My Evening with the Poldark Family

I'll take any excuse to dress up, so when I heard there would be a two hour finale of Poldark on Masterpiece last Sunday, I pulled out my cookbook with 18th century recipes and my Georgian dress out of my costume trunk to have a party with my fellow #PoldarkPBS Twitter fans.

These Sunday nights with Poldark with my fellow tweeters (is there an official title for people on Twitter?) have been immensely enjoyable, and getting two hours of Poldark family drama, complete with tears and smiles, plus an 18th century dessert eaten while wearing 18th century clothing meant that this particular Sunday could be no less than a memorable one.

My latest completed historical clothing project was a robe à la Polonnaise, and I have been looking for an excuse to wear it. What better occasion could there be than the season finale of the year's most popular period drama? It was not only for fun; I was also conducting an experiment to see just how comfortable (or uncomfortable) wearing this style of garment would actually be. I have had plenty of experience wearing Regency gowns and all that goes with them, and I consider them to be reasonably comfortable. But the Georgian style has always appeared to be a bit more confining in its fit. Happily, I discovered that this was not the case! It is quite maneuverable, along with being as reasonably comfortable as the attire of the Regency.

Trying to live like an 18th century lady. It's actually comfortable!

I think that personal experience with a particular historical style can really give a person a valuable understanding of what it was like to live way back when. History and so many of the people who lived it are gone forever, but it is possible to value them and learn from them, and one fairly easy way to do that is by dressing in their clothes and eating what they ate. Those two things especially give us insight into their lives because they are activities they did every day. They can tell us so much about humanity. That is the deeper reason that I take the time and effort to do historical reenacting.

Now on to the trivial reasons. Making the food is fun, and it is almost always delicious! I used a recipe from a book titled The Delectable Past by Esther B. Aresty. The book was a birthday present – one of my favorite kinds, too! It includes modern adaptations of recipes from the Roman times to late 19th century America. Someday soon I hope I get to try some of the Renaissance recipes! (Another excuse for a party...)

I chose my recipe from the chapter on 18th century England, of course, and since Poldark was on after dinner, I chose a dessert entitled Snowballs. The main ingredient might surprise you, as it is not coconut, icing sugar, meringue or even whipped cream – it is an apple. Yes, an apple peeled, rolled in cinnamon and sugar, covered with meringue, cored and filled with jam, and enveloped in pie crust. The end result was delicious! I cooked two apples for ten minutes at 450º, then for forty minutes at 375º, but they weren't quite done, so next time I would leave them in a bit longer. They also definitely need to be covered loosely for the last half of the baking time because the crust really begins to brown.

The finished product really looks quite impressive – especially if they are set in a silver dish atop grape leaves, if I say so myself.

My Snowball (apple) covered in meringue and cinnamon and sugar, and filled with jam.

The Snowballs just before entering the oven...

Vòila! They were rather like glorified mini apple pies.

Yours truly tweeting away about #PoldarkPBS.

The inside of the Snowball.

Enough about my efforts – the show was excellently done! The finale was executed in the same spirit of realist drama, idyllic cinematography, and complete emotional chaos. Poldark never allows you to relax. Something either life-changing or life-ruining is always around the corner for someone living on that rocky Cornish coast. I won't give any spoilers, but you can rest assured that the last episode of this series has lost no drama since that which hit us in the first! I would say it has either gotten worse or better, depending on your opinion of the style of a series that takes its viewers on an emotional roller coaster ride every week.

I myself do not like it when there is even a hint a show adds dramatic twists for no reason. If it tries to make itself interesting by doing so, it will almost certainly draw from me a bit of scorn and a move for the stop button. I say all that to make this point: Poldark is composed of legitimate drama. The story of Ross Poldark himself seems especially believable, and Aidan Turner inhabits the character so well. I almost forget that I am watching an actor!

Poldark may be a bit of an emotional roller coaster, but the realistic quality of the ride makes it all the more thrilling! Not to mention more of an inspiration for historical reenacting!



© 2015 Anna Morton