Manuscript Cookbooks Survey Database ID#
551Place of Origin
United StatesDate of Composition
1840-1865Description
This 44-page cookbook is inscribed "Mrs. F. Scott's Receipt Book" twice on the inside front cover. A page near the end of the book is headed "Willie Lane Scott / Fredericksburg," who is presumably the same person. The first 26 pages are mostly in the same hand as the inscriptions and are organized in four sections: "wine, cordials, etc."; "pickles, catsups, etc." (the longest section); "puddings, pies. etc."; and "breads. etc." (the shortest section, comprising only two recipes for yeast-raised, ring-baked muffins). Most of the recipes in the first 26 pages are credited to various persons, many to "Mrs. Scott." The remaining 18 pages of the book contain a mix of recipes for puddings, cakes, charlotte russe, and lemonade, as well as directions for starch, "cheap soap," salve, freckle remover, and dye fixative. Many of these recipes are in the same hand as the earlier recipes and are credited to the same persons, including one to "Mrs. Scott," but some are in other hands. Also in the hand of the principal writer is the following amusing "recipe": To Make Pickle Sausages Take 5 pounds of Meat at the season of the year when there are no dogs about. Place it in a tub and add to it 3 lbs. of Honey and one of Hog's lard & after it remains 9 months season it to suit the taste--this is considered by caughnaughseurs [for connoisseurs?] a delicious dish. This recipe is followed by two lines of what seems to be intended as Latin-sounding doggerel. In the corner of the page is written: "A piece of dear Brother Hugh's fun, 1849." The penultimate page of the book contains the date April 28, 1865. However, this date is probably not in the hand of the principal writer and it refers to a loan to "Sandy Little" of the [1st volume?] of "Washington Irving's 'Life of Washington'" (and something else that is not legible). Most of the recipes feel a bit earlier than 1865.
