Manuscript Location

Johns Hopkins University, Special Collections

Place of Origin

England ➔ London

Date of Composition

1840

Description

The manuscript is signed "Mrs. J.B. Friend, Woburn Square" and dated February 14, 1840. The author was Ellen Bankes Friend, born Ellen Pigeon (1816-1880), who married John Bankes Friend (1808-1881), a "Sugar Refiner and Gentleman," in 1836. The couple moved to 21 Woburn Square, in London, around the time of their marriage and had six children. Mr. Friend went on to become the Director of the Globe Insurance Company, and a Governor of Christ's Hospital, in England.

Ellen Bankes Friend's recipe book contains over eighty recipes, most of which are attributed (to "Miss Miles," "Mrs. Barron," and "Miss Foster," among others). The recipes are typical of a well-to-do household in early Victorian London. They include various puddings (Marlborough, Swiss, muffin, amber, and German), a number of cakes (plain, plum, sponge, rice, "German Dough," soda, and "Ginger Loaf"), "Ginger Biscuits," "German Puffs," several gelatin jellies (apple, orange, Port wine, and calves' foot), several cheesecakes, "Devonshire Junkett," "Apple Jelly," and "Charlotte Russe," a favorite company dessert of the time. There is also a recipe for "Oyster Curry." Two recipes written on loose sheets, previously folded into the book, are part of this collection.