Description
This cookbook is written in a hand-sewn notebook that is inscribed on the front cover "Mrs. Anna Maria Elting's Rochester May 5, 1819." Containing approximately 150 recipes, the book is effectively in two parts. The first section is in the hand of Mrs. Elting and dates from the early decades of the 19th century. The second section was written by various individuals, chiefly in the 1850s, and contains several recipes attributed to specific (probably local) persons such as Margaret Cooper, Mary Johnson, and Elizabeth Hasbrouck.
Most of the culinary recipes concern puddings and cakes, including pound cake, sponge cake, wedding cake, rusks, fritters, oly cakes (doughnuts), crullers, waffles, Dry Waffles (wafers), Pufferd (a fruited tea bread of Dutch origin), gingerbread, fruit cake, honey cakes, almond macaroons (spelled macaroni), and two unusual cakes, Long Bridge Cake and Balance Cake. There are also some recipes for savory foods and condiments, such as pickled oysters, meatballs, stuffed veal, corned beef, and mushroom catsup, as well as instructions for beer and several kinds of wine.
Also in the book are several newspaper clippings and handwritten notes. Of particular interest is a letter written by J.B. Ten Eyek (Ten Eyck) of Newburgh, Orange County, New York to Philip Elting discussing recipes for curing hams, seasoning sausage, and pickling tomatoes.
To view a few pages from the first section of the recipe book, click
here:
