Tasting History with Max Miller
Published 15 May 2026Slightly thickened warm drink made of green tea, white wine, and nutmeg
City/Region: England | United States of America
Time Period: 1742Caudles are one of those old-fashioned drinks that you don’t hear about anymore, but they should really make a comeback, or at least this green tea caudle should. Originally, the term caudle referred to any hot drink, but over time, caudle came to mean a drink made with wine or ale that was thickened, sweetened, and spiced.
This caudle, from an English cookbook that was the first cookbook printed in the American colonies, has a base of green tea and wine that is sweetened with sugar, spiced with nutmeg, and thickened with egg yolks. The green tea and nutmeg really come through, and there’s an interesting citrusy flavor that I think comes from the sauvignon blanc that I used. The egg yolks gently thicken the mixture so it has the consistency of egg nog, and overall it is a unique, delicious drink that is well worth a try.
To make Tea Caudle.
Make a quart of strong green Tea, and pour it out into a Skillet, and set it over the fire; then beat the yolks of four Eggs, and mix with them a pint of White-wine, a grated Nutmeg, Sugar to your Taste, and put all together; and stir it over the fire till ‘tis very hot, then drink it in China Dishes as Caudle.
— The Compleat Housewife: or, Accomplish’d Gentlewoman’s Companion by Eliza Smith, 1734
November 12, 2026
The corporate bailout that caused the Boston Tea Party
QotD: Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane is barely even blah … until you realize that it was shot in 1941, and start comparing it to everything else shot in 1941. Citizen Kane looks like a Current Year piece, and that’s why it was so revolutionary — everything else in 1941 looks like they just pointed a camera at a Broadway stage and left it running. Pretty much every movie “trope” — the whole visual “language” of modern cinema (I believe the term d’art is topos) — was created by Citizen Kane. When it comes to modern moviemaking, nobody makes “an Orson Welles” movie anymore, because they’re ALL Orson Welles movies; after Citizen Kane, that’s just how movies are done.
Severian, “Period Piece”, Founding Questions, 2026-08-04.
