Return the strained liquid to your cauldron and mix in the ubull juice over low heat.
Stir gently with your left hand the number of days in your birthday (three times if you were born on the third, and so on).
Once the mixture is warm, add the hope of a simpering princess and the smile of an idiot prince, then sprinkle with the toasted powdered sleeping beauties, add the salagama bark, and let it infuse for 15 minutes before removing from the heat.
This potion can be drunk hot, warm, or cold.
PUMPKIN JUICE
The must-have drink for all sorcerers’ gatherings!
INGREDIENTS • 1 pitcher
9 oz cooked pumpkin, squash, butternut (frozen, if out of season)
2 pt (4 cups) apple juice
4 1/2 oz apricot jam
1 tip cinnamon stick (= 1 pinch)
PREPARATION TIME • 5 mins
When the sun throws out its final rays and the Night of Ghosts and Sorcerers begins, put on your finest ceremonial apparel (although in some faraway countries, sorcerers make this recipe in their pajamas and slippers) and take up your wand.
Pour the cooked pumpkin into a medium-sized cauldron (note the characteristic “plop” of the mashed pumpkin falling into the cauldron), then add the apple juice.
Adjust the glasses on the end of your nose, move the toad and the cat out of the way, cast a Muffling spell so you don’t draw too much attention to yourself, pick up a stick blender, and purée the mixture very thoroughly.
Gradually add the apricot jam, blending in well each time. Remove the bits of pumpkin from your glasses, hair, table, and carpet.
Adjust the cinnamon to your taste, decant into a pitcher, and place in the refrigerator (keep it out of reach of the toad, an orange batrachian might come as a surprise to the neighbors).
SMURFESQUE COCKTAIL
Although sarsaparilla is the Smurfs’ favorite food, when it is out of season these small blue people just love to slurp a smurfesque cocktail.
INGREDIENTS • serves 4
16 fl oz (2 cups) pear juice
16 fl oz (2 cups) soda water
4 T curaçao
1 handful raspberries
4 cinnamon sticks
PREPARATION TIME • 10 mins
When the whole village is gathered together and the sun is shining high in the sky, slowly smurf* the pear juice into glasses.
Next, smurf ** the smurfling*** water and smurf **** without letting Brainy Smurf break your concentration.
When the mixture fizzes, smurf***** the curaçao down the inside of the glass: it must reach the very bottom without dissmurfing******.
Then, and only then, smurf ******* the raspberries that you have smurfly saved from Greedy Smurf.
Stir with a cinnamon stick and sip, smurfing gaily.
* pour ** add ***soda **** stir *****dribble ****** dissolving ******* quickly add
MESOPOTAMIAN NECTAR
My dearest Ptolemy, you are my master and the only magician who did not simply rule but also sought to truly understand us djinn—including me, Bartimaeus, although I am, it is true, especially special. Anyway, as I was saying, one day while enjoying this beverage, Ptolemy made me promise to be a little more discreet and to avoid trouble in the future…. I did manage it, at least for four days.
INGREDIENTS • serves 4
2 3/4 oz unsalted pistachios
Ice cubes
3 T rose syrup
1 T pine nuts
16 fl oz (2 cups) grape juice
PREPARATION TIME • 5 mins
Shell and roughly crush the pistachios. Turn yourself into a dragon and toast them with a single breath, or toast in a pan over medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes.
Half-fill four glasses with ice cubes.
Divide the rose syrup between the glasses (only use syrup made from flowers from the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, or, if you must, Damask roses: the others aren’t worth a pentacle).
Casually fling a handful of crushed pistachios and pine nuts into each glass and pour over the grape juice.
Yes, I know, it’s excellent…. No, no, don’t thank me…. Worshipping me will be quite enough, no really, I assure you!
DIGORY’S SECRET (see photo on page 170)
Digory and his friend Polly were the first children to visit Narnia and meet the White Witch. It happened completely by accident—they were in the attic, innocently drinking ginger beer, but who knows what will happen when you are also playing with magic rings.
