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The Unofficial Downton Abbey Cookbook: From Lady Mary's Crab Canapés to Mrs. Patmore's Christmas Pudding - More Than 150 Recipes from Upstairs and Downstairs: member book reviews

(1 review)

A friend who knows I like both cookery and history gave me this for my birthday recently, which was a kind thought but unfortunately it annoys the hell out of me on a number of fronts:

1. Written by an author from the US but deals extensively with English social class; this almost invariably leads to a whole host of "What? No!" moments for the English reader, since it's a topic full of nuances that are very significant but largely incomprehensible to anyone not brought up to it.

2. Full of arch references to the series characters - unavoidable, I suppose, given the premise. I watched half the first series, quite enjoyed it but haven't seen an episode since, so these just pass me by on the whole.

3. I have serious doubts about the historical accuracy of the information - for example I'm pretty sure English people call blood sausage "black pudding" because it's black in colour, not because it was popular in the Black Country (which wasn't called the Black Country until well into the 19th century).

4. I have no confidence at all in the authenticity of the recipes. Case in point - Edwardian "Working Class Porridge" (specifically designated as such) full of raisins, bananas, cinnamon and vanilla? Really? My great grandmother was bringing up five children on very little money around the time that Downton Abbey is set, and handed down her recipe for working class porridge. It consists of oatmeal, water and a pinch of salt. Maybe a dash of milk on a good day. Incidentally, I suspect the author would be surprised to learn (see point 1 above) that Aristocratic Porridge was basically the same, though more likely to include the dash of milk. Most of the recipes seem to be heavily modernised and/or Americanised and whatever their merits in their own right, they certainly don't do what the recipes in a "historical" cookery book should do.

Given the author's willingness to fancy-up the plainer recipes I'm mildly intrigued to know how she handled the other work attributed to her in the About the Author section - "The Unofficial Hunger Games Cookbook". I can think of few literary works less suited to a tie-in cookery book!

(edited 27th June 2015) report

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