Glühwein
~ Frank ~
December is the time when many cities in northern Europe adopt the German tradition of the Weihnachtsmarkt, or in Flanders , the Kerstmarkt. Basically the Christmas Market or as I like to call it, Christmastown.
They put up a bunch of little timber kiosks and sell arts & craps (no, that is not a typo) and best of all food & drink!
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All across Europe people head to Christmas town to look around eat some food and get a little loaded. The drink most often proffered is Glühwein, warm mulled red wine. In France they call it vin chaud, not sure what the French know about wine…. Anyway, it’s a great accompaniment to bratwurst, tartiflette, or grilled pork sandwiches, all of which can be found at any decent Christmastown. We have a small issue in Antwerp this year as our Christmastown planning committee forgot about the good food and left us with a bunch of arts &, well you get the idea.
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At least we have our Glühwein to help us to achieve a Holiday glow. I especially like it fortified with rum, others prefer Amaretto or Cointreau. Still others prefer to chase it with Genever. Who am I to argue?
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Skol, eh!
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Glühwein
In large sauce pan over medium heat:
2 Bottles any type of Red Wine – two buck chuck (Trader Joe’s) wine is fine!
½ Cup Sugar or Honey
6-12 Whole Cloves
2 Cinnamon Sticks
1 Cup Rum, others prefer Amaretto or Cointreau, you can also use Brandy
Orange Rind
Heat until warm and keep on low for the day to spread the aroma throughout the house.
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Out of all the gazillion Christmas markets we've been to, this is the only photo I have and the mart isn't even in the photo, it's off to the left. All the other photos in the post have been taken from flickr. Please click on those photos for the credits.
The story is wonderful and the pictures are GREAT!! All of them!! All the years we lived in Belgium and I never took a picture of the row houses that I love so much.
We’ll try the recipe for New Years.
Cheers!
Beautiful pictures! Thanks for taking me on this wonderful tour! Happy New Year!
I wish I was there! It looks beautiful and very festive!
Such festive photos, wow, they sure do capture the spirit of the season. The beverage would disappear fast around here, even though we don’t have snow.
LL
So fun to read this post! I spent a couple weeks in Austria and Germany at the beginning of the month and visited a few Xmas markets and LOVED them (and the goodies and the Gluhwein!)… Such a fun, magical holiday tradition! Thanks for sharing your photos and your hot wine recipe 🙂
Oh, gosh…now I know where I want to go next year for the holidays! Beautiful photos~
Beautiful photographs. Wish I was there. The Gluhwein is awesome. I’ve been using a very similar recipe. I hope you enjoyed your holiday, and all the best wishes for a wonderful 2011.
Thanks,
Joanne
Great photos! Cheers!
NOW that place looks GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’d love to visit!
Mmm, you had me at gluwein. I love a shot of apple brandy in mine to achieve that natural red cheeked winter glow … happy New Year!
Sorry my response is so late. I have not been at Food Buzz in a few weeks.
This looks really good and warming on a cold day. The Christmastown looks like fun.