Manuscript Location

Maryland Historical Society, Special Collections Reading Room

Place of Origin

United States

Date of Composition

1800-1860

Description

The library possesses two Coale family recipe books, both of which are part of the library's 24-volume collection of commonplace books, scrapbooks, albums, notebooks, and other materials compiled by the Coale family between 1792 and 1901. The books are identified by the library as "Recipe book, n. d." and "Coale family cookbook, 1800-1860."

"Recipe book, n. d." contains approximately 100 recipes on 73 pages. Since the book includes recipes for snow pudding, cottage pudding, chocolate cake, and caramels, it was likely compiled in the 1860s or later, although most of the recipes were already on the scene some decades earlier. The book primarily focuses on desserts (particularly puddings, for which there are some two dozen recipes), cakes, tea breads, and preserves and pickles. There are uncommon recipes for Quakenboss Pudding and Comical Pudding, as well as instructions "For Boiling Old or Indifferent Potatoes."

 "Coale family cookbook, 1800-1860" is a 220-page volume containing nearly 300 recipes. The book is loosely organized, although out-of-category recipes appear in all sections: principal-course dishes, pages 1-48; desserts (mostly puddings), pages 49-84; cakes, tea cakes, and breads, pages 85-110; preserves and pickles, pages 111-135; miscellaneous culinary recipes, pages 136-195 (with many blanks); and household  recipes and remedies, page 196 to the end. The book includes puddings by the unusual names of "Denison," "Paris," "Proud," and "Comical." Of particular interest are recipes for "Saleratus Muffins or Waffles," page 100, and "Buns--Made with Yeast Powders," page 103, both of which show experimentation with chemical leavening in breads traditionally raised with yeast. The recipes likely date from the 1840s or 1850s. 

To access the library record, click on "View Institution Homepage" and then enter "Coale Family Recipes Books" in the search box. Click on the link in the record for "Collection, 1800-1900," which will bring you to the finding aid for "Coale Collection, 1792-1901." Both recipe books are located in box 5 of the collection.