Recipes from an Edwardian Country House: A Stately English Home Shares Its Classic Tastes

by Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall

A nostalgic culinary pilgrimage, rediscovering the sort of classic, robust, wholesome food that would have emerged from the kitchen of an Edwardian country house like Downton Abbey .

In this sumptuous cookbook, Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall takes us on a nostalgic culinary pilgrimage, rediscovering classic recipes from the Edwardian kitchen. With delicious dishes, adapted with today’s kitchen in mind and delightfully informed by reminiscences from Jane’s childhood, this is much more than a cookbook - it offers a slice of gastronomic history, reviving the flavours from the great English country houses.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, History, Food, Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published November 12, 2013

About the author

From Wikipedia: Jane Margaret Fearnley-Whittingstall (née Lascelles)[1] (born 1939 in Kensington, London) is a writer and garden designer with a diploma in landscape architecture. She won two gold medals at the Chelsea Flower Show.[2]

Personal life
Daughter of Colonel John Hawdon Lascelles OBE of the King's Royal Rifle Corps and Janet Hamilton Campbell Kidston,[3] she and her husband, Robert Fearnley-Whittingstall, of a landed gentry family formerly of Watford and Hawkswick, Hertfordshire,[4] have two children: Sophy and Hugh, the celebrity chef. (https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...) They have six grandchildren.

Career
She gained a Diploma in Landscape Architecture from Gloucestershire College of Art and Design in 1980 and has designed numerous gardens in the UK and abroad.

From 2005 to 2007 she wrote a weekly column about family life, in The Times. She has also written for The Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, The Oldie, Woman's Weekly, The Garden, The English Garden and Gardens Illustrated.[citation needed]

Reviews

[Cherie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love books like this, not specifically for the recipes, but for the family history and comments. So well done and a timeless treasure.

I was fascinated by the names of the traditional English foods and the lists of ingredients. I spent a lot of my time looking things up, to see what they were. I loved the names of things, like Bubble and Sqeak, only to find out that they are mashed potato/cabbage patties.

I earmarked several recipes to try myself and to show to my daughter.

[Bettie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Description: In this sumptuous cookbook, Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall takes us on a nostalgic culinary pilgrimage, rediscovering classic recipes from the Edwardian kitchen. With delicious dishes, adapted with today's kitchen in mind and delightfully informed by reminiscences from Jane's childhood, this is much more than a cookbook - it offers a slice of gastronomic history, reviving the flavours from the great English country houses.

We had our breakfasts – whatever happens in a house – robbery or murder, it doesn’t matter, you must have your breakfast.
--THE MOONSTONE BY WILKIE COLLINS

Jam Roly-Poly and all!

This is quite a step up from your average cookbook, J F-W has some lovely stories to tell, nostalgic asides, and some great quotes from literature. The downside - no piccies.

A definite keeper.

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 My favorite part of this book was not the recipes within, but the wonderful stories that accompanied the beginning of each chapter or meal time. The author has some very real and wonderful remembrances of her family and the time they spent together as well as the customs and the meaning behind the food served.

I have never been a lover, but to be honest have never even tried kippers and kidneys so there were parts of this book where I would not even try the recipes. Same actually for lamb, which I have tried but did not like, nor mutton. There are several wonderful recipes a few stews, coronation chicken, a few vegetable dishes and salads that I have bookmarked on my kindle. Very enjoyable read and a poignant look at the past from a family perspective.

[Bonnie-Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great cook book with do-able recipes and lovely family stories behind them

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating glimpse into the cookery common during the Edwardian era in Britain.

[Bekka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to Edelweiss and Atria Books / Marble Arch Press for early access to this title.

This is actually more of a collection of British recipes from mid-century to modern times, and not from the Edwardian table as the title promises. I have to admit, to my American tastes, some of these recipes are almost nauseating. Some, however, sound like they'd be very tasty and I think I'll try several. The e-galley I received didn't work in my Bluefire reader, so I read the Kindle edition which had no pictures, and it also had some typesetting issues. I'm sure the actual book probably looks a lot better than what I read, and that may have helped me to enjoy the book more. I did appreciate the introductions where the author tells both personal and national history and how that impacted the cuisine of the times.

[Kristen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish I paid closer attention before checking this book out from the library. Based on the title, I was expecting something far more historical -- along the lines of something Ruth Goodman would put out -- but really, a far more accurate title for this book would be Some Recipes That Were Maybe At One Point Cooked in an Edwardian Country House (But There's Also Recipes For Things Like 'Salsa Verde' Too So, Y'Know, Maybe Not).

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

The people of England ate differently in the early 1900s than they do since World War II, especially in country homes and estates. Here isa collection of recipes from the Edwardian period. Most of the recipes use metric measures.

[Cassandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not exactly what I expected but enjoyable nonetheless.