When reading the book written by my paternal grandmother’s on home made wines I could hardly believe that she had this one. My grandmother had a wicked sense of humor and I had the feeling that this was a joke. But no, there really was a cock ale in 17th and 18th century England. According to Wikipedia, the recipe for the ale “consisted of a normal ale brewed inside a container, to which was later added a bag stuffed with a parboiled, skinned and gutted cock, and various fruits and spieces” (Wikipedia).
Here is grandmother’s recipes in her own words.
Take five gallons of ale, and a large cock, the older the better. Parboil the cock, flay him, and stamp him in a stone mortar till his bones are broken (you must craw and gut him when you flay him), then put the cock into one quart of sack, and put to it one and one-half pounds of raisins of the sun stoned, some b lades of mace, and a few cloves. Put all these into a canvas bag, and a little before you find the ale has done working, put the ale and bag together into a vessel. In a week or nine days’ time bottle it up; fill the bottle but just above the neck, and give it the same time to ripen as other ale.
To buy Old Time Recipes for Homemade Wines by Helen S. Wright Click Here.
Karen Meyers