Manuscript Location

Place of Origin

Date of Composition

Description

This 104-page cookbook is written in a bound volume measuring 7 3/4 by 6 1/2 inches. According to the library, it was kept by an unidentified individual at Westover Plantation between 1859 and 1866, during which time Westover changed ownership (1862) and was occupied by Union troops (1861-1865).

The volume is divided into four principal sections, the first three of which are preceded by a table of contents.

The first section comprises cakes. The recipes include: Plum, Irish, Sponge, Plain, Brown, Ginger, Citron, Raised, Cheesecake, Shrewsbury, Gingerbread, Silver, Charlotte Russe, White, Coconut, Chocolate, La Plaud, Spanish Buns, Bread, Molasses, Washington, Buena Vista, Gold & Silver, Black, Sticky, Jumbles, Gillets, Sally Lunn, and Pound.

The second section, which begins on page 17, covers recipes for puddings. These include: Sweet Apple, Orange, Molasses, Corn Meal, Apple, Lemon, Economical, Birds Nest, Mush, Cocoa-nut, Indian Meal, Plum, Carrot, Almond, Sweet Potato, Pumpkin, Gooseberry, Mince Pies, Potatoe, Cottage, Souffle, Corn Starch, Arrow Root, and To Imitate an Apple Pie without Apples. There are also recipes for Soft Waffles and Sweet Spring Muffins in this section.  

The third section is labeled “Various Things.” It contains culinary recipes for jellies, wines, preserves, brandies, pickles, soups, and catsups, as well as household recipes for dyes, indelible ink, mending china, whitewash, to harden tallow, and to make lard candles.

The final section, medical recipes, includes recipes for Dovers powder and cough mixture, with additional cures for weak eyes, whooping cough, frosted feet, consumption, scarlet fever, sore eyes, erysipelas, and insect and snake bites.

In the back there is a list of books on philosophy and history.

To view the library record, go to the institution homepage, follow the links to the library catalog search page, and enter the library title for this book in the search box. See also Maria Selden Nelson School Notebook, ca. 1860, and Cookbook, ca. 1870-1900, which was partially compiled at Westover.