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How to make a Victorian smoking bishop
Published: December 21, 2023 at 3:09 PM
Serves 8 - 10
Difficulty 2/10
Total time: 30 mins
Food historian Eleanor Barnett concocts a drink for the winter months
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Made with port, roasted oranges and/or lemons, sugar and spices, this is an easy-to-make historical take on mulled wine that was associated with Christmas in the Victorian period. It also features in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. When the old miser Scrooge has his pivotal change of heart, he tells his clerk: “A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you, for many a year!... we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon, over a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop, Bob!”
Replace the port with claret wine and you’ve got a smoking archbishop
The recipe to the left is based on English food writer Eliza Acton’s 1845 version. The drink is probably described as ‘smoking’ because of the steam that rises from it. A whole host of drinks made with wine were known as ‘ecclesiastics’, and were named after orders within the Catholic church – perhaps because of the mitre-like shape of the glass in which they were served, though in truth we don’t know for sure why this name stuck.
Replace the port with claret wine and you’ve got a smoking archbishop; use champagne to make a smoking cardinal; or use Hungarian white Tokaji wine for a smoking pope. Happy feasting!
Ingredients
- 2 Large oranges
- Whole cloves
- 250ml Water
- 1tsp Sugar
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- Pinch of nutmeg
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Method
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step 1
Stick cloves into the oranges and roast at 200°C/gas mark 7 for 20 minutes.
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step 2
Boil the water with the spices until the liquid has reduced by half.
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step 3
Meanwhile, boil the bottle of port.
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step 4
Mix liquids with sugar and lemon juice.
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step 5
Cut the roasted oranges in half and add them to the mixture so they float.
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step 6
Sprinkle with a pinch of nutmeg to serve.
Eleanor Barnett is a food historian at Cardiff University and @historyeats on Instagram. Her book, Leftovers: A History of Food Waste and Preservation (Head of Zeus), is out in 2024
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