Feuerzangenbowle Recipe: Germany's Flaming Punch

Ingredients

50¾ oz dry red wine two bottles, fruity and not too tannic
1 orange unwaxed, sliced
1 lemon unwaxed, sliced
2 cinnamon stick
5 whole cloves
2 star anise (optional)
250 g sugarloaf one cone
6¾ oz overproof rum for about 8 servingse.g. Wray & Nephew · Bacardi 151 · Plantation · Stroh

Garnish: Orange slices, cinnamon stick · Ice: Served up, no ice

Method

Heat the red wine with the orange and lemon slices, cinnamon, cloves and star anise until hot but not boiling, then transfer to a heatproof punch pot on a burner.
Lay the sugarloaf holder across the pot and place the sugarloaf on it.
Soak the sugarloaf evenly with a few tablespoons of rum and light it carefully with a long match.
Keep adding rum with a long ladle, never straight from the bottle, until the sugar has melted into the wine.
Once the flame is out, stir, remove the spices and serve in heatproof glasses or mugs.

Watch it made

Feuerzangenbowle

Taste

Warm, fruity and spiced: red wine, orange and cinnamon, with dark caramel notes from the burnt sugar and rum. Sweet but not syrupy, and stronger than regular mulled wine.

History and origin

Feuerzangenbowle takes its name from the "Feuerzange", the fire tongs once used to hold the sugarloaf over the punch; today a special metal holder laid across the pot does the job. The practice of burning rum-soaked sugar over hot wine is older than its fame in Germany suggests.

Its cultural status comes largely from Heinrich Spoerl's 1933 novel "Die Feuerzangenbowle" and its best-known film adaptation of 1944, starring Heinz Rühmann. The story begins with a group of men reminiscing over a steaming Feuerzangenbowle. Screenings of the film, often with a punch prepared on site, have become a pre-Christmas tradition in many German university towns, and the drink is a fixture of German Christmas markets.

Bartender tips

Safety first: work on a stable, fireproof surface, keep the rum bottle closed and far from the flame, and never pour from the bottle into the fire.
The rum must have at least 54% ABV; weaker rum will not burn reliably.
Do not let the wine boil, or the alcohol evaporates and the spices turn bitter.

Variations

Alcohol-free version: Use red grape juice with the same spices and melt the sugar without flaming; it is sweet, so add lemon juice.
White Feuerzangenbowle: Use dry white wine with apple and orange slices for a lighter, fruitier punch.