The Downton Abbey Guide To Tailgating

A cookbook timed to the movie’s release offers recipes that will posh up your favorite pregame.

- Kate Krader

As blockbuster films go, the stakes are pretty low. Unlike in Avengers: Endgame, the brave heroes of Downton Abbey don’t have to face an intergalactic mega villain bent on destroying half the life in the universe. Instead they must prepare a fancy house for the king and queen of England, who are popping by for lunch.

But for Carson and Lady Mary and the rest of the beloved show’s characters, it’s serious business. A lot of Downton Abbey’s drama takes place in the downstairs kitchen or around the upstairs dining room table, and such events as the arrival of a refrigerator—modern technology at the time—are major episode events. Lucky for viewers, we have The Official Downton Abbey Cookbook by Annie Gray (Weldon Owen, $35) for home chefs who might want to play along. In the world of commemorative cookbooks, it’s not as ridiculous as, say, Baking Bad