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Friday 10 May 2013

I Can't Believe They Want Jell-O!

Mrs. Patmore here, from Downton Abbey.  As head of all the cookery at The Abbey, I'm quite accustomed to preparing twelve course meals for the lords and ladies upstairs and keeping the huge staff, this place requires, fed well enough to handle the long days and hard labour every one of us downstairs puts in.


Daisy and I can turn out souffles, pheasants, wedding cakes and trifles with never a bit of your modern day appliances!  There's nothing wrong with using a little elbow grease and a whisk, let me tell you.  Idle hands are prime for the devils work, I say.

So you can imagine my horror when the craze for this latest food hit the gentry!  Nobody was interested when Peter Cooper filed his patent in 1845.  It was sold several times and still no interest.  But, this is 1923 and a slick advertising campaign and a couple of fancy, French chefs in London have made this haute cuisine.

What is the world of the upper classes coming to! ~


The dowager duchess, Lady Violet, is said to take hers in a crystal footed bowl, on a Coalport Indian Tree under plate. She won't have it dressed up with any more than a little dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkle of fine sugar on the rim of the bowl. ~


I'll be doing a bit more than that for Lord Grantham's dinner!  My poor pudding mould is reduced to setting powdered crystals and water. ~





Turn it out on the Waterford crystal tray, Daisy, and don't be slow about it.  Since Lady Sybil's shenanigans with the Irish chauffeur, I'm afraid Lord Grantham isn't as fond of this Irish crystal as he once was. ~


But, it is pretty with the colour reflected in the prisms and the whipped cream roses and blueberries give a bit of the good, old Union Jack colours.

I'd better up the ice delivery if I'm to include this concoction with every meal. ~ 


Those bells never stop ringing ~


and, now Danni at Silo Hill Farm has shown you all how to make your own Downton Abbey service bells, there will be no peace for Daisy and I! ~


Thank heavens they haven't invented powdered whipped cream or Daisy and I would be out of a job!

I'll be joining the other Downton Abbey fans at A Return To Loveliness.

13 comments:

  1. What a fun post! I love it. And I love Jello. I think I should make some today now that you make it look so fancy in the footed bowls, of which I have plenty. Good old Jello! Have a great weekend! Pam

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  2. This is such a cute post. I'm such a fan of Downton Abbey, as much for the storyline as for the lovely decors and costumes. Such a nice change from the many violent, vulgar shows these days!

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  3. I laughed all the way through this. You make jello darn-right fabulous. Deb

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  4. What a great post! I love Jello, and never knew I was enjoying such a fancy concoction. Huge Downton Abbey fan here, and you nailed Mrs. Patmore's voice perfectly. What fun!

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  5. I love jello and have a couple of jello cookbooks.

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  6. One is rather confused. We would call this jelly, and love it served with cream (it does look awfully nice on your crystal). We believe what you call jelly, we would call jam and serve with scones (methinks you call them biscuits) at afternoon tea. Jello, is not a word I am totally familiar with, but I very much enjoyed reading your post, and it did make me chuckle somewhat !!!

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  7. Cute post. I LOVE Downton Abbey and I enjoy looking at the food, costumes and decorating throughout the show. Thanks for making me smile!

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  8. Jello served on Waterford crystal, looks very pretty, but I don't think ill be serving it like that here. You guys have powdered whipped cream?? Never heard of it. Fun post :)

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  9. Oh you are such a clever writer and a bit of a sneak! I was just reading right along and enjoying it very much and then there was my bell! Thank you for the shout out! By the way...when I was I think 10, I asked for jello molds and a Joys of Jello cookbook for Christmas and I made almost every dish in the book! I love jello still and I love this post!! So fun and a pleasant surprise!

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  10. I see you were lost in your fantasy land again Maureen! And to think you made up a dialogue about jello! Lovely! I was enthralled by the whole story! Hahaha! You learn something new everyday and this was mine today!
    Nice work! xo

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  11. Uh oh... is Dream Whip considered powdered whip cream?

    Bliss

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  12. This is so very clever!!! Love this post - can't wait to hear what you think of what I wrote about today - so connected!! I do appreciate you sharing with A Return to Loveliness,
    Kathy

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  13. What a neat post!

    I still haven't seen this. I really need to find it on my TV.

    Thanks for a jiggly, happy post!

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