I’m sure it’s apparent already, but I’m a school geek. Total nerd. Research, writing, papers… bring ’em on. I even snuck an irrelevant chapter on the history of the decorated cookie in my book. I own fascimiles of both Martha Washington’s Booke of Cookery and Booke of Sweetmeats and Amelia Simmons’s American Cookery, 1796. Now, I could cite the recipes directly from these books, but then you’d have to interpret what a “spoonfull of sack and a spoonfull of rosewater” means to the modern kitchen. So I collected a few slightly more user-friendly recipes relevant for the upcoming holiday here in the US (Thanksgiving). All the recipes are via two sites: The Pilgrim Hall Museum and Vintage Recipes, except the spiced wine. Find more information at the end of this post.
12th century. 12th Century spiced wine featured on Real Simple, from Liz V. Photography. (The recipe that sparked this post.)
1796. Cranberry Tart from American Cookery, by Amelia Simmons, via Pilgrim Hall Museum.
1832. Mince pies from the American Frugal Housewife, by Mrs. Child, via Pilgrim Hall Museum.
1891.Chestnut Stuffing from The Table: how to buy food, how to cook it, and how to serve it, by Alessandro Filipini, via Pilgrim Hall Museum.
1852. Vegetable Porridge, from A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes, via Vintage Recipes.
1894. Roast Turkey with Oyster Sauce, from Recipes Tried and True,via Vintage Recipes.
1861. Orange gravy for Wildfowl, Widgeon, Teal, etc., The Book of Household Management, via Vintage Recipes.
1855. Mrs. O’s Pumpkin Pie from Miss Beecher’s Domestic Receipt Book, by Catherine Beecher, via Pilgrim Hall Museum.
For more information:
If you, too, have an interest in the history of food and recipes, I found a few interesting sites, thanks to the wonderousness that is google. Pre-internet, I took the bus downtown to the Library of Congress to do my hard-to-find research. (See “I’m a school geek” above.)
–Check out this amazing, detailed food timeline including links to more information, covering the history of food from 10,000 BC to present day, from millet to hasty pudding to Red Bull.
–The Pilgrim Hall Museum has links to historic Thanksgiving recipes.
—Vintage Recipes has tons of links to original, historic recipes from appetizers to desserts, as well as resources.
Oh these links rock! Thanks!
Love this Meaghan! I am sharing the link to this post on Old Fashioned Living’s facebook page 🙂
Let’s hear it for geeks!