Place of Origin

England

Date of Composition

ca. 1810-1840

Description

This recipe book of 142 numbered pages contains culinary recipes on pages 1-80 and medical and household recipes on pages 104-140. The culinary recipes appear to have been written by a single individual. Many of the medical and household recipes appear to be in the same hand as the culinary recipes, but some are in one or more other hands. There is an index to the culinary recipes on two unnumbered pages at the front of the book (directly before numbered page 1), and an index to the medical and household recipes on pages 141-142. A few recipes are omitted from the index, including a clutch of medical recipes that appear out of category in the culinary section, on pages 65-67, and are in a hand other than that of the primary writer. Dated June 1831, these recipes appear to have been squeezed into a blank space in the book at some point after the bulk of the book was written.

The culinary section of the book is highly organized, comprising pickles and preserves on pages 1-13; dessert creams and more preserves on pages 34-38; cakes and pastry doughs on pages 44-57; puddings on pages 58-63; soups, sauces, and meat and cheese dishes on pages 68-76; and recipes for "Use of [carbonate of] Magnesium in making Bread," "A comfortable meal for six persons," and "Potatoe Yeast" on pages 77-80. The medical and household recipes proceed in no discernible order. The cakes section of the book includes at least three recipes copied verbatim from Maria Rundell's A New System of Domestic Economy, first published in 1806 and reprinted into the 1860s. This book was in the heyday of its popularity between ca. 1810 and ca. 1840, which is likely when this book was compiled.