A hot, fragrant brew mixing rum, lemon juice, sugar, and boiling water, spiced with citrus peel and sweet spices. Served steaming in a glass, ideal for long Prussian winter evenings.

Why this dish? Hoffmann spent his nights at the Lutter & Wegner wine cellar in Berlin, where he drank punch after punch while discussing music and literature with the actor Ludwig Devrient. His consumption of hot punch and wine was legendary and contributed to ruining his health: it is almost the drink that defines him.

Come closer, friend, and fear not the demon dancing at the bottom of this glass—there is no kinder specter than the one rising from a flaming punch! See: I pour the rum over the sugar, I bring the flame near, and behold, a little blue light runs across the surface like a will-o'-the-wisp escaped from one of my tales. A dash of lemon for sharpness, boiling water for warmth, and you hold in your hands enough to make an entire invisible orchestra sing within you. Devrient and I would empty glasses of it until the shadows in the cellar began to converse; drink, but know that this fire warms the soul even as it consumes the body.

How it was made : Punch (from the Hindi pañc, 'five', for its five ingredients) reached Germany in the 18th century via sailors and colonial trade. In Berlin's Weinstuben, it was ladled from large bowls and the sugar drenched with rum was flambéed—a social ritual as much as a recipe.

The contemporary twist : Serve in a thick glass on a saucer, christened 'Kapellmeister Kreisler's Punch' after Hoffmann's whimsical alter ego, and slip in a cinnamon stick as a fragrant stirrer.

E.T.A. Hoffmann · Charactorium