Looking for a culinary challenge this Thanksgiving? Consider preparing your Thanksgiving dinner like it was 1796. The following recipes are from American Cookery by Amelia Simmons, the first cookbook written by an American, for an American audience, and published in the United States. Before its publication in 1796, only British cookbooks or American reprints of … Continue reading Thanksgiving Recipes from 1796
Old recipe books tell the story of the daily routine of average women in the past. Lettice Pierce Bryan (1805-1877), the author of The Kentucky Housewife, was one of those women. Her collection of “receipts” for food and more illustrate key lessons about running a household in the pre-industrial era. A quick history of cookbooks … Continue reading Mrs. Bryan’s “Kentucky Housewife”: Managing a Household in the 1830s