(General Ford’s Recipe)
Take two large fresh lemons with rough skins, quite ripe, and some large lumps of double-refined sugar. Rub the sugar over the lemons till it has absorbed all the yellow part of the skins. Then put into the bowl these lumps, and as much more as the juice of the lemons may be supposed to require; for no certain weight can be mentioned as the acidity of a lemon cannot be known till tried, and therefore this must be determined by the taste. Then squeeze the lemon juice upon the sugar, and with a bruiser press the sugar and the juice particularly well together, for a great deal of the richness and fine flavour of the Punch depends on this rubbing and mixing process being thoroughly performed. Then mix this up very well with boiling water (soft water is best) till the whole is rather cool. When this mixture (which is now called the sherbet) is to your taste, take Brandy Rum in equal quantities, and put them to it, mixing the whole well together again. The quantity of liquor must be according to your taste; two good lemons are generally enough to make four quarts of Punch, including a quart of liquor, with half a pound of sugar; but this depends much on taste, and on the strength of the Spirit.
Here are the items needed to make the Uncle Toby Punch from the text:
- Large fresh lemons with rough skins (2 lemons)
- Double-refined sugar (lumps)
- Boiling water (soft water is best)
- Brandy
- Rum
You may need more sugar or liquor depending on your taste preferences and the acidity of the lemons.