Flamingo Musings

Cooking, Canning, Baking - It's All Kosher

Flamingo’s Mulled Wine Cocktail For Thanksgivukkah

 

I have to admit to having flipped out just a little bit when I discovered that Thanksgiving falls on the first day of Chanukah, this year. For all of its funkiness, using the lunar calendar, and always having Jewish holidays fall on different days every year, nothing this weird has ever happened in my lifetime.  In fact, the last time Chanukah fell on Thanksgiving was in 1888. The next time? No one knows. Really.  This once in a lifetime event has been dubbed: Thanksgivukkah. And just to prove that we can continue to find 112 different ways to spell a holiday name – even, Thanksgivukah. So, don’t worry about offending anyone by misspelling this Jewish holiday – we know what you mean.

As soon as I remembered that I haven’t run out to go shopping at 4:00 am on “Black Friday” in years, I pretty much calmed down. As it turns out, lots of people are having a pretty good time with this. Some 11 year old kid designed a “Menurkey” – a Chanukah menorah shaped like a turkey, and crowd-funded its production in something like 10 minutes.  There are Thanksgivukkah cards, partyware – you name it.

Then Stefani of The Cupcake Project said, “Hey, kids! Let’s put on a show!”  And for the last several weeks, a bunch of us bloggers have been designing hybrid Thanksgiving/Chanukah dishes to celebrate, not just our diversity, but our collective sense of humor.  Every dish, whether appetizer, main course, or dessert, has been created to be deliciously evocative of both Thanksgiving and Chanukah.

It fell to me to create a cocktail that would honor both the secular day of giving thanks, and our very own holiday of gift giving.  It’s pretty nippy in most areas of the country at the end of November (I know – a lot of you are shoveling snow as I write this!), so what would be better than a nice hot glass of Mulled Wine – with Manischewitz or Mogen David as the base?

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Flamingo’s Thanksgivukkah Mulled Wine Cocktail

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups water
  • 4 Tbs sugar
  • 1 large or 2 small lemons, sliced thin
  • 1 tsp. whole cloves
  • 3-4 cinnamon sticks, broken up (plus more for garnish)
  • 1 large whole nutmeg, broken into several pieces
  • 1  1.5 liter bottle sweet kosher wine (your choice of flavor – it really doesn’t matter)

Preparation:

In a large, non-reactive saucepan, put the water, sugar and lemon slices.  Bring to a simmer over medium heat, and continue simmering for 10 minutes. Place the spices into a square of cheesecloth and tie into a pouch with a piece of kitchen twine.

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Add the spice pouch to the pot with the water and lemons.  Continue simmering for an additional 10 minutes.  Your house will begin to smell divine!

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Pour the wine into the saucepan.  Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat, then immediately reduce to low and simmer for 5 minutes.

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Remove the wine from the heat, allow to cool a bit, and ladle into heat-proof cups or glasses (preferably with handles – not the cute jelly jars I used here! Hot!). Garnish with lemon slices and cinnamon sticks, and serve to your chilly adult guests. Give the kids cider. Or grape juice. The wine has not been heated long enough to cook off the alcohol, and it retains all of its original properties, so go easy!  This will serve 10-12, depending on the size of the cups/glasses you serve it in.

If, like me, you live in a warm part of the country that’s not likely to have frigid temperatures on Thanksgivukkah, you can still enjoy these traditional flavors. Simply make your mulled wine the day before and chill it in the refrigerator. Serve it to your guests over ice with a splash or two of seltzer!

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The tart lemon and aromatic spices balance the sweetness of the wine, enhancing this traditional warm and welcoming greeting for your Thanksgivukkah guests.  And helping us celebrate the fact that our shopping’s done! WooHoo! Oh, wait! You know your favorite Flamingo isn’t going to just leave it here, right? Oh, no – I’ve taken it a few steps further. Now available on Thursday’s post. Bwaaahahahahahahaha!   Oops. Wrong holiday… So, let’s move on to the rest of our celebratory meal!

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Read about how this project came to be from our host, Stefani of The Cupcake Project.  And check out these other ideas for Thanksgiving/Chanukah fusion dishes:

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Comments

  5. Renee,
    I must know–how do you crack open a nutmeg? I’m picturing myself with a hammer and the damn thing skittering out of reach while I bang directly on my granite countertop.
    This is a brilliant idea, mulled wine, and I love your warm weather adaptations.
    Thanks!

    • Kirsten, you’d be surprised how soft a nutmeg really is. I usually just put a folded kitchen towel on the counter and put the nutmeg on the towel. That will keep it from skittering away. Take a sharp knife. One hand firmly grasping the handle and the palm of the other hand pressing down on top of the blade (keeping my fingers safely up and away from the blade, of course!), it will cut easily through the nutmeg. No hacking or hammering required. 😀 And thank you so much!

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