A hot punch for Bonfire Night

• 

• 

• 

Tonight in England is Bonfire Night, Firework Night, call it what you will. It’s when we remember the Gunpowder plot of 1605 when blundering toff Guy Fawkes and chums tried to bring down Parliament and the constitution by blowing the entire building up with high explosives. Maybe if he’d just asked help from Boris Johnson, he could have saved a whole lot of money on gunpowder.

Tonight we will be out in the dark as fireworks flash and crash overhead, while the rich smell of burning wood pervades the air. Wrapped up against the early winter cold (this is the night winter really comes, not Halloween) and eager for some warming refreshment to kill the chill, in keeping with the occasion.

So what better drink to warm the inner man and woman than a nice hot punch? We’ve taken our recipe from a site called Delicious. Which is well worth a visit for all matters food, but on to the task:

Their mix is marvellously simple, but full of good flavours. Basically it’s golden rum, fino sherry, cognac sugar syrup and lemon juice. We’ll let you click to their site to find measures and method, but basically you mix them up in a warmed jug, add hot water, then pour into cups and stir with a stick of cinnamon. It’s the sorts of ingredients that would have been lying in the holds of wooden ships in the Thames on the night of the plot, and would have been well-known to seventeenth century drinkers.

And while you’re at it, why not try another November 5th treat-hot potatoes, baked in their jackets, then cut and filled with lashings of butter and sprinkled with salt and pepper? A quick and nutritious way to feed any number of guests at your firework party, or upon return from the one at the municipal park.

But wherever you are tonight, north or south, enjoy and stay safe. For professional reasons there can be no round up tomorrow, but we’ll see you next week with more scintillating stories and epoch-making exclusives.

The Editors

Hot rum punch

#guy fawkes #boris johnson #fireworks #bonfire #parliament #potatoes #hot punch #winter