Smoking Bishop

A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens, 1843

1 (750 ml) bottle of red wine

1 tablespoon orange zest

1 tablespoon lemon zest

3 whole cloves

1 star anise pod

2 cardamom pods

½ cup honey

½ cup ruby port

Cinnamon sticks, for garnish

Place all of the ingredients, except for the port and cinnamon sticks, in a saucepan and bring to a simmer.

Remove the pan from heat, stir in the port, and ladle the cocktail into mugs. Garnish each serving with a cinnamon stick and enjoy.

“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! Make up the fires, and buy another coal-scuttle before you dot another I, Bob Cratchit!”

After the grouchy old miser, Ebeneezer Scrooge, has his ghost-driven change of heart on Christmas Eve, he invites his put-upon clerk to sit with him on a cold December afternoon by a warm fire and discuss Bob’s new salary and other assistance over a “Christmas bowl of smoking bishop.”

This warming winter drink would have been the perfect concoction on such a chilly day. It’s a delicious combination of red wine (a Burgundy would be perfect), ruby port, sugar, spices, and citrus fruits, all warmed so that it gently steams (hence, the “smoking” part of the name). It might just ward off a few of those unwanted Christmas spirits—you know, the paranormal kind…