Fish House Punch
Encyclopedia
| Fish-House Punch There's a little place just out of town, Where, if you go to lunch, They'll make you forget your mother-in-law With a drink called Fish-House Punch. |
| An early-known print reference to Fish-House Punch is in "The Cook" (1885) |
Rum
Rum is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from sugarcane by-products such as molasses, or directly from sugarcane juice, by a process of fermentation and distillation. The distillate, a clear liquid, is then usually aged in oak barrels...
-based cocktail
Cocktail
A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink that contains two or more ingredients—at least one of the ingredients must be a spirit.Cocktails were originally a mixture of spirits, sugar, water, and bitters. The word has come to mean almost any mixed drink that contains alcohol...
containing containing rum
Rum
Rum is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from sugarcane by-products such as molasses, or directly from sugarcane juice, by a process of fermentation and distillation. The distillate, a clear liquid, is then usually aged in oak barrels...
, Cognac
Cognac
Cognac is a commune in the Charente department in southwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-Geography:Cognac is situated on the river Charente between the towns of Angoulême and Saintes. The majority of the town has been built on the river's left bank, with the smaller right...
, and peach brandy. The drink is typically served over an ice block in a punch bowl and garnished with lemon slices.
History
This most venerable of American flowing bowls is held to have been first concocted in 1732 at Philadelphia’s fishing club, the Schuylkill Fishing CompanySchuylkill Fishing Company
The Schuylkill Fishing Company of Pennsylvania, also known as the State in Schuylkill, was the first angling club in the American Colonies. Still in existence, it claims to be the oldest social club in the English-speaking world...
, also known as the "Fish House". The Fish House was an august gentlemen's society devoted to escaping domestic tribulation, but also to cigars, whiskey, and the occasional fishing foray upon the Chesapeake
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
or the Restigouche River
Restigouche River
The Restigouche River is a river that flows across the northwestern part of the province of New Brunswick and the southeastern part of Quebec....
in Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
. Another version states that it was created in 1848 by Shippen Willing of Philadelphia, to celebrate the momentous occasion of women being allowed into the premises of the "Fish House" for the first time in order to enliven the annual Christmas Party. It was supposed to be just "something to please the ladies' palate but get them livelier than is their usual wont".
This punch, which contains rum
Rum
Rum is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from sugarcane by-products such as molasses, or directly from sugarcane juice, by a process of fermentation and distillation. The distillate, a clear liquid, is then usually aged in oak barrels...
, Cognac
Cognac
Cognac is a commune in the Charente department in southwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-Geography:Cognac is situated on the river Charente between the towns of Angoulême and Saintes. The majority of the town has been built on the river's left bank, with the smaller right...
, and peach brandy, is potent, so it is normally diluted with cold black tea
Black tea
Black tea is a variety of tea that is more oxidized than the oolong, green, and white varieties.All four varieties are made from leaves of the shrub Camellia sinensis. Black tea is generally stronger in flavor and contains more caffeine than the less oxidized teas. Two principal varieties of the...
, a common mixer for this particular punch, or with seltzer water. Some punch bowls may not be large enough to accommodate the large ice block called for, and though the block is a classic part of this recipe, it can, of course, be simply served in a pitcher over ice cubes.
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 3½ cups water
- 1½ cups fresh lemon juice (6 to 8 lemons), strained
- 1 (750-ml) bottle Jamaican amber rum
- 12 oz Cognac (1½ cups)
- 2 oz peach brandy (¼ cup)
- Garnish: lemon slices
Preparation
Stir together sugar and 3½ cups water in a large bowl or pot until sugar is dissolved. Add lemon juice, rum, Cognac, and brandy and chill, covered, at least 3 hours. Put half-gallon ice block in a punch bowl and pour punch over it.See also
- Punch (drink)Punch (drink)Punch is the term for a wide assortment of drinks, both non-alcoholic and alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice. The drink was introduced from India to England in the early seventeenth century; from there its use spread to other countries...
- PunschPunschPunsch is a traditional liqueur in Sweden and to a lesser extent some other Nordic countries produced from arrack, neutral spirits, sugar, water, and various flavorings...
(an arrackArrackArrack is a distilled alcoholic drink typically produced in South Asia and South East Asia, made from either the fermented sap of coconut flowers, sugarcane, grain or fruit depending upon the country of origin...
-based liquor) - Ti'PunchTi'PunchThe Ti'Punch is a rum-based mixed drink that is especially popular in Martinique, Guadeloupe, Haiti, French Guyana and other French-speaking Caribbean states...
is a rum-based mixed drink that is especially popular in French-speaking Caribbean states.