Milk Punch Recipe

To twenty quarts of the best rum or brandy put the peels of thirty

Seville oranges and thirty lemons, pared as thin as possible. Let them

steep twelve hours. Strain the spirit from the rinds, and put to it

thirty quarts of water, previously boiled and left to stand till cold.

Take fifteen pounds of double-refined sugar, and boil it in a proper

proportion of the water to a fine clear syrup. As soon as it boils up,

have ready beat to a froth the whites of six or eight eggs, and the

shells crumbled fine; mix them with the syrup; let them boil together,

and, when a cap of scum rises to the top, take off the pot, and skim it

perfectly clear. Then put it on again with some more of the beaten egg,

and skim it again as before. Do the same with the remainder of the egg

until it is quite free from dirt; let it stand to be cool. Strain it to

the juice of the oranges and lemons; put it into a cask with the spirit;

add a quart of new milk, made lukewarm; stir the whole well together,

and bung up the cask. Let it stand till very fine, which will be in

about a month or six weeks--but it is better to stand for six

months--then bottle it. The cask should hold fifteen gallons. This punch

will keep for many years.

Many persons think this punch made with brandy much finer than that with

rum. The best time for making it is in March, when the fruit is in the

highest perfection.