Manuscript Location

University of Virginia Library, Special Collections

Place of Origin

United States ➔ Virginia

Date of Composition

ca. 1840-1879

Description

This cookbook is part of the library's collection of the papers of Hawfield Farm, a plantation in Orange County, Virginia. The plantation was owned by William Graves Crenshaw (1824-1897), a captain in the Confederate Army, purchasing agent for the Confederate government in England, and, after the war, president of a saltpeter mine. He was married to Frances Elizabeth Graves Crenshaw (1824-1896), known as Fanny. The couple had six children. The cookbook is written in a 32-page notebook, possibly by Frances Crenshaw. Pasted onto the front inside cover of the notebook is a note: "Index to Receipt Book. These receipts except the two marked 1879 & others with dates, are what I found [...] in my Mother's books." Presumably, those recipes not marked 1879 date from an earlier period.

The index lists the following recipes: Indelible Ink and Wash, Apple Pudding, Green Tomato Pickle, Cough Mixture, For Sore Throat, Wash for Hair, Icing, Ten Minutes' Biscuits [by] Mrs. J. H. G., Pudding, Confederate Cake, Corned Beef, Mrs. J. H.G. [written elsewhere as Mrs. James H. Grant], Preservation of Milk. In addition, the book contains a number of recipes not listed in the index, including four different recipes for Sally Lunn, three recipes for Jelly, two recipes for Tea Cake, and the following: Confederate Pudding, Ginger Cakes, Lemon Tartlets, Ambrosia, Cake (1879), Apple Float (1879), Caramells (Mrs. James Elletts), Molasses Cake, Bread Pudding, Potatoes Pudding, Tomato Sauce, Cocoa and Pudding, Lemon Pudding, Mrs. Harris's recipe for Blanc Mange, Orangeade, Cold Sauce, Mrs. Bettie [Cason's] recipe for green pickle, To dress rice, Molasses Cake, Blackberry Wine, Tomato Catsup, Sweet Soap, Green Pickle, [Oil] Mangoes, Excellent Bird Grape Wine, Cupcake.

The cookbook is located in Box 8 of the Hawfield Farm collection, in the first folder, labelled "1848-1907 Account Books," among a total of nine books.