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Hot Buttered Rum

Name: Hot Buttered Rum
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Yield: 8 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: THE BATTER (makes enough for 8 drinks): ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened; ½ cup packed dark brown sugar; ½ tsp ground cinnamon; ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg; ⅛ tsp ground cloves; ⅛ tsp kosher salt; ½ tsp vanilla extract; PER DRINK: 2 oz dark rum; 5 oz hot water, just off the boil; Cinnamon stick or a grate of nutmeg, to finish

The colonial American mug drink: butter, brown sugar and warm spices beaten into a batter, a heaping spoon of it melted into dark rum and hot water. Jerry Thomas printed a version in 1862 with "a piece of butter as large as half a chestnut." Ours uses a little more butter than that. Rich, warm, and the right thing in your hand on the last Saturday of October.

Total time

10 min

Serves

8

Difficulty

Easy

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As seen on Episode 291

The pantry

kitchen

Essentials · serves 8

THE BATTER (makes enough for 8 drinks): ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened ½ cup packed dark brown sugar ½ tsp ground cinnamon ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg ⅛ tsp ground cloves ⅛ tsp kosher salt ½ tsp vanilla extract PER DRINK: 2 oz dark rum 5 oz hot water, just off the boil Cinnamon stick or a grate of nutmeg, to finish

·

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The preparation

5 steps, about 10 minutes start to finish.

01
1. THE BATTER: beat the softened butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, salt and vanilla together with a fork or a hand mixer until it is fluffy and one color, about 2 minutes. Scrape into a jar. Keeps a month in the fridge.
02
2. Warm a mug with hot tap water, then pour it out.
03
3. A heaping tablespoon of the batter into the mug. The rum on top of it.
04
4. Hot water over, and stir until the butter melts and the drink is cloudy and glossy, about 20 seconds.
05
5. Cinnamon stick in, nutmeg over the top. Hold it with both hands.

lightbulb The chef's notes

“The batter is the whole recipe; the drink is assembly. Dark rum is right (Jerry Thomas said Jamaica rum), spiced rum works if that is what is open, and the drink is also good with hot apple cider instead of water for the same amount. The butter rises to the top as it cools, which is correct and is why you keep stirring. A quarter cup of the batter in a jar is a good gift.”

Cooked the same night, Episode 291

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Hot Buttered Rum

The preparation

Cooked the same night, Episode 291

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