Place of Origin

England

Date of Composition

1731, with additions likely ca. 1780s-1790s

Description

This recipe book is written in a notebook bearing the title "Book for Receipts 1731" on the front cover. The book contains approximately 74 written pages of recipes, the first 50 or so of which comprise the 1731 receipt book. This portion of the book is written in a single sweeping calligraphic hand, with flourishes. It is divided into three sections: "Pickles," "Preserves," and "Cakes, Biskets, etc." The first section contains recipes for pickled vegetables, and the second section contains recipes for fruits preserved with sugar. The third section, which is much longer, outlines recipes for cakes, biscuits, cheesecakes, candied fruits, fruit pastes, gelatin jellies, dessert creams, marmalades, syrups, wines, and tonic waters.  There are no recipes for principal dishes in the 1731 recipe book.

The last third of the book, beginning with digital image 25, appears to be in two alternating hands, perhaps those of two members of a family. This part of the book contains a mix of culinary, medical, and cosmetic recipes. The two cake recipes in this section and the recipe for "New College Puddings," though extant in the 1730s, are more characteristic of the latter decades of the eighteenth century. Also suggesting a late-eighteenth century date for this section of the book is the recipe titled "The famous American Receipt for the Rheumatism"  (digital image 35), which is reiterated as "very famous in America" in the body of the recipe. The phrasing suggests that this recipe was written after 1783, when America gained its independence from Britain and became a separate nation.