Scherbet - Turkish and Greek, 1838

Several types of Scherbet were described by Friedrich Unger, the German confectioner to King Otto of Greece, in his 1838 book. The Scherbet street vendor used snow to chill the water dripping onto the moving fan, then added the water to a glass with flavored syrup from the bottles.

Army bake oven with a barrel

Memorial Day - To remember all who sacrificed their lives to preserve our democracy.

The Manual for Army Cooks 1896 image of an above ground dirt oven and an iron dutch oven.

Steam kitchen in "Hannah Glasse"

Ofcourse not in the original Glasse (1708-1770) cookbook, but years after her death, her name was used for an 1843 book, which was copied by M.A. Reynolds in her/his 1850 book The Complete Art of Cookery. The small book (a little over three by five inches, 256 pages) has delightful sketches.

Acton & Mrs. Raffald cookbook talks

Eliza Acton and Elizabeth Raffald are two British cookbook authors featured in talks this month, as are two collections - Longone Culinary Archives at U Michigan and the Jewish Food Society’s online archive.

Raffald's Chocolate Puffs and Acton's Clarified Marrow recipes.

More cookbook talks

Eliza Acton (1799-1859) and Isabella Beeton (1836-1865) talk in the British Library series. Alice Urbach’s popular How to cook in Vienna! A cookery and household book for home-style cooking, first published in 1935 (500 pages) was stolen for another book when she was forced out of Austria by the Nazi. TAPED. "Betty Crocker" first published in 1921, TAPED. Laura Shapiro's book, TAPED, and other talks.

Medical and culinary manuscripts digitized

Recipes and Remedies: Manuscript Cookbooks is a new Digital Collections & Exhibits website at the New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM). Manuscript Cookbooks Survey is a great source to find manuscripts in libraries, his. soc. and museums.

Cookbooks and Manuscripts virtual talks tapes

Taped talks on cookbooks and manuscripts: Medieval and Renaissance, US, Suffrage ckbks, Mexico, Ireland, India, Medical books with recipes, Manuscript ckbks, Folger & Newberry symposium. 2020 was the celebration of 100 years since women earned the right to vote, resulted in three tapes on suffrage cookbooks. Manuscripts are a rich source of culinary and medicinal recipes.
Upcoming talks at the end.

Jewish cookery books

"American Foodways: The Jewish Contribution" was an exhibit at the Longone Culinary Archive, University of Michigan Library.  This fine online exhibit contains images and information about each book and author; menus, markets, and food festivals.  It may be viewed HERE and HERE

Greek and Turkish confectionary

These fabulous colored images are from Conditorei des Orients (1838) by Friedrich Unger, the German confectioner to King Otto I of Greece.
The first picture is a confectionery in Athens.

H. L. Barnum's cookbook from Cincinnati

Not the great showman P. T. Barnum, but H. L. Barnum (another of the vast Conn. family), lived in Cincinnati in 1831 when he compiled the 400 page Family Receipts, including an egg and boiling tea substitute for milk. 

Queen Victoria's chef Charles Elme Francatelli

A famed chef and cookbook author appears in the TV series "Victoria" - Francatelli (1805-1876).  Born in London, trained in France by Careme, he became "Chief cook and Maitre d'Hotel" from 1840-1842 for Queen Victoria (crowned 1838). After a "fracas" at Buckingham Palace in 1841, he was let go and his first, highly popular, cookbook The Modern Cook was released in 1845.

Richard Dolby's The Cook's Dictionary and the Thatched House Tavern

This extensive 1830 cooking dictionary is remarkable because it was touted as the first cookbook set in alphabetical order.  Also Dolby was the second cook-turned-author from the famed Thatched-House Tavern.  The frontispiece is left.

Smithsonian Food History live stream and Have-A-Cup interactive pages - water, tea, chocolate, whiskey

If you are unable to attend this year's Smithsonian Food History weekend in Washington, D.C., you can live stream the round tables on Friday October 28 (9:30-4). Long list of speakers, times HERE

Almack's Assembly Rooms, Thatched House Tavern's chef Michael Willis, Cheap Cookery and... turkey gravy

A past post on The Thatched-House Tavern HERE described the social clubs which met there and it's cook Michael Willis, who wrote Cookery made Easy in 1824.  He wrote a second book, Cheap, nice, and nourishing Cookery in 1831 and was connected to William Almack.  Below is his recipe for turkey gravy made without using a turkey.

Esther Allen Howland - "The New England Economical Housekeeper," CPR, Valentines

The mother of the "Mother of the American Valentine," (both named) Esther Allen Howland, wrote the small cookbook in 1844 which sold 1500 copies in it's first 15 weeks! The next year it was expanded and later the regional cookbook, with a more national name The American Economical Housekeeper and Family Receipt Book, was reprinted many times until 1875.  Receipts economical (tainted beef), medicinal (early CPR), New England (chowder in dinner-pot)... 

Cookbook carolers 1912

The three singers are from a delightful children's book - Mary Francis Cook Book; or Adventures among the Kitchen People by Jane Allen Boyer in 1912.    HERE

Dr. Johnson takes on Hannah Glasse and women cookbook authors

Women "... cannot make a good book of Cookery."  Johnson actually said that to a woman!! (she compared him to Hercules with a spinner's distaff)  In addition to discussing Mrs. Glasse's Art of Cookery, which he had "looked into," he proclaimed: "I could write a better book of cookery than has ever yet been written..."

Mary Foote Henderson's castle

There is an interesting illustrated article HERE about cookbook author Mary Foote Henderson's entertaining and her huge mansion, Boundary Castle, built in 1888 in DC. Not your average cookbook writer's home. 

Long titles for historic cookbooks

Early cookbooks had lengthy and informative titles so the potential buyer could readily see what the book contained. My favorite part of Simmons’ introduction is about the difference between “old people” and young - in 1798.