Bah Humbug!
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We are in the final week of the year and I have just a few more holiday-themed posts. You can view previous Christmas recipes here. Today’s focus is the Charles Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol, featuring the hot beverage negus.
I’m honestly ready for this year’s holiday season to be over. While most years I readily embrace the holiday spirit, I just can’t get into it this year. The past few months seemed to fly by so quickly, leaving me stressed and unprepared for the holidays. You could even say I was a bit of a Scrooge this year. So it’s pretty fitting that today I’m making this recipe from A Christmas Carol.
The drink Negus in A Christmas Carol
This book hardly needs an introduction. Even if you haven’t read the book, there are numerous film adaptations, and even a Muppet version. “Scrooge” and “Bah Humbug” have even become part of our holiday vocabulary. But if you somehow happen to be unfamiliar with the plot, I’ll give a quick summary. A Christmas Carol is the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly man who hates Christmas and other people and pretty much everything else except money. This miserable guy goes to bed on Christmas Eve and has some unexpected visitors–the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. These phantoms show him the mistakes of his past, what he’s missing out on in the present, and the dismal future in store for him if he doesn’t change his ways.
One of the scenes from Scrooge’s past is his former boss old Fezziwig’s Christmas party. Reliving this party full of music, dancing, and food, Scrooge realizes what an awful boss he is in comparison. This marks the beginning of his change of heart.
“There were more dances, and there were forfeits, and more dances, and there was cake, and there was negus, and there was a great piece of Cold Roast, and there was a great piece of Cold Boiled, and there were mince-pies, and plenty of beer.”
A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol Negus Recipe
While Fezziwig’s party offers a lot of food, I was intrigued by the mention of negus, something I had never heard of before. Upon further research, negus is actually mentioned in a lot of British literature, particularly works of the 1800s. While it seems to have fallen out of fashion, I actually found this drink highly enjoyable, and have been making some all week! This warm, slightly boozy beverage is perfect for a cold winter’s night!
A Christmas Carol Negus Ingredients
This is a pretty uncomplicated drink to make. There are various types of port wine, so you could experiment with different varieties, but after a little research I chose to go with a tawny port, which has a slightly nutty flavor. To this you add some fresh squeezed lemon juice, and a little bit of simple syrup. It is extremely easy to make your own simple syrup–simply combine equal parts sugar and water (I usually do 1/2 cup of each and save the leftovers in the fridge) over heat until the sugar dissolves, then let it cool.
While not all negus recipes call for a cinnamon stick, and some use nutmeg instead, I found that the cinnamon stick was the perfect addition to round out the flavor of this drink. Once you combine all of these ingredients in your mug, top it with some boiling water and enjoy!
