Manuscript Location

Place of Origin

Date of Composition

Description

This cookbook is written on fragmentary sheets preserved together with Japanese paper. Although written in a single hand, the book is attributed to sisters Mary Edmonia Taylor (1824-1892) and Lucy Jane Taylor (1828-1869), as well as, presumably, their mother, Mildred E. Turner Taylor (1799-1882). The book was compiled at Meadow Farm, in Orange County, Virginia, an estate owned by the prominent Taylor family. The estate is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places and its standing buildings, which include the farmhouse and a separate kitchen, are operated as a museum.

The book contains recipes for Ginger Bread, Molasses, Mush Pudding, Orange Pudding, Thickened Milk Pudding, Thickened Milk Fritters, Sponge Biscuit/Cake, Flurrinen, Pan Cakes, Cheese Cake, Icing, Wafers, Plum Pudding, Mince Pies, Macaroons, Jumbles, Raspberry Cream, Peach Cream, Cordial, Puff Pudding, Brandy Peaches, Ice Cream, Calf’s Head Dressed, Calf’s Feet Jelly, Pickle Beef, Bacon, Yellow Pickles, To Pickle Melons, Potato Pudding, Cider Royal, Yeast, Tomato Pickle, Tomato Catsup, Walnut Catsup, Preserve Pepper, and Cucumber Catsup. There are also instructions for various dye colors, notably Red Wood or Nicaragua Dye.

To view the library record, go to the institution homepage, follow the links to the library catalog search page, and enter Taylor Family Cookbook, ca. 1840 in the search box.