INGREDIENTS • serves 4
1 ginger root
16 fl oz (2 cups) apple juice
1 T crushed ice
1 lemon, sliced into rounds
4 cinnamon sticks
PREPARATION TIME • 5 mins INFUSION TIME • 15 mins
Peel the ginger root and cut it into thin slices.
Pour the apple juice into a cauldron and warm it over medium heat, add the pieces of ginger root, turn off the heat and let it infuse for 15 minutes, and then strain and reserve the liquid.
Let the strained ginger and apple juice cool completely.
Divide the crushed ice between the glasses, then add some ginger and apple juice to each. Add 4 1/4 fl oz (1/2 cup) water to each glass and a few rounds of lemon, and stir using a cinnamon stick.
Raise a toast to Aslan, empty your glass, and jump into the ring to discover the Wood between the Worlds!
THE COMFORT OF THE WHITE WITCH
After meeting the White Witch of Narnia, Edmund Pevensie is so cold he is unable to speak. Jadis gives him this comforting magical beverage and Edmund soon forgets the icy conditions that reign in Narnia, where it is always winter yet never Christmas.
INGREDIENTS • serves 4
1 1/2 pt (3 cups) milk
8 fl oz (1 cup) decaffeinated coffee
1 can whipped cream
4 T unsweetened cocoa powder
The caramel
9 oz light soft brown sugar
½ T white vinegar
PREPARATION TIME • 5 mins COOKING TIME • 15 mins
Make the caramel before the cold turns you solid and you become one of the statues at the castle of Jadis the White Witch. In a large saucepan, melt the brown sugar with 1/3 cup of water and the vinegar over high heat, then bring to a boil, constantly stirring with a wooden spoon. As soon as the first bubbles appear, lower the heat. If, like snowflakes on a window, sugar crystals stick to the side of your saucepan, melt them with your damp brush.
Place your saucepan in the sink and, being very careful of any spatter, pour 1/3 cup water onto the caramel. Wait until the bubbles calm down and return the saucepan to low heat for 1 minute, stirring.
Let the caramel cool completely before decanting into a crystal flask.
Place a saucepan over very low heat, mix together the milk, 3 oz of the newly made caramel, and the coffee, stirring frequently.
Pour into cups, top generously with whipped cream, sprinkle with cocoa, and serve very hot. Use the remaining homemade caramel to drizzle over each drink and decorate.
GRAND VIZIER
Being a villain can go to your head but sometimes Jafar needs to clear his before embarking on another round of sinister plots and dark designs. The Grand Vizier is a drink as unique as Jafar—its recipe has remained a secret … until today.
INGREDIENTS • serves 4
1 pinch of chili powder
1 t fennel seeds (or 2 herbal teabags)
2 t mustard
1 t turmeric
3 1/2 oz soy milk
Salt
PREPARATION TIME • 10 mins COOKING TIME • 5 mins
RESTING TIME • 15 mins
Bring 2 pints (4 cups) of water to a boil, then add the spices in the following order: the chili to clarify your mind, the fennel for coming up with devious schemes, the velvety mustard to solidify your ideas, and the turmeric because gold is the only color worthy of me!
Remove from the heat and let the spices infuse for 10 minutes while reciting the names on your grudge list. Take
a break (it’s a long list). Strain the liquid into a pitcher, add the soy milk, taste, season with salt, and put in the refrigerator for 15 minutes before serving.
Well? Unique, don’t you think?
GENIE ELIXIR
A drink to make you fit to face a rage-filled Vizier while tap dancing and tickling the ears of the Sultan!
INGREDIENTS • serves 4
4 T blueberry jelly
10 fl oz (1 1/4 cups) raspberry juice
16 fl oz (2 cups) apple juice
Juice of 1 lemon
PREPARATION TIME • 5 mins
When confronted with a powerful enemy, try this elixir fix. Divide the blueberry jelly between 4 glasses. Pour the raspberry juice, apple juice, and lemon juice into a pitcher and stir.
