Manuscript Location

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

Place of Origin

United States

Date of Composition

likely 1850s or 1860s

Description

This book contains 138 pages of culinary, medical, and household recipes, the first 127 of which are numbered. It includes an index with hand-cut tabs. The book is in a single hand except possibly for the final few pages, which may have be in later hands. The book's original cover is missing. It is now wrapped in a yellow paper cover inscribed "Manuscript Cook Book Maine." 

The culinary recipes in the book are organized according to type, as follows: cakes; puddings; pies; biscuits, muffins, and shortcakes (including many using Indian meal); jellies; colorings; fruit preserves and cordials; and meats, curries, and eggs. There are recipes calling for cranberries and salt cod. The book's recipe for Jenny Lind Shortcake suggests that the book was compiled in the 1850s or 1860s, following the Swedish soprano's triumphant American tour in 1850-52. Other cake recipes in the book, such as Lincoln Cake, Washington Cake, and Railroad Cake, were likewise in their heyday in the mid-19th century. 

The medical recipes include a cough syrup using the North American plant Sanguinaria canadensis and a remedy attributed to Dr. Stone of New Orleans. Household recipes include soap, starch, and a method for mending china.