Place of Origin

United States ➔ Massachusetts ➔ Cambridge

Date of Composition

1835-1870

Description

This recipe book is inscribed "Sarah L. Weld Cambridge August 22nd 1835" near the front. The hand of the book's approximately 160 written pages is that of the inscription, except in few sporadic places where one or more larger, looser hands intrude. (It is possible that these apparently different hands are actually Sarah Weld's hand in a rushed mood.) The first ten pages of the book are numbered 1 through 10. Thereafter, leaf numbers have been supplied by the library. The recipes through 57r are culinary, leaves 57v through 63v are blank, and the recipes from 64v through the end (90r) are mostly household. 

The culinary recipes are loosely organized through 38r, though all sections contain some recipes that are out-of-category: meats (page 1 to 12r); puddings (12r-17r); creams, jellies, and other desserts, as well as preserves (17v-24v), "Cakes" (heading, 25r-33v); and "Breakfast Cakes" (heading, 35r-38r). The recipes written from 38v to 57r show no apparent organization. They mostly focus on cakes and desserts, as does the book as a whole.

The book has several noteworthy recipes. The recipe for "Pandowdy" on leaf 11v was originally titled "Shally Pudding," which was subsequently crossed out. A recipe for "Shally Pudding" is written on leaf 12r. The first recipe outlines pandowdy in what might be called its standard form, while the second recipe was sometimes called "pandowdy" because its primary constituents are the same, namely apples and bread. The second of two recipes for Burnt Cream (leaf 16r) is paraphrased from Elizabeth Raffald's English cookbook of 1769, although it may well have come to Sarah Weld by some other route. (Burnt cream is relatively rare in 19th century American cookbooks.) The recipe for "Jewish Toast" (44r) is essentially modern French toast. There are no doubt many other interesting recipes in this unusually lengthy cookbook.

Dates are written throughout the book, including 1835 (16r), 1841 (Harrison Cake, 27r), Dec 1842 (34v), 1850 (42v & 42r), 1866 (48v & 49r), March 17th 57 (54r), 1847 (66r), 1846 (66v), and 1870 (90r). Many of the recipes are attributed, mostly to friends of the author rather than to cookbook authors. Some recipes are marked with a place such as Philadelphia or England.