MAIN STORY:
Gathering Recipes From Social Cookbooks
1742: The Compleat Housewife, a British cookbook used extensively in Colonial America, but edited to exclude recipes with unavailable ingredients.
1772: The Frugal Housewife, Susannah Carter. An English-cookery based book that excluded American ingredients.
1805: The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, Hannah Glasse. A cookbook originating in England; it was most popular in 1776, and the American version was published in 1805.
1824: The Virginia Housewife, Mary Randolph. Another English cookery-based book.
1827: The House Servant’s Directory, Robert Roberts. One of the first books published by an African American. Sparse cooking information, but a unique insight into the work ethic of early America’s domestics.
1832: The American Frugal Housewife, Lydia Maria Child. This was a “must” for brides of the mid-1800s.
1839: The Kentucky Housewife, Lettice Bryan. Native American, European and African recipes for cooking in a hot climate.
1847: The American Family Receipt Book, H. Phelps, Pub. This is a collection of 500 recipes with a native approach to food, plus information on such things as reviving tainted meat, ridding the house of rats, and how to jump out of a wagon.
1851: Miss Leslie’s Directions for Cookery, Eliza Leslie. One of the most influential cookbooks of the 19th century.
1854: The American Home Cook Book, an American Lady. Includes carving instructions and illustrations of cooking equipment.
1858: Miss Beecher’s Domestic Receipt-Book, Catharine E. Beecher. Aimed at the average homemaker, with information to make work easier and more economical.
1861: A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes, Charles Elme Francatelli. More than 240 recipes devised by the late chef to Queen Victoria.
1876: Centennial Buckeye Cook Book, Ohio State University Press. Considered the most important cookbook to have originated in Ohio in the 19th century.
1883: Boston Cooking School Cook Book, Mrs. D.A. Lincoln. Founder and first director of the famous cooking school, Lincoln’s cookbook was a foundation of the home economics movement.