The Milk Punch
For the morning afterFor the morning after, which in this Club sometimes arrives before the evening before has concluded
Milk Punch is among the oldest of all cocktails — Benjamin Franklin had a recipe. British aristocrats made it in batches in the 18th century, clarifying it through the curd-forming action of milk to produce a liquid of impossible clarity and unsettling smoothness, shelf-stable for months. The Club serves both the clarified batch version and the New Orleans version.
Ingredients
- 750 ml
Aged Cognac
VSOP minimum, from a house in the Grande Champagne region. "Appropriately austere."
- 250 ml
Aged Jamaican rum
Full-bodied, pot-still expression, funky and deep, to provide the bottom note that Cognac alone cannot supply.
- 200 ml
Fresh lemon juice
- 150 ml
Oleo saccharum
Made by burying peels of twelve lemons and six oranges in 200g caster sugar, sealed, for twelve hours.
- 100 ml
Cold whole milk
Used to clarify. Pour into the cold punch mixture. Do not stir. Watch the curds form.
- 1
Vanilla pod
Split and scraped.
- 5
Green cardamom pods
Lightly crushed.
- 600 ml
Cold water
A single piece of dried mace — the outer casing of the nutmeg — floated on the surface. Sourced from the Banda Islands in eastern Indonesia. The Archaeologist provided the first supply.
Method
The Treasurer begins this six days before the Conclave. Combine everything except the milk.
Heat the milk separately to just below a simmer and pour it into the cold punch mixture. Do not stir.
Watch the curds form. Strain through a coffee filter into a clean vessel.
The first pass will be cloudy. Pour it back through the same filter. Repeat until the liquid runs completely clear.
Bottle and refrigerate. It will improve for four to six days.
Serve in a chilled crystal glass over one large ice cube, with a fresh grating of whole nutmeg.
"The clarified punch is proof that patience applied with sufficient precision removes everything cloudy and leaves only what is essential. I find this broadly applicable." — The Treasurer, holding a glass to the light at the 2009 Conclave.