"A merry Christmas, Bob!" said Scrooge, with an earnestness that could not be mistaken, as he clapped him on the back. "A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you, for many a year! I'll raise your salary, and endeavour to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon, over a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop, Bob!" (Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol , Stave Five: "The End of It")
Great recipe and it must be good if it raises old Ebenezer's spirits. Plus, that is a true punch recipe, so it is much more appropriate for the title of this post. And, more appropriately, Smoking Bishop, unless Dickens' typesetter was drinking one at the time, is the proper name.
So I was wrong on many fronts. However, I'm not taking the fall for this one. I'd like to get Bob's memory on this. Perhaps you were too young to remember, but we made, what we (apparently incorrectly) called steaming bishops—which was just port wine, with perhaps some cinnamon, into which we dipped a hot poker from the fireplace. That was the essential ingredient. Dad and Bob were the instigators and ever after I pleaded to make them each Christmastide. My memory is, we always called them steaming bishops. Do you even remember sitting in the living room and sticking a hot poker into your cup of wine?
And, yes, Dad and Bob claimed that it came from Dickens' A Christmas Carol, but I never checked the reference, but in those pre-internet days they actually did some library research to come up with the wine, hot poker recipe.
Yes, I do remember dipping the hot poker in cups of wine. I have no memory, however, of whether we called them smoking or steaming. Mostly, I remember the poker being not all that clean and the resulting drink tasting pretty much like ash. It also seems to me that -- as with most crazy ideas I recall from my early life -- the instigator on this one was Pete.
I've always been curious as to the origins of the name "Smoking Bishop." I always assumed that it arose from times when the members of church hierarchy were less than popular, and refered to what happened to Bishops when things got a little hot for them.
But, as is so often the case, I am completely wrong on this. From the miracle of the internet, we discover this bit of lore:
The great grandson of Charles Dickens, Cedric, wrote a book called Drinking With Dickens. He says in his book that in Victorian times, people in Britain named their alcoholic beverages "clerical drinks." Drinks were named after different religious titles, usually based on the similarity between the colour of the wine and the colour of the ceremonial robes. For example, Burgundy wine was known as Pope (the colour of the wine was similar to the colour of the robes the Pope wore, and still wears), Champagne was known as Cardinal, Claret was called Archbishop, and Port was known as Bishop.
And you anti-religious types would deprive us of all this cleverness.
9 comments:
"A merry Christmas, Bob!" said Scrooge, with an earnestness that could not be mistaken, as he clapped him on the back. "A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you, for many a year! I'll raise your salary, and endeavour to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon, over a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop, Bob!" (Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol , Stave Five: "The End of It")
A smoking bishop! I would have sworn all these years we called it a steaming bishop. Have I been under a spell or is that a new translation?
Smoking Bishop
Recipe
5 unpeeled oranges
1 unpeeled grapefruit
36 cloves
1/4 pound of sugar
2 bottles of red wine
1 bottle of port
Wash the fruit and oven bake until brownish. Turn once.
Put fruit into a warmed earthenware bowl with six cloves stuck into each.
Add the sugar and pour in the wine - not the port. Cover and leave in a warm place for a day.
Squeeze the fruit into the wine and strain.
Add the port and heat. DO NOT BOIL!
Serve "smoking" warm. Yield: 15 to 20 servings
Great recipe and it must be good if it raises old Ebenezer's spirits. Plus, that is a true punch recipe, so it is much more appropriate for the title of this post. And, more appropriately, Smoking Bishop, unless Dickens' typesetter was drinking one at the time, is the proper name.
So I was wrong on many fronts. However, I'm not taking the fall for this one. I'd like to get Bob's memory on this. Perhaps you were too young to remember, but we made, what we (apparently incorrectly) called steaming bishops—which was just port wine, with perhaps some cinnamon, into which we dipped a hot poker from the fireplace. That was the essential ingredient. Dad and Bob were the instigators and ever after I pleaded to make them each Christmastide. My memory is, we always called them steaming bishops. Do you even remember sitting in the living room and sticking a hot poker into your cup of wine?
And, yes, Dad and Bob claimed that it came from Dickens' A Christmas Carol, but I never checked the reference, but in those pre-internet days they actually did some library research to come up with the wine, hot poker recipe.
Yes, I do remember dipping the hot poker in cups of wine. I have no memory, however, of whether we called them smoking or steaming. Mostly, I remember the poker being not all that clean and the resulting drink tasting pretty much like ash. It also seems to me that -- as with most crazy ideas I recall from my early life -- the instigator on this one was Pete.
I've always been curious as to the origins of the name "Smoking Bishop." I always assumed that it arose from times when the members of church hierarchy were less than popular, and refered to what happened to Bishops when things got a little hot for them.
But, as is so often the case, I am completely wrong on this. From the miracle of the internet, we discover this bit of lore:
The great grandson of Charles Dickens, Cedric, wrote a book called Drinking With Dickens. He says in his book that in Victorian times, people in Britain named their alcoholic beverages "clerical drinks." Drinks were named after different religious titles, usually based on the similarity between the colour of the wine and the colour of the ceremonial robes. For example, Burgundy wine was known as Pope (the colour of the wine was similar to the colour of the robes the Pope wore, and still wears), Champagne was known as Cardinal, Claret was called Archbishop, and Port was known as Bishop.
And you anti-religious types would deprive us of all this cleverness.
That may be the book they found. At least I got "port" right.
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