Glogg Links
By raincoasterTo be quite frank, Glogg is horrible to the point of turning your mouth into a place old spiders go to die and really aught to be the name of a Scandinavian troll of questionable hygene instead of a mildly intoxicating mulled wine drink, but having tasted Glogg the beverage I have to say that I can’t rule out it simply being the distilled legpit perspiration of said troll. I mean, have you put that stuff in your mouth? WHY OH GOD WHY???
Where was I?
Celebrity Dad Faceoff: Clark Gable vs Cary Grant (TeenyManolo)
Diddybreath; that just can’t be good! (AgentBedhead)
Poor Miley Cyrus gets hand-me-downs for her birthday (AmyGrindhouse)
America’s favorite felon is great company when she gets a few belts in her (CeleBitchy)
Jennifer Aniston ties one on (Websters)
The Battle of Christmas (AprilWinchell)
Tara Reid Promises to rehab this time for sure (TMZ)
The Devil Wears SeanJohn? (ASL)
The past tense of Reality Star is… (WOWReport)
Disney goes to the Porn Emporium (SeriouslyOMG)
Daniel Craig, 40, rocks the 65-year-old Scottish mackerel fisherman look (JustJared)
Lost Olsen Triplet found! (IBBB)
Brian Grazer donates to the needy (CandyKirby)
Hugh Jackman hosts the Oscars (DListed)
KFed is back, ladies! (GabbyBabble)
At least TWO teenage boys are sick of Hugh Hefner’s lothario routine (Defamer)
John Mayer enjoys Don Rickles’ technique of tension and release (CelebritySmack)
December 13th, 2008 at 9:45 am
Gløgg, when done improperly, can certainly be that way. When done properly, however, it is a cup of heaven.
On a recent FN special, Alton Brown made a mulled wine using an old coffee percolator for brewing and dispensing. The problem with using this method for gløgg is that the percolator cannot also dispense the raisins and slivered almonds which are essential to both the brewing process and the enjoyment.
Of course, even done properly, you may simply not like it. More for the rest of us!
December 13th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Well, it certainly SOUNDED like I’d like it, but I think the bartendress’s immoderation with the cloves may have scarred my sinuses for life.
December 15th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
Yeek; I should’ve know when you said “mildly intoxicating” that whoever made it wasn’t doing it right. My family’s recipe goes as such:
Gløgg
You will need the following ingredients.
One bottle of red wine (magnum) 3L
200 grams of sugar (add more to taste especially if wine is dry)
2 whole cardamom seeds
5 whole cloves
1 stick of whole cinnamon
100 grams of raisons (seed free)
100 grams of almonds
.25 bottle of brandy (just for alcohol not necessary)
.5 bottle of port (mostly for alcohol some taste)
1) Heat the red wine and sugar until just below boiling.
Enjoy!!
(Note alcohol boils at 78.5 C so don’t boil)
2) Add spices in flow-through bag (cheese cloth or similar)
3) Add chopped almonds, sans inner lining.
4) Add raisons
5) Simmer wine (DO NOT BOIL!!!!) for 5 – 10 minutes
6) Allow to cool for another 5 – 10 minutes
7) Add brandy port etc (if necessary)
* It can be advantageous to taste test gløgg during the cooking process and modify recipe accordingly.
December 16th, 2008 at 5:30 am
See, now that’s more like it. I think this woman took some Thunderbird and crushed a gingerbread house into it, then brought it to a boil. Certainly, my mouth had boils after tasting it.
December 16th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
My cousin’s mom is Swedish, and for the last umpteen years has been hosting an annual Swedish Christmas celebration, usually the weekend between Christmas and New Years. The evening starts with glogg, includes three kinds of home-pickled herring, a variety of cheese and breads, ham and six or seven kinds of mustard, meatballs and Jansen’s temptation (your choice of with or without herring), and ends with homemade currant-infused-vodka, aquavit, and 12 kinds of cookies.
(You may have guessed that this is a bit of a production, and she has actually decided she won’t be doing it any more. Poor us.)
Anyway, we like glogg!
December 17th, 2008 at 6:32 am
You’ll have to have me over.
I grew up in Winnipeg in an Irish family, so we had two Christmases: one on the 25th with the family, and one on Ukranian Christmas which is Epiphany and involved vast orgies of food production and consumption that to this day are some of my fondest childhood memories.
Alas, glogg-free, although I am quite sure the Irish Christmas was NOT non-alcoholic for the grown-ups.
December 18th, 2008 at 11:42 pm
mini_pixie, that sounds similar to a standard 11:00 AM lunch at my parents house around Christmastime. There is a ritual.
First, everyone takes whatever type of herring they wish (my personal favorite is one in a mayonnaise & curry sauce), and assembles it on their bread with hard-boiled egg or caviar or whatnot. Then, each person must take a bite of the herring. The herring must be revived, so one takes a shot of akvavit. Once revived, the herring must swim, so one drinks some of one’s beer.
After the first bite and shots, everyone is free to continue consuming and imbibing at one’s own pace. To this day, I can very seldom consume akvavit much beyond noon (to put it in perspective, my family considers limoncello to be strictly a breakfast drink).
Remind me why I still have a liver?
December 19th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Oh, yes, the beer, I almost forgot the table is always decorated with all different sizes and types of glasses, bottles of beer, wine and water so people can choose their favorite…
We never did the synchronized herring revival, but then again nearly half the guests were under drinking age for most of the years. Recently as my generation has gotten older there’s been more emphasis on the booze side of things, though.
My aunt even printed out booklets with the different drinking songs transliterated so we could sing them – which usually devolved fairly quickly into a contest between the “grown up” table and the “kid” table, to see who could sing “Sweet Caroline” louder and more drunkly. Ah, memories.
December 19th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Oh, my. “The Synchronized Herring Ritual” sounds like a Dadaist ballet or something. The mind assplodes at the sheer awesomeness of the concept.
@Obi-Wandreas: obviously, herring is protective of the liver.