At the end of A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge toasts to a new relationship with his long-suffering clerk, Bob Cratchit.

“A Merry Christmas, Bob!” said Scrooge with an earnestness that could not be mistaken, as he clapped him on the back. “A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you for many a year! I’ll raise your salary, and endeavor to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon over a bowl of Smoking Bishop, Bob!”

This oddly named concoction is a potent deep-purple libation named for the color of a bishop’s robe. Perhaps this Christmas, try making it for your family and friends with this recipe from Dickens’ own great-grandson, Cedric:

5 sweet oranges
1 grapefruit
1/4 lb. sugar (or brown sugar)
2 bottles strong red wine
1 bottle ruby port
Cloves
Cinnamon stick

1. Slice oranges and grapefruit in half. Bake in a 350-degree oven for approximately 30 minutes (until fruit turns pale brown).
2. Stab fruit with cloves and place in a warmed earthenware-bowl slow cooker or rice cooker.
3. Add sugar and wine. Cover bowl and let mixture sit for a day or so.
4. Remove the fruit and squeeze the juice back into the wine.
5. Strain the wine through a sieve.
6. Add port and let simmer (but don’t boil) for one hour.
7. Serve in warmed goblets

Cedric Dickens
Drinking with Dickens
New Amsterdam Books, 1990