The Crawley family dine in fine style
at Downton Abbey, thanks to food economist Lisa Heathcote, who draws on
period books such as Mrs Beeton’s Book Of Household Management for
inspiration for the menus.
A house like Downton would also have had its own cook book with recipes passed down over generations.
Mrs
Patmore and her staff in the kitchen produce a lot of classic French
cuisine for the family, says Heathcote, though the ingredients would
have been largely home-grown, with meat from the farm and vegetables
from the walled garden.
Food
is presented just as it would have been in the period, so poultry
arrives at the table with its feet on, while a simple pudding of fruit,
biscuits and cream looks like an edible masterpiece.
Mrs Patmore and her staff in the kitchen produce...
