David Wondrich created a recipe which is as faithful to that of Dickens’ time as possible.
1. Using a swivel-bladed vegetable peeler, peel four lemons, avoiding as much as possible cutting into the white pith. Reserve the lemons and put the peels into a large, nonreactive bowl.
2. Add one cup of sugar, preferably demerara or turbinado (such as “Sugar in the Raw”). Using a muddler, mash the peels into the sugar until the sugar is thoroughly wet with the lemon oil.
3. Pour one pint of boiling water into the bowl with the oleo-saccharum (the lemon oilinfused sugar). Press the solids in the strainer to extract whatever can be extracted and discard them. Stir the sugar in the hot water until it has dissolved.
4. Squeeze the reserved lemons and enough others to get eight ounces of juice.
5. Add the lemon juice, stir and then remove the lemon peels with a slotted spoon and discard them.
6. Add one liter of dark, full-bodied rum, such as Meyers’s or Gosling’s. Stir, taste, and adjust for sweetness.
7. Pour this into a large (3-quart or bigger) earthenware or metal jug.
8. Immediately before serving, add a quart of boiling water, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
9. Grate about a quarter of a nutmeg on top.
To keep this hot, you will need to set it by a fireplace or heating-stove, if you want to do it the old-fashioned way, or on a hotplate set on low if you’re determined to be modern about it.