Christmas Glogg With Brandy and Port

Updated June 10, 2024

Christmas Glogg With Brandy and Port
Craig Lee for The New York Times
Total Time
30 minutes
Rating
4(150)
Notes
Read community notes

As it simmers, this traditional Swedish mulled wine will fill your home with the scent of burnt orange peel, cardamom and heady sweet wine. It is just the thing to sip on a winter's night as your toes keep warm by the fire. If you choose to serve glogg the traditional way, with raisins and almonds, you'll be rewarded at the end of your glass with plump, wine-infused raisins and tender, toothsome almonds.

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Ingredients

Yield:16 to 20 servings
  • Peel of 1 large orange
  • 2tablespoons whole cardamom pods
  • 2bottles red wine
  • 1bottle ruby port
  • 1pint Cognac or brandy
  • cup light brown sugar, more to taste
  • 12whole cloves
  • 3cinnamon sticks
  • Raisins and sliced almonds for garnish (optional)
Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Using metal tongs, hold the orange peel over a flame until it starts to singe and brown in spots. Put it in a large pot.

  2. Step 2

    Using the flat side of a knife or cleaver, or a rolling pin or mallet, crack and bruise the cardamom pods. Add to the pot with the orange peel. Add the wine, port, brandy, sugar, cloves and cinnamon. Gently simmer over low heat until the whole house smells like spice, about 20 minutes. Taste and add more sugar if you want it sweeter. Serve garnished with raisins and almonds if you like.

Ratings

4 out of 5
150 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

I'm usually one hundred percent into Melissa Clark recipes, but I'm a little scandalized by glogg that takes 30 minutes. In my experience as a Scandinavian American who has encountered myriad variations of the recipe, it should take a day and a night (or vice verse). If not a day, night & day. At the very least, you should start it with your coffee in the morning before you serve it in the evening. That much is universally held sacred on this otherwise hotly contested topic.

Please elaborate. Do you warm the glogg for several hours or make the glogg and let the flavors meld before heating?

My mother told me the story of preparing this for a holiday party back in the 1970's. It was during a snowstorm, and as each wind blown guest arrived, she handed them a cup of glogg to warm them. Everyone was dozing off within an hour. Use caution at parties!

Could leftovers of this be refrigerated, re-warmed and served again on another day?

Yes, you might want to add a splash more brandy because much of the alcohol will evaporate during the two heatings.

My mother told me the story of preparing this for a holiday party back in the 1970's. It was during a snowstorm, and as each wind blown guest arrived, she handed them a cup of glogg to warm them. Everyone was dozing off within an hour. Use caution at parties!

I'm usually one hundred percent into Melissa Clark recipes, but I'm a little scandalized by glogg that takes 30 minutes. In my experience as a Scandinavian American who has encountered myriad variations of the recipe, it should take a day and a night (or vice verse). If not a day, night & day. At the very least, you should start it with your coffee in the morning before you serve it in the evening. That much is universally held sacred on this otherwise hotly contested topic.

Please elaborate. Do you warm the glogg for several hours or make the glogg and let the flavors meld before heating?

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