Place of Origin

England

Date of Composition

ca. 1825-ca. 1850

Description

This English cookbook begins with approximately 113 pages of recipes, nearly all of which are culinary, except for a handful of household formulas for things such as ink, soap, and furniture polish. The first 34 pages of the book are numbered, and the recipes on the numbered pages are entered in an index written in the back of the volume, following a long run of blank pages. After the index there are 9 pages of additional recipes, mostly for remedies or practical products.

The book is written in multiple recurring hands, strongly suggesting that it was a collaborative project undertaken by a group of family members or friends. As is typical of such books, there are a number of clutches of recipes of like kind (for example, a run of four soups: "gravy," "white," "pease," and "mock turtle"), as well as a number of dishes that are outlined in two or more different recipes in different parts of the volume.

The culinary recipes are typical of the Regency and early Victorian eras. The book is particularly strong in recipes for soups, meat and poultry dishes, puddings, fruit and flower wines, and preserves, with a scattering of recipes for side dishes, sauces, pickled and potted foods, ham cures, cheeses, dessert creams and jellies, and cakes. Page 10/digital image 15 contains a section titled "General Directions," which includes roasting times and other procedures for several meat cuts. "How to manage milk when the cows eat turnips" appears on digital image 58. The uncommon recipe "To cure an ox's liver for gravy" appears on digital image 64. The liver is brined for six weeks and then hung "to dry as you do bacon." When gravy is wanted, a small piece of the liver is boiled in water and fresh meat broth added, if wished.