The Bowl's the Thing Notes on holiday punch

     

To every season, there is a punch. There are cooler punches bobbing with lime sherbet as green as spring itself, and there are tawny back-to-school punches as only college sophomores can concoct – the fall breeze quickening their pulses as they decant the second handle of Everclear and cast about for more powdered drink mix. During this season of jollity it’s time to get serious about punch. Holiday punch is the essence of holiday entertaining, but what is the essence of holiday punch?

Quantity is chief among its special qualities. The bowl is the thing. (By this standard, Planter’s Punch, properly served in a Collins glass, would not qualify as punch unless the Collins glass were four feet tall and accompanied by a Brobdingnagian ladle.) But we needn’t be too choosy about the particulars of the vessel. Stockpots and crockpots, crystal and pewter basin, 10-gallon Gatorade coolers and 6-quart salad spinners with no-skid bases – all are viable. Kingsley Amis somewhere proposes a baby bath. Charles Dickens specifies a common basin "which may be broken in case of accident, without damage to the owner’s peace or pocket." Accidents will happen. In all its guises – even kiddie fizzes laced with nothing more potent than red food coloring – punch invites frolicsome gluttony.

Mulling the matter, let us continue with a note on mulled ciders and other toasty potions. That note will be brief. "There is not much to be said in general about these," as Amis once wrote. "They will warm you up, and they will make you drunk if you drink enough of them." Also, when lovingly seasoned with allspice berries and cloves and such, they do double-duty as air fresheners. The most venerable of the hot punches is the wassail, an apple-ish drink tied to harvest rituals, Saturnalian cavorts, and Yuletide caroling. It would be most properly traditional to prepare it with ale. But let’s be clear that we are talking about a tradition that involves going door to door to sing songs that threaten violence: "If you don’t open up your door, we’ll lay you flat upon the floor." The wassail is the most pungent reminder of punch’s pagan nature.

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December 22, 2010