Die Feuerzangenbowle (Photo from Wikipedia)
Yet another “polar vortex” sweeping the Midwest is giving me a chance to write a post that I thought would have to wait until next winter. I meant to write it before Christmas, but then life got in between. So I relish this chance that Mother Nature has provided me with. Why could I only write this post in utter cold? Because of tradition…but let me begin:
If you type “Feuerzangenbowle” into Google, you will find a gazillion of hits for this term. Other bloggers, like John The Food and Wine Hedonist and Julian of Vino in Love, have written about it before, so I want to keep the intro part rather short. Feuerzangenbowle, usually translated as “Fire Tongue Punch”, is a German winter tradition. Most English-speakers are familiar with “Glühwein” aka mulled wine, and Feuerzangenbowle is an extension of mulled wine.
I never knew it existed until I entered University. One late November evening, my friends and I were talked into attending a screening of the movie with the same title. It’s a very ambivalent movie: It was shot and aired in 1944, a feel good movie to keep the German population distracted from the War, with one of Germany’s most popular actors Heinz Rühmann. It is set in the early 1900s and basically tells the story of an adult man going back to school in order to experience what school feels like. This in the day and age when German high school was pretty much the equivalent of American college…the movie is funny, and has become a classic. Why is it named Feuerzangenbowle? Because the idea to go back to school developed over an annual meeting of some older guys who love to reminisce about their school days while drinking the punch…you can read more about the movie on Wikipedia here.
Even without the movie, making Feuerzangenbowle is fun, and it is great to share with others. You need only a few ingredients, some of which are hard to get in the US: You need a bowl of mulled wine; alcohol (preferably rum) of over 100 proof; a fire tongue; and a sugar cone. While mulled wine and rum are easy to find, a fire tongue and a sugar cone are actually pretty hard to get. When we made it before Christmas, we borrowed the set that John owns which comes with a fire tongue which looks like this:
A Fire Tongue (Photo credit: http://www.edelstahlbecher.de)
The other ingredient is the “sugar hat” or “sugar loaf”, which fits exactly on the fire tongue. It was the standard shape in which sugar was sold in Germany for the first half of the 20th century, and since the punch originated then it became the standard shape for Feuerzangenbowle. It looks like this:
A Zuckerhut (via http://www.diamant-zucker.de)
But fear not, when I recreated Feuerzangenbowle in late December in Alaska, I had neither a fire tongue nor a sugar cone. Trust me, it is doable without these, so that should not stop you! Like I said, it is visually quite stunning and very tasty. The way it works is that the sugar sits on the tongue on top of the mulled wine. It gets drained with rum, then you light the sugar on fire. As the alcohol burns off, it melts the sugar which drips into the mulled wine. It seriously looks like Northern Lights when the flames drip into the wine. Keep adding rum to the sugar to keep it burning (watch out for the flames might go up higher than anticipated!), and don’t be shy. Some will burn off, the remainder will just make the punch better! :) Once the sugar is melted, just take off the tongue and start serving the mulled wine in cups.
This is what it looked like when John made it in 2012:
Feuerzangenbowle at its best (Photo credit: The Food and Wine Hedonist)
I replaced the tongue with a cooling rack for baked goods and made my own sugar cone. It wasn’t cone shaped, but rather shaped like the bowl I made it in, but it was ridiculously easy to make: I just combined a cup of sugar with four spoons of water for each 3 quarts of wine I had. Once the sugar is combined with water, set it aside and let it dry out over night. If your environment is too humid, you can put it in the oven at a low temperature (150 degrees or so) to dry it out quicker. Just don’t let the sugar glaze. And there you have your lump of sugar you need.
My mulled wine recipe is fairly simple: Combine a box of Franzia Zinfandel with 8 sticks of cinnamon, three oranges and three lemons cut in wheels, and some vanilla aroma. Heat, but don’t let boil (it will ruin the flavor).
Put the cooling rack on top of the pot, set the sugar on top, turn off the light, drain in rum, light, and there you go. See? It’s really easy and now you have no more excuses not to try it because I told you how to proceed without a fire tongue and a sugar cone. Give it a try while the polar vortex is getting us. I promise, it warms you from the inside like nothing else. But beware, it can be quite potent….and this is what it ended up looking like in Alaska:
the winegetter 
[…] about the German winter tradition Feuerzangenbowle (aka “fire tongue punch”) before. In my post last year, I explained (eerily familiar these days when you look at the East […]
Thanks for the shout out, Oliver.
Very nice article – if it would be colder here then I would totally be down for a Feuerzangenbowle :) I drank some at the various Christmas Markets in Munich last December. It’s so delicious :) I’m always looking forward to drink it in December.
Well, the temperatures here are making me crave it now as well….Winter is just perfect for this.
I had the Feuerzangenbowle in Nurnberg when I was at the Christmas Market a couple of years ago. Absolutely delicious and with an extra shot of rum in, it certainly seemed to keep the cold away!
this sounds amazing, and i love the name so much! p.s. today is national chocolate cake day in the u.s. – what can you recommend as a wine pairing to go with it?
Hahahaha, hard to say that name…:) I would try some Merlot, I find the red berry aromas and the lightness of Merlots tend to go well with chocolate.
that sounds perfect., thanks )
Let me know if it works!!
will do, but i think it’s a pretty fail-safe combination )
chilean cabernet!
thanks guys, looks like i’ll have to have more than one night of chocolate cake and red )
Lucky you, huh? ;)
Really? I was assuming they’d be too green in flavors to actually work, but then again, I usually succumb to your judgment, John…
Have had it a couple times, dark cherries and oak plus heavy amount of fruit. Merlot works well too
Sounds about right. To me, those colder climate Cab Sauvignons often taste more like green pepper than fruit, so I was a bit confused…
Feuerzangenbowle is one of the greatest words EVER. I love the Germans . . . why use three words when you can use one? I haven’t done this in FOREVER. My dad is in Deutschland right now . . . I will ask him to see if he can find a fire-tongue and a zuckerhut. SUPER!! Prost!
Yeah, ask him to bring a bunch of Zuckerhüte. Once you get started, you don’t want to stop. Trust me, I know what I am talking about…
This looks like a great thing to do at a party! Mostly so I’m not alone and playing with flammable things! :)
Lol, true. You can only really do at a party, because you need a couple of people to help you out drinking this potent mix…
That’s why I invite people over – so I can open beer and wine I’m excited to drink but can’t finish on my own! ;)
Any booze is better in company, if you ask me…
Agreed!
So I’m thinking my mini manse might burn down if I tried this at home…
Lol, gotta take some risk once in a while, right? ;)
True. Very true. It may lead to me meeting a very handsome fire fighter, so why not, right?!
Always rolling with the punches! :D
Is it safe to pour regular rum on the cone when lit? We always use 151 Rum.
One time, Boom Boom was pouring additional 151 and the stream caught fire and went up to the cup. She drop the cup and it caught our carpet on fire. There was a silver lining – we hated the carpet and were pleased to discover beautiful hardwood floors beneath.
I have used 100 proof and that worked as well. I think it just needs to be above 100 proof to ensure that the alcohol actually burns. Regular rum is more around 80 proof, I believe…
Well, yeah, I should have pointed out that one needs to be a bit careful with the addition of rum once it burns….:)