Notes about Recipes in this book

• Unsinkable cream of barley soup

  • lholtzman on January 18, 2024

    This was good, but a lot of work. It benefits from sitting over night. I made this with vegetarian broth.

• Mushroom barley soup

  • lholtzman on October 12, 2025

    Perfect soup for a rainy fall day. I seasoned along the way and added 1 tsp kosher salt at the end. It needs it because the barley isn’t salted.

• Creamy butternut squash soup

  • lholtzman on January 16, 2025

    This soup is very thick because of the sweet potato, but it’s not cloying. The flavor is definitely more savory than sweet. I used vegetable broth instead of chicken stock.

• Cream of asparagus soup

  • lholtzman on March 27, 2025

    Delicious for lunch. Both my kids ate this, so a good way to get them to eat green vegetables.

• Mrs. Patmore's London particular

  • Bessp on August 02, 2025

    This recipe ended up being a bit more involved than I thought it would be at first glance. There's a lot of soaking, draining, rinsing steps. If you use store bought ham stock, you can reduce a lot of that. The directions are a bit unspecific in some places (eg; add water to cover, no indication of how much water except that you need at least 6 cups of stock later in the recipe, but you should also have extra in case you want the soup thinner). Still, I ended up with a quite enjoyable pea soup. I might make it again, and I'll probably like it even more now that I've worked out the ratios.

• Daisy's mustard salmon with lentils

  • lholtzman on August 01, 2024

    This is such a tasty dish. My kids don’t usually like salmon, but they enjoyed this preparation. The mustard sauce and lentils can be made ahead.

• Baked cod with Parmesan bread crumbs

  • lholtzman on November 10, 2023

    Omit salt if you use Italian seasoning that already has salt in it. Regardless, 1 tsp of salt is a lot so consider using much less.

• Seafood crêpes with Mornay sauce

  • kateiscoooking on May 16, 2019

    Amazing. I've made herb crepes for my grandson for years. These were eggier but just as good. I used frozen uncooked shrimp so tossed those in with the mushrooms and onions and then poured in the white wine to steam them. Once they were cooked, I removed the shrimp, poured off the liquid and set the veggies aside. The liquid went into the sauce instead of the white wine. The only other major change was tripling the gruyere in the sauce and grating in a bit of nutmeg. This was FABULOUS!

• Mrs. Patmore's dropped roasted chicken

  • dwager on November 01, 2020

    This is a good basic roast chicken recipe. I could taste the rosemary and the lemon, and everyone thought it was good. However, the recipe calls for a 3-pound chicken. I haven't seen anything that small in a very long time. My 5 1/2 pounder (pretty standard size from Costco) took considerably longer to get cooked.

• Spinach salad with goat cheese, toasted walnuts, and pears

  • lholtzman on March 20, 2024

    I found the dressing too salty. The salad was good, but not very original. The combination also felt more modern then turn of the century, but who knows.

• Creamy crab and celery salad

  • kateiscoooking on January 22, 2019

    I couldn't find the walnut oil so switched to pecans and pecan oil. Refreshing and wonderful!

• Spinach and feta salad with fresh beetroot

  • kateiscoooking on February 06, 2019

    Very good but nothing out of the ordinary. I'd use sugar instead of the maple syrup on the walnuts. Tends to coat them better. And, I might add some heat or spice to the butter and sugar.

• Baked and buttery balsamic asparagus with sea salt

  • lholtzman on May 29, 2025

    This recipe was quite good. It’s very fast and easy, so good for a weeknight, but also special enough for a dinner party. My kids enjoyed.

• Traditional Bakewell tart

  • Thredbende on December 17, 2014

    Having brought this tart to a couple special events, I heartily recommend it.

• Fancy French meringues

  • dwager on October 13, 2020

    This is a good basic meringue recipe. I made them about 1 3/4 inches across to get 36 from this recipe.

• Classic cucumber sandwich

  • lholtzman on September 25, 2025

    Great tea sandwich. I like the chopped cucumber in this recipe vs. sliced in others. I didn’t cut crusts off bread as it seemed wasteful.

• Classic egg salad tea sandwiches

  • lholtzman on October 19, 2024

    I like the kick from the cayenne pepper. That said, this was not my favorite egg salad recipe.

  • lauren_4w5d7n on March 09, 2026

    Add 1 T relish

• Sweet cream scones

  • lholtzman on August 21, 2025

    The flavor of these is delicious; however, the recipe as written is not good. Make sure the butter and egg are NOT at room temperature. They need to come cold from the fridge, otherwise they will melt as they bake. You could even refrigerate or freeze a bit before baking.

• Working class porridge

  • lholtzman on May 24, 2024

    I was concerned that the amount of salt was too much, but everything balances out nicely in the end. I used Diamond kosher salt.

• Walnut and celery salad with pecorino

  • lholtzman on April 05, 2026

    This salad is addictive. The saltiness of the cheese cuts through the cool, watery snap of the celery, while the earthy, toasted notes of the walnuts provide a rich, lingering finish. The author notes that this salad is not fancy enough to serve to aristocrats, but it definitely feels fancy to me. I don’t know if I would serve this at a dinner party given people’s feelings toward celery, but I would serve as a side to many dishes. I quartered the recipe. Also, I ended up using finely grated pecorino because I had leftover from another recipe.

• Epicurious

  For the Downtown Abbey fan whose growing anticipation for Season 3 needs an outlet, this cookbook would make for the perfect gift.

  Full review