Every year, my family makes Wassail for Christmas. It’s a warm, toasty drink with an apple cider base and a ton of cinnamon, cloves, and citrus.
I ran down a rabbit hole watching Townsends, and found out that this is a relatively recent recipe, all things considered. In the 18th Century, Wassail was more spartan, and had about four ingredients. Now that December is finally here (and the weather finally agrees that it’s not Summer), I decided to try the version Jon covered in this livestream.
We have a lot of leeway. The apples are roasted off screen, and he’s vague about what kind of beer the ale would be. Now, one of the definitions he reads says that the apples were traditionally roasted on a string until they fell off into the ale, so I reckon the apples were roasted plain until they were well-cooked (i.e. there aren’t any hidden ingredients).
So far as what kind of ale to use, I poked around on the Townsends channel a little bit, decided on a Porter (I’ll explain why sometime), and found zero unflavored Porters after hitting two corner stores. I brought back a cinnamon and nutmeg flavored “holiday ale” and a maritime-themed beer that only explained itself as being brewed from barley malt.
The Winter Warmer was great, and would probably make an amazing base for Wassail. However, I went with the mysterious maritime beer for the Wassail, because I wanted my cooking to go on its own merits instead of someone else’s fancy flavoring. I’m the first to admit I have no idea what I’m talking about when it comes to beer, but upon a taste test, best I can tell is that the barley beer is a pretty standard, if a little tangy, amber ale.
I’m taking some additional liberties, too. For one, I’m substituting brown sugar for the refined sugar he uses because brown sugar is the best sugar. Second, I’m serving this Wassail hot.
Because I’m already working with heat and I don’t have a ton of equipment at my disposal, I’m going to “borrow” the cooking method from Jon and Ivy’s Blackcaps video and use the rest of the Wassail in place of the Blackcap sauce.
3 bottles of amber ale (I used Anchor Brewing’s Anchor Steam Beer)
1 bottle of ale to pay the cook (optional, but beer was a part of daily rations during the period, so if anyone questions you say you’re going for accuracy - I used Harpoon’s Winter Warmer)
Set the oven at 400 degrees.
Wash, halve, and core the apples and lay them cut-side-down in a casserole dish.
Cover the apples to the halfway mark with your ale of choice.
Shake brown sugar over the apples. Make sure some lands on top of the apples (out of the ale). Trust me.
Sprinkle nutmeg over the apples to taste.
And, there it is. The reconstructed version of Jon Townsend’s reconstructed version of 18th Century Wassail. Scoop out a half-apple (or two) per person, and ladle on the sweetened ale. Drink from a bowl.
It turned out really well. When it bakes, it gives off almost a vinegar smell, but to taste it’s warm and rich and sweet. It packs most of the flavor of Victorian Wassails for a third of the ingredients.
