This cookbook is written in a bound notebook with a marbled cover. It is inscribed on the inside cover “Mrs. J M Ranson … Mrs. M. E. Ranson’s Recipe Book.” Both names refer to the same person, Mary Eleanor (Baldwin) Ranson (1817-1880), who evidently also styled herself Mrs. James Matthew Ranson after her husband James Matthew Ranson, whom she married in 1841. Most of the book is in the same hand, presumably that of Mrs. Ranson. The book contains a table of contents that begins on the back of the first page and continues at the back of the book. Near the end of the book, a partial recipe that ends with the quote “Meet Me alone by moonlight” is dated Oct 11 1854. The center of the book bears a hand-drawn caricature of an African-American woman and child cooking in a kitchen, with a recipe for Johny Cake handwritten above.
The table of contents groups the recipes by type, beginning with desserts and cakes: To prepare a Bennet Bag, Rice Jelly, Blanc Mango, Conserve of Lemon, Hen’s Nest, Curds and Cream, Slip, Calves feet jelly, Flannery, Plain Custards, Rice Custards, Whipt Cream, Floating Island, Apple Float, Calf’s Feet Custard, Baked Custard, Lemon Ice Cream, Peach Cream, Vanilla Cream, To make a Trifle, Rice Blanc Mange, Soda Cakes, Dough Nuts, Bunns, Molasses Cake, Crumbles, several rusks, Macaroons, Loaf Cake, Lake Cake, Soda Cakes, and Republican Cake.
The puddings section of the index lists: Lemon cheese cake, Almond Cheese Cake, Curd Cheese Cake, Bread Pudding, and India Meal Pudding.
Additional cakes are indexed separately: Black Cake, Cake in Cups, Sponge Cake, Plumb Cake, Naples Biscuit, Composition Cake, Loaf Cake, Pint Cake, Soft Gingerbread, Cream Cake, Shrewsbury Cake, Salem Cake, Mrs Douaghe’s Sugar Cakes, Mrs D’s Gingerbread, German Gingerbread, Washington Cakes, and Fruit Cake.
Some newspaper clippings with household and culinary recipes have been pasted in. The book also includes instructions for dyeing, washing, and knitting. Towards the back of the book, there are two charts, one for weights and measures and another showing substitutions for various ingredients.
To view the library record, go to the institution homepage, follow the links to the library catalog search page, and enter the library title of the collection that contains this cookbook in the search box. Scroll down the page to locate the collection title (with “Section 2”). Note: there seems to be a confusion in the library record regarding the middle names of the author (“Eleanor”) and the author’s daughter (“Ellen”).
