Hot Chocolate Wine

Fancy a hot toddy made with port and really dark chocolate?  The Georgians certainly did, but usually for breakfast.  The Georges had their own chocolate kitchen at Hampton Court Palace, with their own chocolate maker.  The Royal chocolate maker for George I and II was Thomas Tosier, who basically did the fancy stuff while the navvies did the hard work of roasting and grinding the cacao beans into cakes of pure chocolate.  Has nothing changed?:=)  The head chef gets all the glory...

cacao pods (image Wikimedia Commons)

As part of our course, we were provided with this recipe for hot chocolate, which you can make with milk or water but for the King's breakfast, port was often the chosen liquid.  Lucky tipsy King!  This is actually a great drink for after dinner.  You could feed it to your guests (or naughty children) and knock 'em out.

Serves 4:


ingredients:

600mls of port 

130g. dark chocolate at least 80% cocoa solids - I used 85%

40g. caster sugar

15g. rice flour or use plain flour if that's what you have


Method:

Pour the port into a small saucepan

Break up the chocolate and slip them into the saucepan of port

Add the sugar and the flour

Whisk all well together

Place on low heat for 5-10 minutes till it heats and thickens slightly; keep whisking now and then while it heats

When there are small bubbles around the edges, take it off the heat - make sure you don't let it boil

Whisk again and serve in small cups

You can add a dash of cream if you like

ingredients - they suggest you use 100% cocoa solids 

adding the chocolate to the port

whisk in the sugar and rice flour

heating and whisking the hot chocolate 

ready to pour out that lovely hot choc port  

smooth, very warming and very alcoholic 

delicious and ready to drink   

Mr P. and I have done our best to drink it all up by ourselves.  He is out tonight so I guess I will have to drink the rest myself.  Poor me.
  

This recipe is from the Cook's Dictionary (1726) by John Nott.

my cacao pod doodle