Manuscript Location

University of Iowa Main Library, Special Collections, Szathmary Culinary Archive

Place of Origin

England

Date of Composition

1840s

Description

This cookbook is written in a small oblong leather-bound notebook of approximately 138 pages. The first 125 pages contain recipes, pages 126 through 130 are blank, and pages 131 to 137 comprise an index to the recipes through page 123. (The recipes on pages 124-125 were presumably added after the index.) Most of the recipes through page 70 appear to have been compiled by a single individual, albeit writing in different moods and with different squibs. The remaining recipes are in several different hands. That the book is English is indicated both by recipes such as Devonshire Pudding and Bramble Jelly and by words and phrases such as corner dish, quartern, shilling, pence, treacle (for molasses), moist sugar, and essence of anchovy. Also pointing to an English origin is a recipe attributed to a Lady Thompson. The recipes were current during the first half of the 19th century, but the book can be dated more specifically on the basis of the chemical leavenings "carbonate of soda" and "carbonate of ammonia," which are called for in a cake recipe. Both were introduced to England around 1835 but the latter was uncommon after 1850, so the book bids fair to be of the 1840s. Among the recipes are: Sponge Pudding, Shrewsbury Cakes, Cakes, Imitation Sausages, Macaroni Pudding, Cabinet pudding, Orange Marmalade, Rice Cake, Trifle, The Whip, Lobster Pudding, Common plum Cake, Lemon Dumplings, Rice Blancmange, Rice Cheesecakes, Food for Babes [a rare recipe for baby food porridge], Irish Cake, Cocoanut Cheesecake, Cheap Dish, Cheap Stew, White Wine Whey, Barley Water, Chutney Sauce, Preserved pine apples, Fruit cheese, Raspberry Cream (without cream), and Rhubarb Mould. There are also a number of medical recipes towards the end of the book.