Manuscript Location

University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Kislak Center for Special Collections - Manuscripts

Place of Origin

England

Date of Composition

presumed ca. 1850-ca. 1870

Description

The anonymous English cookbook, written in a red notebook with ruled pages, was likely compiled in the years between 1850 and 1870. At this time, the Indian subcontinent was a British colony, of which Queen Victoria was "empress," leading to a widespread public interest in India and the creation of Anglo-Indian dishes. This book contains a number of recipes for such dishes, including cabbage and Bengal curries; Bengal, Colonel Skinner's, date, Dilkusha, Kashmir, and sukat chutneys; a Bombay pudding; and tamarind preserves. The book also contains recipes for typical British mutton and poultry dishes, egg dishes, sauces, pickled foods, desserts, cakes, and preserves, including meat "porcupine," potato and meat pudding, cinnamon, ratafia, and roly-poly dessert puddings, blancmanges, floating island, scones, and almond, arrowroot, potato, and seed cakes. There is also a recipe for doughnuts, an American cake uncommon in British cookbooks of this period. Gardening instructions for plants such as cyclamens and fuchsias are written from the back of the notebook going toward the center.