Milk Punch, Cookery Notebook of George Dobbin Brown

The twenty-five recipes for Milk Punch in my database all contain similar ingredients: milk, rum or brandy, nutmeg, sugar.

For years now I’ve been intending to make one of these recipes for eggnog’s cousin (or rival, depending on who you ask).

It was only this year that I noticed that these punch recipes, with their similar ingredients, fall into two different camps, with wildly different results.

The recipe I chose is one of several that involve the addition of citrus juice and peel. The milk curdles and is strained off, leaving a clarified product. The result is not so much eggnog’s cousin as a distant DNA relative.

I just couldn’t resist the appeal of a process to turn a cloudy mixture of milk, lemons, and liquor into a clear beverage with a long shelf life.

Clarified Milk Punch dates to the 17th century, and appears in some of Maryland’s oldest cookbooks. The two recipes in Mrs. B.C. Howard’s 1873 cookbook “Fifty Years in a Maryland Kitchen” are both entitled “India Milk Punch.” Both end not by boasting about the flavor, but the fact that the punch “will keep for a year or more.”

A book of recipes donated by Dr. George Dobbin Brown to the Maryland Center of History and Culture dates to around the same time. It’s Milk Punch recipe is very similar, with the addition of nutmeg. This is the recipe that I followed.

Born in 1874, George Dobbin Brown was the grandson of Judge George W. Dobbin of Baltimore, who founded the Maryland Historical Society (now the Maryland Center for History and Culture.)

Brown earned a Ph.D. in literature from Johns Hopkins and worked as a librarian at Princeton and the Enoch Pratt Free Library. As the assistant librarian at Enoch Pratt, he was frequently quoted in the newspapers about things like increased library lending during the Great Depression, Sunday Hours, and book acquisition. In addition to the scrapbooks and recipe books he donated to the Maryland Historical Society, he also donated a desk that belonged to the Marquis de Lafayette. Dr. George Dobbin Brown died in 1958, leaving no children.

I’m not sure where Brown collected the recipes in the manuscripts he donated. Other recipes in the book cite prestigious Maryland names like Mrs. Tilghman and Mrs. Rennert.

Back to the punch: Using a very thick cloth to strain my milk punch, I found the process simple but slow. I regret that I allowed too much lemon pith into my mixture. The result is extremely lemon-forward but also a tad bitter, and it tastes strongly alcoholic. I should have gently used a peeler to create thin slices of rind instead of hacking off big chunks.

I saved my curds and used them in a pound cake which turned out good.
In addition to the other version of Milk Punch (also called New Orleans Milk Punch, although not in any of my recipes,) I have recipes for another clarified beverage enticingly called “wine whey.” This recipe was often considered a recipe for the sick or for “invalids,” but is just a milder version of Milk Punch, which might suit me better.

Making strained Milk Punch was a fun process that made me feel like I was really doing something. Oh, and did I mention – it will keep for a year or more!

Recipe:

“Take the rinds of 18 lemons steeped in one gallon of brandy or rum – (or half of each) during 30 hours; add five quarts of water – 2 nutmegs grated – 3 pounds loaf sugar – 2 quarts boiling milk and the juice of the lemons – Stir thoroughly then strain through a flannel bag until the liquid is perfectly clear – or better still filter through paper.This keeps many years and improves with age.”

Recipe from George Dobbin Brown. Cookery Notebook. 1874-1958. MS 0165. H. Furlong Baldwin Library.