Manuscript Location

New York Academy of Medicine, Rare Book Room

Place of Origin

England

Date of Composition

1804

Description

This manuscript contains approximately ninety-two culinary recipes, as well as about two dozen medical and household recipes scattered throughout. It is in several different hands. About three-quarters of the culinary recipes are for savory dishes, including several soups (one being the popular carrot soup), curries, stewed fish dishes, collars, and pickles. Among the sweet recipes, fruit preserves and jellies predominate although there are also several cakes (including little cakes to be eaten with coffee), two lemon creams, and an early recipe for "raspberry spunge." The recipes mostly look forward to the nineteenth century and are similar in spirit to those outlined in A New System of Domestic Cookery, by Mrs. Rundell, a popular cookbook first published in 1806.