Home › The Principles of Cookery › Oxford Bishop
Oxford Bishop
Rub three ounces of sugar in lumps on the rind of a fresh lemon until all the yellow part is taken off. Put the pieces of sugar into a jug, and strain over them half the lemon-juice. Score the rind of another lemon or of a Seville orange, stick into it half a dozen cloves, and roast it before a slow fire. Put a salt-spoonful each of cloves, allspice, cinnamon, ginger, and mace into a saucepan, with half a pint of water, and simmer very gently for half an hour. Pour the liquid, without straining it, upon the roasted lemon, add the flavoured sugar, and a bottle of good port from which part of the spirit has been burnt out. Stir the mixture over the fire for a few minutes, and serve hot, with the spices and lemon in the punch. Probable cost, exclusive of the port, 6d. Sufficient for a pint and a half of punch.
A hot spiced port punch of the Victorian Christmas type. The whole thing hinges on heat control: once the port is in, it must never simmer.
- Salt-spoonfulAn old salt-spoon holds roughly a quarter teaspoon. Five spices at that measure is about 1 1/4 teaspoons of ground spice total, steeped in half an imperial pint of water (10 fl oz, a little over a US cup).
- The sugar rubRubbing lump sugar over the lemon zest is the technique now called oleo-saccharum: the sugar draws out the peel oil and gives a far brighter citrus note than grated zest. Three ounces is a scant half cup of granulated sugar; pressed against the lemon with the back of a spoon it works if you have no lumps.
- Roasting the lemon"Before a slow fire" means slow radiant heat; the book names no oven. A moderate oven (around 325F) for 25-30 minutes, turning once, is a reasonable stand-in; the clove-studded fruit should be soft and fragrant, not blackened.
- Burning out part of the spiritWarming the port and igniting it briefly reduces the alcohol and softens the raw edge. Do it in a wide pan off the heat source, with the extractor fan off, and cover the pan to extinguish. Skipping this step entirely is fine; the punch will simply be stronger.
- Do not boil the finished punch"Stir over the fire for a few minutes" means no more than steaming hot; around 150-160F is the usual target. Boiling drives off the aromatics and tends to leave the wine tasting flat and stewed.
- The portThe recipe asks only for "good port"; a ruby is the usual modern choice. The unstrained spice water leaves a slight cloudiness and grit at the bottom of the glass, which the original does intend -- it says to pour the liquid without straining and to serve the spices in the punch -- but strain it if that bothers you.
- YieldA pint and a half, imperial, is about 30 fl oz, near four cups, or four to six small glasses. Serve in warmed glasses or cups, with the roasted lemon floating in the bowl.
- The 6dSixpence covered the sugar, lemons and spices only. The port was the real expense, and Cassell's leaves you to price your own.
Bishop belongs to a small family of English mulled wine punches named, apparently in jest, after the church hierarchy: bishop made with port, cardinal with claret, and pope with champagne or burgundy. The drink was well established in the eighteenth century — Swift commends it, and Dickens has Scrooge propose a bowl of "smoking bishop" to Bob Cratchit at the close of A Christmas Carol — and the "Oxford" tag is generally traced to the university common rooms, where it was a winter fixture. The roasted, clove-stuck lemon or Seville orange is the signature of the older recipes rather than a garnish: scorching the peel caramelises its sugars and oils, which is what separates a bishop from ordinary mulled wine. Its appearance in a Victorian household dictionary, priced to the penny, shows how completely a college and tavern drink had become a domestic one.