This post finds me more-or-less installed in the kitchen in my new (and downsized) home near Boston. I knew it would be quite disruptive to pack up every dish, glass, fork, serving bowl — and cookbook. I didn’t realize how long it would take to arrange everything. I’m still disoriented but cooking again.

What better distraction than Forgotten Drinks of Colonial New England by Corin Hirsch (The History Press, 2014)? Rum has a long and somewhat inglorious history in New England.  The molasses used to make it came from sugar plantations in the Caribbean, which were closely linked to the slave trade. Grog, the drink I made, is designed to tame the liquor that some colonials termed “kill-devil.” A “grogshop,” Hirsch says, was “rough-and-ready” tavern. This recipe was hardly strong enough to slay any devils (much less brain cells) but it did help me toast 2018 and all the recipes I look forward to trying. Cheers!

Traditional Grog (1700s; from Forgotten Drinks of Colonial New England)
Makes 1 drink

2 ounces rum
4 ounces water
1/2 teaspoon superfine sugar
Ice
1/2 ounce (1 Tablespoon) lime juice

In a tumbler, stir rum, water and sugar and stir until sugar dissolves. Add ice and a spritz of lime juice and stir to combine.