Friday’s Featured Cocktail: Aristocrat Sparkling Punch

Punch is a great way serve an alcoholic beverage at your party. It can be time consuming mixing cocktails for each guest and when you’re hosting a crowd – punch can be a simple and special solution. I found this wonderful recipe on Gourmet.com.  The site has added a brilliant new page for classic cocktail recipes!  It’s organized by timeline and offers the most popular cocktail recipes for each decade.  It’s a great resource and a fun read. I love this particular party punch for fall, since it incorporates Burgundy wine. The presentation of fruit atop the floating block of ice is different and dramatic. Use seasonal fruits – for fall, apples, grapes, oranges and pears are perfect.

I have included an excerpt from the original article.

FEBRUARY 1942
By Don Summers from “Punch Is for Parties.” In it, he counsels: “Feature the unusual for zip and zing, and your artifice will be the talk of the social whirl. The use of special teas—even plain black tea, brewed double strength, or weak green tea—often adds a distinctive flavor to a punch, and then there is that old chef’s standby, a dash of vanilla.” The “Burgundy” Summers calls for would probably have been a California red, since French wine—already in short supply—would’ve been nonexistent in 1942. You can use any relatively light dry red wine.

ARISTOCRAT SPARKLING PUNCH

Recipe:

• Dissolve 1 cup cube sugar in 1 cup—from a quart—of sparkling water, and pour into a punch bowl.
• Add 1 bottle Burgundy and 4 ounces brandy, stirring well.
• Place a block of ice in the bowl, and pour in 2 bottles Champagne and the rest of the sparkling water.
• Garnish the top of the ice block with strawberries or raspberries, or other fruit in season, and float thin slices of 2 oranges on the punch.

 

* Dawn’s Note: An empty milk carton makes a great block of ice. Cut off the top and give it a good wash so the ice doesn’t smell. Then fill it up with some water and freeze. It may take a couple of days to get the ice nice and hard. When you’re ready just run some hot water over the sides of the milk carton and peel away the sides.

Image Credit and Recipe Credit to Gourmet.com