“Cooking and the Crown: Royal Recipes From Queen Victoria to King Charles III” (Ten Speed Press, $35) opens with a nod to the extravagant British banquets of yesteryear, where the richest and most powerful people on earth dined on gastronomic feats while quietly shaping history.
“Souffle diplomacy” is how author Tom Parker Bowles terms these interactions which continue to this day — though typically with three courses instead of 12. Yet, once the esteemed guests have departed, the royal family’s meals look much like ours.
Bowles would know. An award-winning food writer and frequent judge on BBC’s MasterChef, he’s had a seat at the royal table as the son of Queen Camilla and godson of King Charles III. His personal insights, along with extensive historical research, inform the 100 recipes he curated, adapted or updated for his eighth cookbook, each designed to appeal to modern cooks and everyday families.
Lively essays interspersed through each chapter (Breakfast, Lunch, Tea, Dinner, Desserts) describe “the original haute cuisine” the masses would never experience. The recipes he shares, however, are devoid of such pomp, reflecting simpler tastes. His mother’s breakfast porridge consists of only oats, milk, a pinch of salt and a spoonful of honey procured from the Queen’s own hives. Jam Puffs, a favorite picnic treat of the former queen mother, are made by folding discs of ready-made puff pastry around jam or marmalade to form half-moons, then dusting with powdered sugar after baking.
The Asparagus and Spring Vegetable Risotto served at one of Charles’s coronation celebrations is a testament to the current monarch’s support for British agriculture. And the homey Partridge Hotpot prepared by longtime royal chef Mark Flanagan with game birds bagged from a shoot suggests boneless chicken thighs if the main ingredient is unavailable.
“You may be surprised at the simplicity of many of the recipes,” Parker Bowles writes. “That is the point. Food is the great leveler.”
Susan Puckett is a cookbook author and former food editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Follow her at susanpuckett.com.
Sign up for the AJC Food and Dining Newsletter
Read more stories like this by liking Atlanta Restaurant Scene on Facebook, following @ATLDiningNews on X and @ajcdining on Instagram.
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
