Manuscript Location

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

Place of Origin

England

Date of Composition

18th century

Description

Written in a notebook of 146 pages, this 109-page English recipe book contains (mostly) culinary recipes through page 99 and, following a gap of 35 blank pages, medical and household recipes to the end. The name Isabella Carr occurs at least three times in the manuscript: on page 66, with the date July 6th 178[?]; on page 68, with the date July 7th 1753; and on page 133, with the inscription "her book July 7, 1753." The library record states that "several loose recipes inside the back cover are clearly American," but these seem not to be available in the digital view. The book is in at least eight different hands, several of which repeatedly stop and then start again further on in the manuscript, suggesting that the book may have been compiled by being handed round to Carr family members (and perhaps family friends), who took turns writing recipes. The recipes include many eighteenth-century favorites, such as lemon cheesecakes, Scotch collops, muffins, ham, and fricasseed tripe, as well as some uncommon recipes, such as yeast-raised gingerbread and the very hard, very sweet thin tea cookies aptly called "whetstone cakes." Many of the recipes are lengthy and detailed, making this a valuable cookbook for students of eighteenth-century English cooking.