The English and Dutch East India Companies battle it out for spices, and Punch is invented! Featuring David Wondrich, Esquire writer and author of Punch and Imbibe!
Admiral Russell’s Punch recipe
Ingredients:
- 2 750ml bottles brandy (preferably VS-grade cognac)
- 18oz Montilla or oloroso sherry
- 18oz strained lemon juice (~12 lemons)
- 4oz strained lime juice (~4 limes)
- 2 1/2 cups demerara sugar
- 1 1/2 quarts and 1 cup water
- whole nutmeg
- Playmobil set 4295 (optional)
Size: 18 cups (~16 standard drinks)
Preparation
In a two-gallon punch bowl, dissolve sugar in 1 cup boiling water. Add lemon and lime juice, stir. Add brandy and sherry, stir. Add 1 1/2 quarts water. Grate nutmeg over the top and serve. Serving with ice recommended.
Source: Wondrich, David. Punch: The Delights (and Dangers) of the Flowing Bowl. Perigree, 2010. Page 155.
Episode In Pictures
The Spice Islands
The nutmeg-producing Banda Islands (By Lencer – own work, used:http://courses.washington.edu/bandafs/http://liveaboards-indonesia.com/images/destinations/banda_islands_484.gifFile:Indonesia location map.svg by User:Uwe Dedering, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24613479)
The Dutch Fort on Banda Neira
Jan Pieterszoon Coen, VOC Governor-General in the Indies
Ambon, the site of the infamous Ambon Massacre
“Burning English ships” by Jan van Leyden. Depicting events in the Second Anglo-Dutch War, in which New Amsterdam was captured.
Recommended Sources:
- Wondrich, David. Punch: The Delights (and Dangers) of the Flowing Bowl. New York: Perigree, 2010.
- Milton, Giles. Nathaniel’s Nutmeg. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1999.
- Keay, John. The Honorable Company: A History of the English East India Company. Harper Collins, 1993.
- Keay, John. India: A History. Harper Collins, 2000.
- Robbins, Nick. The Corporation That Changed the World: How the East India Company Shaped the Modern Multinational, 2nd edition. London: Pluto Press, 2012.
- Bown, Stephen R. Merchant Kings: When Companies Ruled the World, 1600-1900. New York, St Martin’s Press, 2009.
- Turner, Jack. Spice: The History of a Temptation. New York: Random House, 2004.
Featured Music
- 0:00 Fathom the Bowl performed by Andy Turner
- 6:58 A Jug of This performed by Vic Gammon
- 9:17 Fun in a Bottle Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
- 15:41 Haul Away Joe performed by Howie Mitchell
- 23:37 Haratanaya Sree by Veena Kinhal
- 25:44 Wagah Border Ceremony V, India: Pakistan Border by Samuel Corwin
- 34:11 Mingulay Boat Song performed by the Wellington Sea Shanty Society
- 36:58 Warna by Senyawa
- 45:54 Great Open Sea by Wellington Sea Shanty Society
- 58:07 Dark Times by Kevin Macleod
- 1:01:30 Yang Menghilang by Rabu
Theme song “Fathom the Bowl Instrumental” by Harry Aspinwall.
CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0.
