STAFFORDSHIRE SYLLABUB
1 pint cider
1 c. brandy
Sugar
Nutmeg
Milk
Put a pint of cider, a glass of brandy, sugar, and nutmeg, into a bowl, and milk into it; or pour warm milk from a large tea-pot some height into it.
From The Cook’s Own Book by “a Boston Housekeeper” (Mrs. N. K. M. Lee), Boston, 1832
Comment: We usually describe syllabubs as a sort of precursor to the milkshake, with booze, in part because they are usually subjected to a mixing process requiring either a “syllabub churn” or as much as an hour of beating with a whisk. This one merely calls for having the milk squirted fresh from the cow’s udder into the bowl, or else pouring previously-acquired milk from a vessel held high in the air over the remainder of the recipe. We leave the choice to the discretion, and cattle ownership status, of our readers.