Ambrose Heath’s Norfolk milk punch.

It might have been helpful if Heath had described his ‘Norfolk Punch’ as clarified for those in search of the elusive English milk punch but readers will be grateful for its exhumation by any name. This one screams eighteenth century authenticity in its blend only of brandy, citrus, sugar and wine along, of course, with the milk for fining. As usual with Heath, a succinct and sensible description of process:

“Peel six Lemons and three Seville Oranges very thinly, squeeze the juice into a large jug, and pour in two quarts of Brandy and one of White Wine. Add a quart of Milk and a pound and a quarter of Sugar, mix well and leave for twenty-four hours. Then run it through a jelly-bag, and bottle it.”

Notes:

-Heath’s habit throughout Good Drinks of capitalizing principal nouns is both evocative of the on again off again eighteenth century manner and helpful to those who rush through recipes in this century of the digitized short attention span.

-Beware. In common with the Heath rendition of Escoffier punch, this is a strong one. Most formulae cut the spirit and wine with a dose of water.

-If you do not have any jellybags, but you should have some, they are handy for all manner of unexpected exigencies, stick a coffee filter in a strainer and run the punch through them.

-We are partial to Iberian brandies for building milk punch. Maciera from Spain is leathery and robust. Even better, in a nod to the oldest (English) ally, try a Croft or other Port House Brandy from Portugal. Logically enough their brandy tastes vaguely of Port. As an added bonus the Iberians represent extremely good value for money.

-The punch would remain entirely authentic, and become a little more attractively lethal, if Madeira (not too sweet), Port (it should be ruby, if only for the attractive pink tint it produces) or Sherry (not too dry) were to replace the white wine. Only a thought.

-Do lighten up the sugar content a little as you wish if, like us, your sweet tooth is not particularly prominent.