(C) Carnival Film & Television Limited 2012 for MASTERPIECE
Last night, Lady Mary and Lord Matthew Crawley finally made it official on Downton Abbey.
Walking down the aisle in the most expensive costume the show has ever seen—a cream-colored long-sleeved wedding gown adorned with rice pearls and Swarovski crystals—Mary certainly looked divine.
But with lavish dinners galore on the show, some fans might have been disappointed in not getting to see a wedding reception scene.
Don’t worry though, Pamela Foster from the blog, Downton Abbey Cooks, filled Radio.com in on what the happy couple would have eaten.
For the reception, Mrs. Patmore and the rest of the kitchen staff would have been busy creating classic French canapés for the wedding guests.
These bite-size appetizers became popular in England in the late-19th century. Even today, Foster suggests making English-style hors d’oeuvres like goat cheese and fig sandwiches on raisin bread or beef and Yorkshire pudding canapés that “taste like Sunday roast beef dinner in one bite” for your next party.
As far as the cake goes, it would have been something much less decadent than those 7-tier icing infused confections we’re used to hearing about at celebrity weddings. Instead the cooks would have prepared a nice, but modest fruitcake.
Though the cake is said to be the most re-gifted item during the holidays its lineage can be traced back all the way to the Middle Ages. With dried fruits being rather expensive during the 18th and 19th century though, fruitcakes became a delicacy and a staple for special occasions. The usual Christmas throwaway, Foster says, was traditionally served at English weddings during that period.
Filled with currants, candied red cherries and let’s not forget, rum, Foster says the fruitcakes gets a bad wrap. When made right, it is a delicious moist cake perfect for your next Christmas party.
Let’s hope Lady Edith’s upcoming nuptials will satisfy our appetite.
Check out more Downton-inspired recipes from Foster’s book, Abbey Cooks Entertain, here.
- Shannon Carlin, Radio.com
Photo courtesy of (C) Carnival Film & Television Limited 2012 for MASTERPIECE
