Whole-Spice Mulled Wine with Orange and Star Anise

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

A gently warmed pot of red wine steeped with cracked cinnamon, star anise, cloves and wide ribbons of orange peel, sweetened just enough with honey and finished with a splash of brandy off the heat. The trick is temperature: hold the pot at a bare 160–170°F so the spices bloom and the wine keeps its fruit instead of cooking down into something flat and boozy-bitter. Ladled into heatproof glasses with a fresh orange half-wheel, it tastes like the mulled wine you get at a good European wine bar rather than the syrupy stuff from a packet.

Ingredients

• 3 stick cinnamon sticks, lightly cracked
• 3 whole star anise pods
• 8 whole cloves
• 6 whole green cardamom pods, cracked
• 10 whole black peppercorns
• 1 whole allspice berries (optional, or 1 pinch ground)
• 1 whole large navel orange
• 1 whole lemon
• 1 inch piece fresh ginger, sliced into coins
• 1 whole bay leaf

• 2 bottle dry, fruity red wine (750 ml each) such as Merlot, Grenache, Zinfandel or Côtes du Rhône
• 1/3 cup honey, plus more to taste
• 2 tbsp light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup water

• 1/3 cup brandy or Cognac
• 1 tbsp orange liqueur such as Grand Marnier (optional)
• 1 whole orange, sliced into thin half-wheels, for serving
• 6 stick cinnamon sticks, for garnish (optional)

Instructions

1. Toast the spices: set a dry medium skillet over medium heat and add the cracked cinnamon sticks, star anise, cloves, cardamom pods, peppercorns and allspice. Toast, shaking the pan often, for 60–90 seconds, just until fragrant and warm to the nose. Do not let them smoke. Slide them immediately onto a plate to stop the cooking.
2. Peel the citrus: using a vegetable peeler, remove wide strips of zest from the navel orange and the lemon, taking as little white pith as possible (pith is what turns mulled wine bitter). Reserve the peeled fruit.
3. Build the spice base: in a 4- to 6-quart nonreactive pot (stainless steel or enameled), combine the water, honey, brown sugar, toasted spices, citrus peels, ginger coins and bay leaf. Squeeze in the juice of half the peeled orange. Warm over medium heat, stirring, until the honey and sugar dissolve, then bring to a bare simmer and cook 5 minutes to make a spiced syrup.
4. Add the wine: pour in both bottles of red wine. Set a thermometer in the pot and bring the wine up over medium-low heat to 165°F, which will take 12–18 minutes. You should see steam rising and a few lazy bubbles at the edge but never a rolling simmer — boiling drives off the alcohol and leaves the wine tasting stewed.
5. Steep: hold the pot between 160°F and 170°F, adjusting the burner to the lowest setting that maintains it, for 25–30 minutes. Taste at the 20-minute mark. If the clove and star anise are getting assertive, fish those out; if it tastes thin, give it 10 more minutes.
6. Sweeten and fortify: turn off the heat. Taste and add honey 1 tablespoon at a time until the wine tastes round rather than sweet — a good target is just barely sweeter than you think you want, since it will read drier once it hits a warm glass. Stir in the brandy and the orange liqueur off the heat so their aroma stays intact.
7. Strain and serve: set a fine-mesh strainer over a heatproof pitcher or a clean pot and strain out the solids. Ladle into heatproof glasses or mugs at about 150°F, and float an orange half-wheel and a cinnamon stick in each. Keep the rest on the lowest burner setting or in a slow cooker on Warm, covered, for up to 3 hours.
8. If the wine cools too far, reheat gently over medium-low heat back to 160°F only — never let it boil, and never reheat it more than once, or the spices turn muddy.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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