Place of Origin

England

Date of Composition

ca. 1850s-1860s

Description

This English recipe book of 107 written pages is compiled in a leather-bound notebook stamped "Family Receipt Book" in gold letters on the front cover. The book is primarily the work of two unknown individuals. The hand of one predominates on pages 1-50, the hand of the other on pages 50-99, and both hands are evident on pages 100-107, with other hands possibly intermixed as well. An index, mostly written in the predominant hand of the first fifty pages, appears on pages i-xxii.  The paper bears a watermark that dates to 1849 (page 145). A recipe for ginger beer on page 104 is credited to Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management, originally published in 1861.

The book contains 200 recipes, all culinary.  The recipes include mock turtle soup (page 1), to pickle lemons (page 13), to make mustard (page 26), Alderman’s pudding (page 30), to cure ham – Wiltshire (page 45), hollow biscuits (page 53), fish pudding (page 69), and Brighton biscuits (page 96). Some of the recipes are attributed to various individuals, including Miss Adamson (page 49), Miss Baline [?] (page 60), and Ms. H [?] (page 61).