Manuscript Location

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

Place of Origin

England

Date of Composition

culinary recipes likely ca. 1660-ca. 1688

Description

This recipe book of nearly 300 written pages is inscribed June 24, 1675 by Chr: Maddison. It begins with 29 pages of medical recipes in several hands, which the library believes to be of the early seventeenth century. The hand of the pagination changes on page 30, and from this point at least through page 256, where the period pagination ends, and quite possibly to the end of the volume, the book appears to have been a collaborative project among a circle of friends.

There is much evidence of collaboration. Recurring groups of recipes in the book appear to be in the hand of the inscriber, as do several notes written in page corners, which presumably refer to the inscriber's daughters: "mary maddison bill of hur close," dated 1673 (page 83); "what my dater that is at home mary she had," dated "August the furst 1688" (page 93); "my Dater margaret August the furst 1688 sent hur to by [buy?] for 2 yerd [yard?] and a halfe of [Beny?] all for a Aprone she had more" (page 95). Also in the same hand is a note reading, "janawary 24 Mr. Yeats entered 1663" (page 247). Coming near the end of the volume, this note may indicate the approximate date of the whole book. (The date 1710 and the name John Crawford are written on page 243. This may indicate that the book was continued into the eighteenth century, or it could be a doodle by a later owner.)

Further evidence of collaboration is the recurrence of several other hands, including a highly distinctive hand that debuts on page 56 and repeats virtually to the end of the collection. Also, recipes attributed to "My Cossen Maddison," who is presumably either the inscriber or one of her children, are written on pages 180, 220, and 222 (and perhaps elsewhere). Several persons are credited for a number of different recipes written in different parts of the book, and several uncommon irregular spellings repeat, notably "ressett." 

The recipes are approximately two-thirds medical and one third culinary. Recipes for banqueting conceits, such as preserves, dessert creams, biskets and cakes, and sweet wines predominate, but there are also a few recipes for meat dishes, pickled and collared meats, and cheeses. The recipe "To make A good Cake" (page 57) calls for casting large fruited cakes directly on the oven floor (first sprinkled with flour), as for bread. The cake hoop, which was in use at least as early as 1653, gradually replaced the casting of cakes during the second half of the seventeenth century. An uncommon (and tempting) recipe for "Silybub," made with strained raspberries, white wine, and cream, is written on page 76. Also uncommon is the recipe for "Bame Wine" (page 93; the word is pristine), which calls for a great deal of sugar and "two pounds and a halfe of the tender tops of bame brused a littill."