Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Here We Come A-Wassailing!

This is going to be chock-full of good information, so be sure to pay close attention.

Philosopher, I am not.  Now, PhilosophIZER, that's more up my alley.  (BTW, I didn't know that was a real word, I thought Derek Zoolander made it up.  Whatevs.)  Anyway, see if you can follow this A+B=C philosophizing.

1.  To Wassail means To Carol
2.  Wassail is also an Alcohol Treat

So, it stands to reason that the carol "Here We Go A-Wassailling" is ambiguous, correct?  Here is the proof:

Here we come a-wassailing
Among the leaves so green;
Here we come a-wand'ring
So fair to be seen.

Carolling?  Drinking?  From reading those lyrics I think possibly both.  So I say, let's all get our Wassail on!  Woot Woot!  And in case you were curious, here is a recipe for Wassail courtesy of Alton Brown (the first recipe I found was from the Pagan/Wiccan site, thought that was interesting).  Skip all of the purple if you don't care.

Ingredients
  • 6 small Fuji apples, cored
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 72 ounces ale
  • 750 ml Madeira
  • 10 whole cloves
  • 10 whole allspice berries
  • 1 cinnamon stick, 2-inches long
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon ground nutmed
  • 6 large eggs, separated
Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Put the apples into an 8 by 8-inch glass baking dish. Spoon the brown sugar into the center of each apple, dividing the sugar evenly among them. Pour the water into the bottom of the dish and bake until tender, about 45 minutes.  Pour the ale and Madeira into a large slow cooker. Put the cloves, allspice, and cinnamon into a small muslin bag or cheesecloth, tied with kitchen twine, and add to the slow cooker along with the ginger and nutmeg. Set the slow cooker to medium heat and bring the mixture to at least 120 degrees F. Do not boil.  Add the egg whites to a medium bowl and using a hand mixer, beat until stiff peaks form. Put the egg yolks into a separate bowl and beat until lightened in color and frothy, approximately 2 minutes. Add the egg whites to the yolks and using the hand mixer, beat, just until combined. Slowly add 4 to 6 ounces of the alcohol mixture from the slow cooker to the egg mixture, beating with the hand mixer on low speed. Return this mixture to the slow cooker and whisk to combine.  Add the apples and the liquid from the baking dish to the wassail and stir to combine. Ladle into cups and serve.

I don't know about you, but I'm going to Wassail my ass off for Christmas celebrations!  Is that wrong?  And I use the term "Wassail" in the "drinking" sense because I can honestly tell you that I won't be trying this recipe.  Mainly because I don't feel like going through the hassle when I can just open a bottle of wine. 

Have I cluttered your brain with enough mindless drivel for one day?  Awesome.  Don't forget to enter the giveaway below if you haven't yet!  And because I've been so ridiculous today, I will leave you with this:
How cute are those leetle red shoes on my sweet boy?

3 comments:

  1. I will be missing out on the wassiling this Christmas.. but it's for a good cause!

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  2. Dude-I have never heard this song before in my life. Wow. I guess this is how everyone feels daily after reading my blog. I was wondering if it would possible for you to post a sound bite of you singing this song so I can Shazam it??

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  3. I fear I may have been drinking drugs last night and I realize this morning that the above comment makes absolutely no sense. I would like to retract said statement on the premise that I am not very bright...dumb, if I may be so blunt. Much apologies. However, I still don't know this song...

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