Divide the fruit juice between the glasses and arm yourself with this elixir when Jafar is about to explode with wrath. He may be a wizard, but he had better hold tight onto to his curly-toed slippers!
MAGIC POTION
Perhaps the most famous potion of them all! A classic, producing many different magical effects, including giving the drinker superhuman strength, lending speech to the the voiceless, and reviving the unconscious. It even makes daisies bloom more quickly! But be careful not to fall into a cauldron full of it!
INGREDIENTS • serves 4
7 fl oz blueberry juice
1 T baking soda
2 3/4 oz superfine sugar
Juice of 4 lemons
1 T juice from freshly picked carrots
5 fl oz (2/3 cup) strawberry juice
1 T beet juice
Honey to taste
PREPARATION TIME • 10 mins RESTING TIME • 5 mins
A warning from Obelix: “Getafix wants me to tell you to make absolutely sure no one falls into the cauldron of potion, blah blah blah …”
Heat the blueberry juice and 1/3 cup water in a small cauldron sheltered from the wind, and, if possible, under an oak tree at least one hundred years old and home to a family of chickadees (their birdsong is ideal for concentration). Next, blend the baking soda and sugar into the liquid in the cauldron.
When the mixture is the color of a moonless night (very dark blue), add all the lemon juice at once and mix enthusiastically. Your potion should start to bubble up; and if its color goes from dark blue to ruby red, you will have earned your druid’s sickle!
Next, add the carrot juice drop by drop, stirring as you go, the strawberry juice all at once, and the beet juice half a spoonful at a time; stir gently. Taste, and add as much honey as you please.
Now you are ready for a new adventure!
Druid tip: “If it be not the season of the blueberry, the same quantity of the juice of the black currant will suffice.”
INVISIBILITY POTION
Allowing you, as its name suggests, to become invisible, this potion is very useful for hiding from adversaries in battle, listening at doors, or stealing a magical item. Be careful though, only your body is invisible, not your shadow.
INGREDIENTS • 2 pt (4 cup) bottle
2 Fruits of Intention (or 2 limes)
1 pt (2 cups) Juice of Irony
(or yellow grapefruit juice)
6 T Syrup of Trompe-l’œil
(or cane sugar syrup)
1 pt (2 cups) Fizzing Spirit of Troll
(or tonic water)
1 Hint of Discretion
(or a sprig of mint)
PREPARATION TIME • 2 mins RESTING TIME • 10 mins
Juice the fruits without losing a drop, or someone might suspect what you are up to. Blend the syrup of trompe l’oeil with the juices of Intentions and Irony, then add the Fizzing Spirit of Troll. Rinse the leaves of Discretion and add to the potion. Let it infuse for 10 minutes, then strain into a bottle.
If you venture into caves illuminated by ultraviolet light, keep in mind that your potion will become phosphorescent and thus be able to light your way, but also betray your presence …
FRIENDLY ARM INN HIPPOCRAS
There’s nothing like a good tankard of hippocras to restore the spirits after taking on obstreperous giants, ill-tempered magicians, zombies, ghouls, and other nefarious shadows.
INGREDIENTS • serves 4
2 1/4 oz fresh ginger root
10 cardamom pods
10 cloves
1 oz ground cinnamon
2 pt (4 cups) red grape juice
6 t dark honey (chestnut or fir)
PREPARATION TIME • 5 mins RESTING TIME • 3 hrs
Peel and grate the ginger root. Pound together the cardamom pods and cloves, add the ground cinnamon, and mix with the ginger. Warm the grape juice in a small cauldron over low heat, blend in the honey, then add the spices.
Turn off the heat and let infuse for the time it takes to undo the Confusion spell you accidentally cast over the mage’s wyvern near the door. Let 2 to 3 hours pass.
Strain the hippocras into a pitcher and offer to buy everyone a round of drinks so no one notices your friends escape via the secret passage under the counter.
