Feuerzangenbowle (literally “fire-tongs bowl”) is a flaming bowl of sweetened, booze-spiked spiced wine that shows up in Germany at Weihnachten and Silvester (Christmas and New Year’s Eve). A derivative of the earlier German student’s and soldier’s drink Crambambuli (flaming sugar and rum), it dates back at least to the early nineteenth century. Its popularity was boosted by Heinrich Spoerl’s 1933 comic novel of the same name and, especially, by the 1944 film based on it, which diverted attention from Germany’s increasing setbacks in World War II. Though fire tongs of old have been replaced in recent years with a special brace that fits over a fireproof punch bowl, the function remains the same. Either the tongs or brace supports a sugar cone (Zuckerhut in German, or “sugar hat”) above heated wine laced with citrus and spices such as cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves (this is for the dominant “Mecklenburg style” Feuerzangenbowle; others add the wine later). The sugar cone is then soaked with high-proof rum or arrack and set alight. The sugar begins to melt, caramelize, and drip into the spiced wine as some alcohol burns off while more spirit is ladled over it. When the sugar is all melted, the punch master serves this hot drink—in heatproof mugs—flaming or not. For safety, however, celebrants should always extinguish cups of flaming Feuerzangenbowle before imbibing.
See also arrack; glögg; and punch.
Ruschin, Lilo. Feuerzangenbowle: historien und rezeptbüchlein. Berlin: Stapp Verlag, 1967.
By: Matthew Rowley
Actor Heinz Rühmann (1902–1994) tending the titular drink in the 1944 German film Die Feuerzangenbowle.
Getty Images.
Actor Heinz Rühmann (1902–1994) tending the titular drink in the 1944 German film Die Feuerzangenbowle. Source: Getty Images.