Manuscript Location

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

Place of Origin

England

Date of Composition

1750-1850

Description

This collection of approximately 160 written pages begins with 31 pages of medical and veterinary recipes, in several different hands, which are indexed at the front through page 19. The remainder of the volume is mostly culinary, with a few medical and practical recipes mixed it.

The collection can be divided into three principal parts. Page 40 through 75 are written in a single fine hand, which may also be present in the medical section at the front. These recipes are unlikely to be later than the third quarter of the eighteenth century and they may well be earlier because they include the old English spelling "bisket" (pages 66 and 69), which was supplanted by "biscuit" during the second half of the century. In addition, there are two lengthy recipes for almond butter on pages 66-67, a medieval dish that became increasingly rare after 1750. There are two uncommon recipes in this section, both on page 62. "Tranquility Neats Tongue" is a fairly conventional sauced tongue dish. The reason for its remarkable name is not apparent. "Ragged Pancakes" may have been so named because the recipe calls for grating or shredding "a good deal Lemmon" in the batter. Lemon was not a common flavoring for pancakes in the day.

After a clutch of recipes in several different hands on pages 76-79, another single fine hand wrote recipes on pages 80-94. These recipes, too, appear to be of the eighteenth century, probably closer to the middle of the century than the end, as one of the recipes is "Liver Pudding" (page 89), a seventeenth-century favorite that was fairly rare after 1750.

The remainder of the volume is written in many different hands and moves into the nineteenth century. "Ratafia Cakes" (page 110), which emerged around the turn of the nineteenth century, is followed by a recipe marked "Mrs. Christopherson, Sutterton, 1803."on page 112. A recipe dated 1836 appears on page 120. It is followed by a number of cakes that are raised with soda, a notion that came to Britain around 1830, on pages 125, 131, 133, and 137. On pages 141 and 144 there are three cake recipes calling for baking powder, and on page 145 there is a recipe for baking powder itself. These recipes are unlikely to have been written before 1850. Many of the recipes in this last section of the volume are attributed. The most frequently occurring names are Mrs. J. Arden Clegg or Isabella Clegg and Miss Barber. Other surnames include Barton, Carhill, Carrington, Collin, Forbes, Hamilton, Harrison, Horsley, Howe, Hughes, Parkinson, Urquhart, and Ware, as well as the full names Gentle Brown and Charlotte Jones. A few recipes are attributed to "Enquire Within."