I don’t know about you, but I’m a big fan of the television program Downtown Abbey. Despite my Irish-roots, I can’t help but find the upper-crust Brit soap opera completely addictive and absorbing. I love the characters, I love the house and garden porn, I love the evolving fashions, I even love the sinister valet with shellaced hair. Every season has had it’s emotional ups and downs, but this season in particular has been a bit rocky because I’m completely hating a plot line that involves a lovely lady’s maid (fellow fans, you know what I’m talking about…not-yet-fans, I will not spoil it for you, just watch the show already), but the silver-lining has been the time and attention lavished on the goings-ons in the Abbey’s kitchen. The lair of kerchiefed Mrs. Patmore (the head cook) and her fidgety, love-sick kitchen girls, has always been central to the downstairs portion of the estate’s story, but in my opinion, the kitchen scenes have really been elevated this season. From the long work table heaving with gorgeous produce, hulking cutting boards, and that amazing wooden egg holder (see below):
…to the insertion of new-fangled 1920s gadgets like an electric hand-held mixer and fridge-a-dare (what will Mrs. Patmore do without her ice delivery!?), the kitchen has become even more the heart and soul of downstairs Downton (with lots of beauty shots of copper pots, creamy crockery, and Farrow & Ball tinted walls adding to the allure). There is even an interesting culinary story line about the footman Alfred applying to a restaurant cooking program at the Ritz Hotel, which seems to be a commentary on the line between men and women in the cooking world, household cook versus professionally trained restaurant cook. I love that it’s the women from the household kitchen who are Alfred’s first, pre-French, mentors– how many superstar chefs (“the gods”) received their first instruction and inspiration at the hands of an ace woman home cook and how often to they get the credit?
So do you agree that the kitchen has become more of a star this season? Even small details like the bustle to get ready for servants’ tea, the authentic heirloom-heft and ruddiness of the apples Mrs. Patmore is peeling, the calling out by name of a dish like cauliflower with cheese. And on a grander scheme, the fact that the estate is transitioning into a working farm to help feed the post-war population. I know I’m romanticizing the life of a kitchen-worker a bit (poor Daisy having to wake up at some ungodly hour to get the ovens cranking, etc.), but for a week or just a day, I’d love to take a spin in the Downton kitchen…but then get to dress like Lady Mary when it’s time for dinner.
