How are your Christmas food preparations going? You’ve missed Stir-up Sunday, but there’s still plenty of time to plan for other things. Perhaps you want to make your own mincemeat for pies or find out how to make a St Stephen’s pudding. We have a round up of Christmas cookbooks that can guide you through the oft stressful festive mealtime planning.
Like Madonna, Elton, Cher and Pélé – Delia is recognisable by the one name. She’s usually my favoured ‘celebrity chef’ and her Christmas collection, first published in 1990, is my go-to tome for festive recipes. She’s straightforward and no-nonsense, beginning the book with a series of suggested shopping lists and when to buy which ingredients. Best of all, you can find second-hand copies for less than 50 pence!
Of course, we were going to include a Christmas cookbook with a vintage theme! The Vintage Christmas Cookbook by Angela Webster McRae was first published in paperback just this year and, as it’s American, ingredients are listed in cups, so make sure you have some suitable measuring utensils.
I must confess, I’ve never watched a single episode of Dowton Abbey, but I imagine that Christmas dinner in the dining room there would be an unforgettable experience. It would be like a Cratchit Christmas, but money-no-object and with all the mod-cons! This book was published just last year and weighs in at a substantial 272 pages.
- Delia Smith’s Christmas: from 33p, Amazon
In this collection of the very best of her Christmas recipes Delia Smith demonstrates how you can easily cope with the whole gamut of Christmas entertaining while still having plenty of time to relax with your family and friends. Whether this is the first time you have had Christmas at your own home or have been doing it for years, you’ll find this cookbook will be indispensable every Christmas for years to come. Delia gives advice on how to choose the very best produce, from the turkey to chocolates, from glacé fruits to smoked salmon. She shows that you’ve got plenty of time when everyone arrives – with her help you can prepare many dishes in advance, and her 36-hour countdown to Christmas dinner will ensure that nothing goes wrong for that most difficult of meals to get right. She gives lots of unusual ideas for all sorts of Christmas parties from fork buffets to drinks parties, including Roast Goose with Potato, Sage and Apple Stuffing and Iced Christmas Pudding topped with glacé fruits marinated in Madeira. Over 100 new recipes include 5 different kinds of Christmas cake and foolproof ways to ice them, a complete vegetarian Christmas including Cheese Terrine with Apricot Chutney, and recipes for Christmas gifts such as Chocolate Truffles.
- The Vintage Christmas Cookbook: A Baby Boomer, Thrifter and Flea Market Fanatic: £15.99, Waterstones
Remember those wonderful Christmas treats you grew up eating as a child? Perhaps you still recall those glorious sweets like Ageless Ambrosia, Cornflake Candy, Christmas Rosettes, Haystacks, and Peanut Butter Balls. In The Vintage Christmas Cookbook, you’ll find 25 old-fashioned recipes sure to bring back the flavor of holidays past-that’s one to enjoy each day of December leading up to Christmas Day! And Baby Boomers aren’t the only ones who will find inspiration within these pages. For all of you flea market, garage sale, and thrift store fans, this book includes images of vintage Christmas collectibles to grace your Christmas table and other spots throughout your home, along with a few tips on where to find such treasures yourself as you prepare for the sweetest, merriest of Christmases.
- The Official Downton Abbey Cookbook: £20.00, WHSmith
The Official Downton Abbey Cookbook presents over 100 recipes that showcase the cookery of the Crawley household – from upstairs dinner party centrepieces to downstairs puddings and pies – and bring an authentic slice of Downton Abbey to modern kitchens and Downton fans. Whether adapted from original recipes of the period, replicated as seen or alluded to on screen, or typical of the time, all the recipes reflect the influences found on the Downton Abbey tables. Food historian Annie Gray gives a warm and fascinating insight into the background of the dishes that were popular between 1912 and 1926, when Downton Abbey is set – a period of tremendous change and conflict, as well as culinary development. With a foreword by Gareth Neame, executive producer and co-creator of Downton Abbey, and featuring over 100 stunning colour photographs, many taken on the set of Downton Abbey and using the original glassware and china, The Downton Abbey Cookbook also includes a special section on hosting Downton-themed dinner parties, and includes stills from across the TV series as well as the latest film. Notes on the etiquette and customs of the times, quotes from the characters and descriptions of the scenes in which the foods appear provide rich context for the dishes. The recipes are grouped by occasion, which include breakfast; luncheons and suppers; afternoon tea and garden parties; picnics, shoots and race meets; festivities; upstairs dinner; desserts and canapés; downstairs dinner; downstairs supper and tea; and the still room. From the upstairs dinner menu: Caviar Croutes Chicken Vol-au-Vents Cucumber Soup Trout in Port-Wine Sauce Quail and Watercress Champagne Jelly From the downstairs dinner menu: Toad-in-the-Hole Beef Stew with Dumplings Steamed Treacle Pudding Jam and Custard Tarts Gingerbread Cake With these and more historic recipes, savour the rich traditions and flavours of Downton Abbey without end.
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