Retro Classic Dessert: 18th Century Syllabub

Syllabub is an English sweet wine and curdled milk-based concoction. While there are various ways of preparing it, syllabub typically is made with a mixture of whipped cream, white wine, whipped egg whites, sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest. The amount of wine used determines the finished product: either a creamy dessert or a richly thick punch cocktail. The dessert version here was submitted to Foodista by Lost Past Remembered. Be sure to read her blog post for more on the interesting history of syllabub.

18th Century Syllabub

1 pint of Heavy Cream
1/2 cup sugar, put in a coffee grinder and ground till powdery
1/3 cup + 2 T New York Malmsey Madeira
3/4 cup Riesling wine
Grated rind of a lemon ( you can add the juice of the lemon if you want it more
A few gratings of Nutmeg
Rosemary sprigs for decoration & 1 tablespoon of needles for steeping
Pour the Riesling wine, bruised rosemary needles, 1/2 the lemon rind, 2 T Madeira and 2 T of sugar into a container shake and let steep for an hour, covered.

Whip the cream with all but 2 T of the sugar, ½ the lemon rind, nutmeg and the Madeira.
Stir ¼ c. of the cream mixture into the wine (remove the rosemary needles if you would like) and pour the wine into 4 glasses. Top with the cream and put a sprig of rosemary in the glass.
May I advise, this is best the next day (which is how it was often done) if you leave the rosemary in, the herb flavors the magic wine at the bottom...use a spoon and dunk down... or be wild and get a syllabub moustache!