Name: Mary Rockett's Citrus Milk Punch
Total time: PLACEHOLDER
Ingredients: 2 cups brandy; ½ ounce lemon zest strips (from 1 lemon); ½ ounce orange zest strips (from 1 orange); 1 cup whole milk; 2 cups water; ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon (4 ounces) sugar; ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon lemon juice; ¼ cup orange juice

Why This Recipe Works

This recipe is based off of the oldest known written recipe for milk punch (which we found in cocktail historian David Wondrich’s book Punch). The original features a simple combination of brandy, lemon zest and juice, sugar, and water and is clarified with scalded milk. My adaptations to Mary’s original recipe are few: we use cold milk in place of hot, add orange peel and orange juice to the lemon for a more complex citrus flavor, and scale it down to make one quart (the original makes about twelve 750-milliliter bottles). The finished drink is bright and clean with limoncello-like lemon (and orange) intensity, and the whey that remains after clarification provides velvety body.

Before You Begin

Use all the zest from the lemon and the orange. Take wide, shallow swipes of zest with a vegetable peeler, trying your best to avoid any of the unpleasantly bitter white pith that sits just below. The best coffee filter for the job is a large basket-style filter. While the brandy-milk mixture drains, don’t push or press the liquid through the filter—let it slowly drain through and you’ll get the clearest punch possible. Milk punch can be refrigerated for up to one month.

Instructions

Combine brandy, lemon zest strips, and orange zest strips in lidded container and let sit at room temperature for at least 18 hours or up to 2 days. Discard zest strips.

Place milk in 8-cup liquid measuring cup or large pitcher; set aside. In large liquid measuring cup or large bowl, whisk infused brandy, water, sugar, lemon juice, and orange juice until sugar dissolves.

Pour brandy mixture into milk. Gently stir curds with small spoon. Let sit for at least 30 minutes or cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.

Line fine-mesh strainer with triple layer of cheesecloth or coffee filter and set over large measuring cup or bowl. Gently pour brandy-milk mixture into coffee filter and let drain. Drain strained punch mixture through curds in coffee filter one more time. Discard curds and coffee filter. Transfer clarified punch to lidded glass container and refrigerate until ready to serve. To serve, pour
¼ cup to 3/8 cup chilled punch into small glass.