Manuscript Location

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

Place of Origin

England

Date of Composition

1820s-1840s

Description

The first 25 pages of this 74-page cookbook were written by a single individual, likely Frances Collins, whose signature on the inside front cover appears to match the neat, handsome hand of the recipes. This section of cookbook is organized, recipes for fruit and flower wines and spirits written on pages 2 through 18, recipes for puddings and mince pies comprising the remainder of the section. Page 3 includes a date which may be September 20, 1815. The final page of this section contains a note dated 1825. An index to this section appears at the end of the notebook. The rest of this cookbook is in numerous hands, many of them hasty and somewhat difficult to read; there is a date of 1838 on page 47, and dates of 1845 and 1846 on page 57. The recipes in the latter part of the cookbook are mostly standard for the period, with the exception of an uncommonly rich recipe for pancakes (crepes) on page 30 and instructions for making "mock ginger" from cauliflower on page 41. Many recipes are credited to their contributors, which include members of the nobility.