hippocras was drunk chilled and clear, far more elegant.
Sources : L'École parfaite des officiers de bouche, 1662 · Nicolas de Bonnefons, Les Délices de la campagne, 1654
Alceste · Charactorium
