Out of everything I’ve made in the kitchen, mixed drinks are my favorite. Combining ingredients and watching how the colors mix or layer, testing how the flavors make something beautiful or wretched. It’s a pleasing culinary science for this amateur.
One of my favorite cocktails is mulled wine. I’m a big winter fan, and this lovely drink goes well with flannel sheets, warm pajama pants, and thick socks on a cold day. When I can be bothered to make it, that is. Wine isn’t one of my regular staples, and even good wine that’s fair to my wallet can have me holding off on mulling it.
(Yes, there was an opportunity for a “mulling it over” pun there. I was good and passed it up.)
Seeing how I also modified an original recipe and may give in to the desire to throw in something different every time, it’s never the same drink. (Within reason, of course. I don’t recommend pouring in ketchup or wet cat food, but if you’re that adventurous, I guess I can’t stop you.) Despite my love of this recipe, I was never confident that it was all that great. So I figured I’d try a professional chef’s recipe. Who better than to make a recipe that works?
Andrew Zimmern’s recipe for mulled wine seemed just the thing to try. Anyone who’s watched Food Network or the Travel Channel has at least heard of one of his shows in the Bizarre Foods series. Besides hosting TV and radio shows, he’s also a YouTuber with this series Andrew Zimmern Cooks. In fact, you can watch his video for mulled wine and compare our versions.
No, it’s not a fancy gathering of supplies, but remember whose blog you’re on. Not plugging any kind of brand, but Apothic Red was the best wine I picked out in the grocery store. The only reason why the label is showing is most of my reflection was caught in any other shot.
I had to halve the recipe so I could fit it all in a small pot. Common knowledge claims that having a glass of red wine every day is good for you, but there’s no way I’m going to enjoy two bottles of wine over the weeks and not get sick of it. One bottle will do, as will the 1.5 tablespoons brown sugar, 1/2 cinnamon stick, 4 cloves, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1 inch piece of ginger, and 1 orange.
The air was thick with the scent of wine… and not much else. I was hoping that some citrus tones would have popped up. Adding the full amount of other ingredients did occur to me (maybe not the cloves); so did the question of why the scent of cooking wine concerned me. Taste should have been a priority.
Believe it or not, it didn’t really taste all that different from regular red wine. Maybe it was sharper and stayed on the tongue longer, but I couldn’t make out any of the other flavors. But this was fresh from the pot. Flavors tend to improve when they sit, usually for several hours. So I let it cool to room temperature, rebottled it, and put it in the fridge.
I gave the wine several hours. In fact, I gave it several hours adding up to a week on account of forgetfulness (good thing I had the foresight to rebottle it). I warmed up a single serving in a mug, took a sip, and found it much better.
There’s a definite tang from the citrus and maybe the ginger, and the combined flavors now punch the inside of the cheeks, prompting a rush of saliva. The scent—wait, I should be using wine terms here—I mean, bouquet was… it was… shit, I actually need to look up how to do this.
Ah, here go, How to Describe Your Favorite Wine in 6 Words or Less from Wine Access.
Image credit: Wine Access
[Note: People using text readers are invited to read Wine Access’s page on wine flavor profile to understand the chart above.]
Okay, it’s… apple crispy and spice-punched orange-y… aggressive like a too-tight spiked collar… with earthy fruit intensity… with a mouthfeel of an opulent sumo wrestler… and the sweetness of unidentifiable, somewhat bland sweets in cube form.
Somehow I don’t think I did that correctly.
In any case, Mr. Zimmern’s recipe is classier than my personal version. I may share that one in the future, but I wouldn’t mind trying this one again, if only to experiment with the flavors. Who’s to say I can’t decrease the wine but keep the other ingredients at their original measurements? It’ll be worth a shot. Or a full glass.
*sigh* I’ll send myself to the corner.
