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A period dish

Ale Posset

A warm drink of ale curdled with hot cream or milk and sweetened with sugar and spice.

Serves 4

A posset was part food and part drink, made by pouring hot milk onto spiced ale so that it curdled into a soft, warming custard. It was taken at bedtime and often enriched with eggs and sack.

Ingredients

Produce

  • 1 lemon

Dairy & Eggs

  • 2 cup cream
  • 2 egg yolks

Pantry / Durable

  • 3 tbsp sugar

Spices & Seasoning

  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg

Other

  • 2 cup ale

Method

  1. Warm the ale in a large jug with sugar, cinnamon, and a little nutmeg.

  2. Heat the cream or milk with a strip of lemon peel until it steams.

  3. Pour the hot cream slowly into the ale and let the mixture stand so that it thickens and curdles gently.

  4. If you like, whisk in a beaten egg yolk for richness.

  5. Dust with more spice and drink warm, spooning up the curds.

Served at

The wager at Port-Royal · Paris, France

Monads at Hanover · Hanover, Germany