Place of Origin

England

Date of Composition

ca. 1794-1831

Description

This 207-page recipe book is written in multiple hands. Culinary recipes are written from the front of the notebook; household and medical recipes are written from the back of the notebook going toward the center. The culinary recipes include saffron cakes; cheese cakes; minced pies; Miss Labell's blanch mangee; Mrs. Bromfield's sponge biscuits; Mrs. Jordan's fish sauce; ragout of lobster; mock turtle; Mrs. Tucker's India pickles; and Mrs. Estridge's chicken curry. The volume also contains instructions for blacking boots and shoes; a substitute for candles; and a polish for mahogany. Most of the recipes are attributed, many to Aunt Churchill, Aunt Awnsham, and Mrs. Montague. Some recipes are taken from local newspapers. A recipe for a paste for pies is from the Salisbury Journal, 1795. Cheap food for 120 persons, dated 1795, and a "Chinese recipe" for mending china, dated 1821, are both from the Bath Chronicle. And a recipe for a weather glass of leeches is taken from the General Evening Post July 1787.