Manuscript Location

Folger Shakespeare Library, Manuscripts

Place of Origin

England

Date of Composition

ca. 1740

Description

Except for three pages of medical recipes tacked on at the end, this 95-page cookbook is likely in a single neat hand, albeit a variable one that transitions from block to cursive around page 73. The recipes are loosely organized in five sections (separated by blank leaves): pickles and ketchups, pages 1 through 15; meat and poultry dishes, soups, gravies, and fritters, pages 16 through 33; tansies, puddings, pies, dessert creams, jellies, and possets, pages 41 through 60; cakes and tea cakes, pages 70 through 79; and sweetmeats, pages 90 and 91. The medical recipes are on pages 93-95. 

The recipes "To Make Buns" and  "To Make an Ordinary Cake to Eat with Butter," both written on page 73, are copied from E. Smith's The Compleat Housewife, first published in 1727.