Manuscript Location

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

Place of Origin

England

Date of Composition

1848-1887

Description

This cookbook of approximately 200 pages is in the hand of Susan Gilbert, except perhaps for digital pages 172 to 183, which appear to be in a second hand, possibly that of a daughter of Susan Gilbert, as one recipe is attributed to "mother." The manuscript contains two lists of recipes. The first list runs from digital pages 1 through 7 and contains a number of recipes marked as taken from "a little black book"; the second list runs from digital pages 69 to 76 and is headed "receipts out of my brown book." Many of the recipes on these lists appear in subsequent pages, but not all of them, and not always in the order of the lists. The black and brown books referenced were presumably manuscript cookbooks that Susan Gilbert had written previously. Most of the recipes in this book focus on fruit wines, puddings, dessert creams and jellies, little cakes, and cakes, but a few meat and fish dishes, potted foods, and pickles are also covered. The recipes are fairly standard for the 1840s and 1850s, which is when many of the recipes are dated. Of particular interest are notes on Christmas plum pudding appearing at the end of the book. Dated in the 1880s, these notes include a recipe for the pudding, which Susan Gilbert records as having used for 29 years, as well as the specific days when she made the pudding in 1886 and 1887, on December 8 and December 14 respectively.