Ship's Grog with Lemon
The hot drink of sailors: rum diluted with boiling water, sweetened with sugar, and brightened with lemon. Enough to warm up after a watch in the spray.
The hot drink of sailors: rum diluted with boiling water, sweetened with sugar, and brightened with lemon. Enough to warm up after a watch in the spray.
When the Channel wind cuts through you and the spray has beaten the bravest, there is only one remedy in the wardroom: grog, piping hot. A dash of rum, boiling water over it, sugar and the juice of a lemon — drink it in small sips, and you will feel the warmth return from your fingers to your heart. It is the sailor's medicine, and I assure you that after a night watch, it is worth all the apothecary's syrups.
- •Rum — a dash (warming alcohol)
- •Boiling water — a large cup (hot base)
- •Sugar — one or two lumps (sweetness)
- •Lemon — a quarter (acidity)
Ship's Grog with Lemon
The hot drink of sailors: rum diluted with boiling water, sweetened with sugar, and brightened with lemon. Enough to warm up after a watch in the spray.
Why this dish? On the English Channel, off Le Crotoy and the Bay of the Somme where Verne wrote part of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, hot grog was the comforting drink of the chilled sailor. A shipboard habit that suits the amateur navigator Verne was.
When the Channel wind cuts through you and the spray has beaten the bravest, there is only one remedy in the wardroom: grog, piping hot. A dash of rum, boiling water over it, sugar and the juice of a lemon — drink it in small sips, and you will feel the warmth return from your fingers to your heart. It is the sailor's medicine, and I assure you that after a night watch, it is worth all the apothecary's syrups.
Ingredients (period version)
- Rum — a dash (warming alcohol)
- Boiling water — a large cup (hot base)
- Sugar — one or two lumps (sweetness)
- Lemon — a quarter (acidity)
Ingredients
- Dark rum — 4 cl (non-alcoholic version: spiced cane syrup) (base)
- Boiling water — 200 ml (heat)
- Sugar or honey — 1 to 2 teaspoons (sweetness)
- Lemon juice — 1/2 lemon (acidity)
Method
- Squeeze the half-lemon into a heat-resistant cup.
- Add the sugar (or honey) and the rum.
- Pour in the boiling water and stir until the sugar dissolves.
- Serve piping hot; for a family version, replace the rum with cane syrup and a pinch of spices.
How it was made : Grog gets its name from British Admiral "Old Grog," who in the 18th century ordered the sailors' rum to be cut with water. In the 19th century, lemon and sugar were added — the lemon also serving to prevent scurvy. A universal drink of seafarers in Verne's time.
The contemporary twist : "80 Days" non-alcoholic version: hot infusion with cane syrup, lemon, clove, and cinnamon stick, served in a pewter mug.
Sources : History of grog in 18th-19th century navies
Jules Verne · Charactorium