Syllabubs

The Forgotten English word of Saturday was Syllabub - Andrew Midkiff
Syllabub for Modern Consumption - Ray (at the bay) Martin
Colonial Food in Colonial Williamsburg - Jeffrey Charles
Syllabub for "Old Men" - Marijane Osborne

The Forgotten English word of Saturday was Syllabub - Andrew Midkiff
"Take a quart and half a pint of cream, a pint of Rhenish (wine), half a pint of sack, three lemons, and near a pound of double-refined sugar; beat and sift the sugar, and put it to your cream; grate off the yellow rind of your lemons and put that in; squeeze the juice of the lemons into your winde...beat all together with a whisk just half an hour.... It will keep good nine or ten days, and is best three or four days old. These are called the everlasting syllabubs."
Eliza Smith's Compleat Housewife, 1758.

Syllabub for Modern Consumption - Ray (at the bay) Martin
2 egg whites
4 oz sugar
juice of half a lemon
1/4 pint sweet white wine
10 oz double cream, whipped
lemon slices
Whisk the egg whites stiffly and fold in the sugar, lemon juice, wine and cream.
Pour into individual glasses and chill for several hours. Decorate with lemon slices.
Delicious with a sweet Marsala.

Syllabub variations:
serves 8
4 cups red wine
3/4 cup sugar
juice and Zest of two lemons
1 cup sherry or 1/2 a cup sherry + 1/2 cup Madeira
2 cups heavy cream.
Stir 1/4 cup sugar into the wine until dissolved, pour into the glasses.
Reserve 1 tblspoon of the zest. In a large bowl, combine the lemon juice with the sherry and remaining sugar: stir until dissolved. Pour in the cream and whip with a whisk. Spoon off the "froth" and lay it onto the wine in the glasses. Sprinkle with lemon Zest and garnish with a sprig of rosemary. Chill for at least an hour.

Colonial Food in Colonial Williamsburg - Jeffrey Charles
I was poking around for chess pie and came across this site:
Colonial Food in Colonial Williamsburg

A quote:
"Another food of yore is Syllabub. This dessert/drink tastes like fermented lemon chess pie. It has a thick portion which rises to the top of the glass. This section is eaten with a spoon, then the diner drinks the remaining wine mixture."

Syllabub for "Old Men" - Marijane Osborne
When I was living in Edinburgh I invited my "old men," as my (younger) husband back in Yorkshire called them, over for the evening and served them syllabub, made from a recipe I found somewhere but using whiskey instead of sherry as in the more usual American version.
It's so easy to make that even I could do it, substituting whiskey as is Celtically more traditional. And oh yum, but it was delicious! But one of my Old Men, I think it was the editor of The Dictionary of the Oldest Scottish Tongue, said, "Och, Meery-jane, what a dreadful thing to do to good whiskey!" (except that he would have said "whisky," because the word "whiskey" is American).
Just now I found a properly bewhiskyed recipe online, worth copying out, so here it is (but more whiskey/whisky than given here is nicer):
Dessert Recipes - Whisky Lemon Syllabub Recipe
Ingredients:
30 ml/ 2 tbsp caster (superfine) sugar
Finely grated rind and juice of 1 lemon
30 ml/ 2 tbsp whisky
300 ml/ 1 1/4 cups single (light) cream
300 ml/ 1 1/4 cups double (heavy) cream
Shortbread triangles, to serve
Method:
1. Heat the sugar, lemon rind and juice and whisky in a saucepan until the sugar has dissolved. Leave to cool.
2. Whip the creams together until softly peaking. Whisk in the whisky mixture.
3. Pour into four glasses and chill for at least 2 hours before serving with shortbread triangles.
End of online recipe. And not to be consumed by someone on a diet.