In case you missed last week’s Edible episode on NY1–it’s on the spiked Scandinavian winter warmer called glögg–we wanted to point your attention both to the television segment (which you can find here online) as well as the Edible Manhattan article that inspired it. That includes the recipe for the drink, a heady, dangerously drinkable blend of sweet red wine heated up with a spike of citrus and some gingerbready spicing.
We procured it from Morten Sohlberg—the Norwegian-born CEO of Smörgas Chef’ Restaurant Group, which runs three Smörgas Chef’ restaurants in Manhattan, including the one inside the incredibly lovely Scandinavia House cultural center where we shot the piece for NY1. (There’s a whole birch tree brought down in pieces from the Catskills then reassembled inside the space; it was felled near the farm called Blenheim Hill the restaurant itself bought last year.) All three started up their production for the winter last week.
Sohlberg has been tinkering with his glogg—it’s actually pronounced “glugg”– for 20 years, and has updated the usual super-sweet vodka and cinnamon spiked punch. He’s added spiced rum to his recipe along with the regular dry red wine and vodka, for example, and now uses whole cardamom and cloves instead of ground, and real ginger instead of the powdered stuff.
One thing he hasn’t changed at all is the Scandinavian tradition of serving the glasses with bowls of dried fruit and almonds you ladle into the mug when it arrives steaming at your table. (Though he does hope to one day grow the dried fruits at Blenheim Hill.) Our advice? Don’t drink more than one unless you plan nap all afternoon. This drink packs a punch on purpose, Sohlberg tells us: It’s designed for Swedes, Danes and Nords who have to trudge home through three feet of snow when it’s 20 below zero.
