This recipe comes from Emma Kay’s Dining with the Georgians: A Delicious History (Amberley Books 2014). One might think that it is a precursor to the chocolate martini so trendy at the turn of the 21st century.
In the late 18th century, chocolate would have been consumed almost exclusively as a drink: the great age of confectionery would have to await the middle of the 19th century.
Water three quarters of a pint, good sherry, half a pint, sugar-chocolate; a quarter of a pound, Flower, a quarter of an ounce, and a little salt, mix dissolve and boil these about ten minutes, then Mill and brew it, and its done.
Milling refers to a process similar to that used with a Molinillo, as in Mexican chocolate making, where the beverage is mixed together quickly with a wooden carved implement that works somewhat like a whisk, but creates froth. The “whirling” takes place off the fire, and then it can be reheated. Chocolate was grated—perhaps on a rasp—until it became fine tiny pieces, and after it melted, was incorporated into the beverage by the manual “whirling” process.
