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Christmas Customs

Colour Food Plates

1923 Edition of Mrs Beeton's Family Cookery - Food History

By Pauline Weston Thomas for Fashion-Era.com

 

Mrs Beeton's Food Plates

Mrs Beeton's Contribution to Society

Food is considered important by many to set the tone of an occasion such as Christmas.  During the Victorian era the mass publication of books and weekly periodicals drew attention to domestic skills.  In the Victorian era, Mrs. Beeton's book of Household Management was important in setting down some written rules on how to cope with domestic duties.  A skilled organiser and businesswoman, cooking was just one of the arts that Mrs. Beeton explored.

I have a 1923 edition of Mrs. Beeton's Family Cookery.  In this 1923 edition, there are no less than five recipes for variations on Xmas pudding.  The recipe for one is given on another page here.

On the flyleaf, the book states that it contains ' Nearly 3000 Practical Recipes' .  It has other sections too on menus, servant's duties and includes a chapter on napkin folding.  In addition it has 20 full colour plates and they display food in a delightful way and probably much as the Edwardians and late Victorians in wealthy families expected their food to look like when taken to the table.  Food was presented as ornamentation to the table.  I include 9 of the better colour plates as thumbnails on this page and all enlarge to a nice size for more detail. 

Game -  Poultry and Game is a traditional aspect of Christmas foods and can often bring applause when taken into a dining room set atop a large platter and surrounded by interesting accompaniments.  The antique colour food plate here shows how the meats when dressed might have looked in the 1920s or earlier eras
Colour Food Plate of Poultry and Game a Traditional Aspect of Christmas.

         From left to right.

  • 1. Barded Partridge

  • 2. Roast Partridges

  • 3. Roast Surrey Fowls

  • 4. Larded Guinea Fowl

  • 5. Roast Plovers

  • 6. Stuffed Capon à la Mayonnaise

  • 7. Roast Gosling

  • 8. Roast Pigeons

Mrs Beeton's Food Colour Plates 1923 Edition

Mrs Beeton's Food Colour Plates 1923 Edition
Colour Food Plate of Dressed Fish. Colour Food Plate of Poultry and Game a Traditional Aspect of Christmas. Colour Food Plate of Poultry and Game Chaudfroid Style Colour Food Plate of Starters - Hor's d'Ouvres
Fish Game Chaudfroid Dishes Hors d'Ouvres
Colour Food Plate of Vegetables Colour Food Plate of Cold Entrees Colour Food Plate of Dessert Fruit Colour Food Plate of Sweets and Gateaux
Vegetables Cold Entrees Dessert Fruits Sweets & Gateaux

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Many of Mrs Beeton's original recipes were untested and sometimes quantities given were enough to feed 12 people and alarm people today when they read the old recipes.  Yet that was not so very terrible - for festive occasions and family gatherings 12 portions might well have been required.  In many cases servants also ate the remains of food and this would have been taken into consideration during preparation. 

See Topics Below for More Ideas on Christmas Traditions, Customs, and Recipes

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Christmas Crafts

Seasonal Humour

Christmas Traditions

 

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Fashion-Era.com looks at women's costume and fashion history and analyses the mood of an era.  Changes in technology, leisure, work, cultural and moral values. Homelife and politics also contribute to lifestyle trends, which in turn influence the clothes we wear.  These are the changes that make any era of society special in relation to the study of the costume of a period.Fashion History

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