[Sca-cooks] sugarcones was: casseroles and other stray threads

[Volker Bach]

Bethra Spicewell schrieb:

> Ro-Tel is available up here, too. My pantry shelf is never without at
> least one can, usually 3 or more.  There's a large Hispanic population
> just across the southern border into MA, so there's a lot of really
> interesting things at one of the supermarkets to buy and try. Last
> month I got a sugar cone. No, not for ice cream - a cone of sugar,
> about 4 in high and 2 across the bottom. Not sure what I'll do with it
> yet, but there are possibilities.

Have you ever heard of 'Feuerzangenbowle' or
'punch royale'? It's a German traditional thing,
more beloved I guess for its spectacle than its
taste. Basically you need a copper pot and a metal
grid, frame or bridge that you can put over it to
suspend the sugarcone. It has to look something
like this

    /\ sugarcone
---------- grid or similar
 |      |
 |      | copper pot
 |______|


The pot is filled with 2-3 liters of red wine, hot
but not boiling. Add the zest of one orange and
4-5 whole cloves. Then spoon some strong arrack
over the sugarcone and set it alight. Repeat until
the entire sugarcone has melted and dripped down
into the wine and dissolved. The resulting
alcoholic and extremely sweet drink is
traditionally served in mugs on saucers covered in
coarse salt soaked with spirits and - yes -
burning. In a dark room. It isn't period, but it
looks damned impressive (can't vouch for the
taste, I never dared).

yours pyromanically

Giano