About ten days ago, close to 7 pm on a hot, muggy evening with the mercury pushing 90, a neighbor waved me down as I was headed home.
He was having a little shindig with some friends and wanted to proffer a cup of the potent punch he’d concocted that afternoon along with some barbecue he’d been tending all day. Said neighbor is a younger guy who hails from nearby Mississippi who does something in the financial services end of things; he doesn’t fly fish but certainly entertains well.
There was an impressively large, frosty punch bowl brimming full of a dark, orange, icy beverage; the pork shoulder was being pulled as I walked in and the ribs were just coming out of the smoker.
Instead of dainty punch cups stood an army of large coffee mugs, none of which matched (making me feel even more at home), one of which was promptly filled and handed over with a smile.
The stunningly refreshing beverage therein was what he called a Mississippi Bourbon Slush Punch, something he said was served as long as he could remember “back home in Mississippi when summer came ‘round”.
I later overheard several of the Southern ladies present, liberally enjoying the punch by the way, pronounce that the venerable party punch bowl was back in style. I said a quiet ‘Hot Damn’, thankful that we’d never realized the party punch bowl was out of style, and copied the recipe to share.
6 cups filtered water
2 cups strong, freshly-brewed, dark tea
2 cups good bourbon
1 cup sugar
1 6-ounce container of frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
1 6-ounce container of frozen lemon juice concentrate, thawed
2 generous dashes bitters
Garnish: orange or lemon slices
Mix it up. Combine the water, tea, bourbon, sugar, orange juice, lemon juice and bitters in a large container. Stir until the sugar dissolves.
Freeze it. Pour into two large (gallon sized) freezer bags, seal tightly, and freeze until an hour before serving time.
Serve it. About an hour before your shindig starts, place the frozen punch in a large punch bowl and let it thaw at room temperature, poking and prodding every 15 minutes or so. Add ice as needed to keep it cool.
Serve in punch cups (our neighbor used an eclectic collection of coffee mugs) with an orange or lemon slice garnish.
Enjoy.