SLAPPY’S GHOSTLY PUNCH
When Slappy the Dummy releases the monsters from the various Goosebumps books, he thinks victory will be easy. He doesn’t count on the author and his friends, who soon manage to reduce The Blob that Ate Everyone to mush, trapping bits of zombie along the way.
INGREDIENTS • serves 8
4 sheets gelatin
4 oranges
2 pt (4 cups) raspberry juice
2 pt (4 cups) strawberry juice
4 T blackberry jelly
4 T honey
2 sprigs mint
PREPARATION TIME • 5 mins FREEZING TIME • 3 hrs
Heat 2 pints (4 cups) water in a small cauldron, without letting it come to a boil, then dissolve the sheets of gelatin in it. Rinse a pair of latex gloves, making sure to remove all traces of talcum powder.
When the gelatin has dissolved, completely fill the latex gloves with this water, tie a knot at the wrist, making it tight so the water can’t escape, and place the gloves in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.
Squeeze the oranges, and mix the juice with the raspberry and strawberry juices in a clear crystal bowl.
Spread the blackberry jelly in small bowls or one large bowl, pour the juice down the sides of the bowl, followed by the honey.
Take the gloves out of the refrigerator, cut the latex at the knot and carefully unmold the ice. Place the frozen hands in the bowl, crush the mint between your fingers, throw it around the frozen hands, and serve.
INDEX
169
Apple and lemon juice with ginger • Digory’s Secret
155
Apple and pomegranate juice with vanilla • Memory Potion
173
Apple, raspberry, and blueberry mocktail • Genie Elixir
70
Apples stuffed with York ham • Vice Versa Apples
58
Asian beef dumplings • The Ancient One’s Tibetan Momo
25
Bacon and egg toast • Cair Paravel Eggs
175
Beet, fruit, and carrot juice with honey • Magic Potion
65
Beet pops with goat cheese • Tabitha’s Lollipops
151
Berry syrup • Ent-Draught
117
Black Forest-style shortbread desserts • Werewolf Biscuits
93
Boar fillets with honey and mustard • Carnutes Boar
53
Braised chicken with cherries • Chicken with Cherries from the Cold Lands
138
Buckwheat shortbread with sesame • Alakazam Cookies
107
Candy apples • Poisoned Apples
164
Carrot juice with apple and hazelnuts • The Witch-Queen’s Beauty Potion
21
Carrot squares with spices • Morsels from the Cave of Wonders
135
Cheesecake with honey • Circe’s Charm
Cherry and kiwifruit mocktail • Green Potion
153
Cherry syrup • Beorning Beverage
129
Chestnut flour shortbread • Magica De Spell’s Lucky Dimes
36
Chicken and red lentil soup • Babylonian Pottage
84
Chicken with blue spaghetti • Molecularized Smurf Spaghetti
39
Clam and bacon chowder • Dawn Treader Soup
81
Cocktail sandwiches with homemade sardine pâté • Sardine Sandwiches
123
Cookies with dried fruit and nuts • Elven Waybread (Lembas)
54
Corn bread • Scarecrow Bread
77
Crab cakes • Dufflepud Island Croquettes
145
Cranberry tart • Sword Coast Tart
34
Cucumber and mint sandwiches • Cucumber Sandwiches
163
Curaçao, apple, and cranberry syrup • Dragon Potion
120
Date and sesame balls • Djinn Desserts
20
Falafel skewers • Brochettes of Finely Chopped Enemy
155
Fall fruit juice with spices • Elf-Made Wine (alcohol-free)
121
Frog-shaped chocolates • Chocolate Frogs
137
Fruit gelatin mold • Witches’ Council Jello Ring
140
Fruit parfait with meringue and whipped cream • Titania’s Delight
91
Garlic, bacon, and cheese tart • Garlic Tart
126
Gazelle horn-style cookies • Delights of the Lamp
31
Goat cheese toast with honey and herbs • Beorn’s Goat Cheese Toast
Wizard’s Cookbook Page 10