Manuscript Location

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

Place of Origin

England

Date of Composition

1850s

Description

Most of this 70-page cookbook was written by a single individual or by two individuals with similar hands, although a few recipes in other hands appear sporadically in brief clutches beginning on page 68. The book contains a number of recipes that mark it as likely English, including potted tongue, semolina pudding, lemon possets, almond nougat, medlar jelly, Regent's pudding, gooseberry mould, gooseberry cakes, orange paste for puddings, baking powder made with "carbonate of soda," seed cake, gingerbread loaf made with treacle (rather than the American molasses), Tunbridge Wells biscuits, and preserved lettuce. Also strongly suggesting an English origin is a cake recipe on page 76 credited to a titled "lady." The recipes are of the mid-nineteenth century. In addition to the recipes cited above, the book includes the following (among many others): Bread Rusks, Pea Soup, Imperial, Tapioca Jelly, Ground Rice Blanc Mange, Wafer Puddings, and Spiced Beef.