Amelia Simmons, "American Cookery"

I recently learned about the Feeding America project, which collects old cookbooks and makes them available online.  Sort of a Project Gutenberg for old cookbooks.  I have been reading through their collection, and absolutely loving what I find.

The introduction to American Cookery calls it "in its own way, a second Declaration of Independence," and "the first [cookbook] written for Americans, by Americans."  It tackles the peculiar and unfamiliar foods found in the New World, like corn, turkey, potatoes, and more.

Of course, the first thing one notices is that American Cookery is old enough that all the letters "S" look just like the letter "F."  On the first page we learn that "The large ftall fed ox beef is the beft, it has a coarfe open grain, and oily fmoothnefs."  Luckily, Feeding America has made transcripts available, so that you can read the cookbooks in modern typeface where a letter S looks like an S, and beef sometimes suffers from "oily smoothness" instead.

Simmons has a wonderful knack with words, as when she advises the reader that "Veal bro't to market in panniers, or in carriages, is to be preferred to that brought in bags, and flouncing on a sweaty horse."

If you want historical culinary oddities, look no further than American Cookery.  I was puzzled by her instructions for handling fish, until I remembered that this was a time before refrigeration.  "Most white or soft fish are best bloated, which is done by salting, peppering and drying in the sun, and in a chimney; after 30 or 40 hours of drying, are best broiled, and moistened with butter, &c."  Helpful step-by-step instructions on how to clean a turtle, and how to dress a calf's head in "turtle fashion."  

The first portion of American Cookery is devoted to choosing your items.  Simmons tells you how to pick the best shad, warns against trickery in making saltwater fish look fresher than they are, advises you how to select the freshest and youngest fowl based on the color and appearance of the bird's legs, and helps you choose a butter container (stoneware is best).

I did laugh at Simmons' many asides.  Such as, "Garlicks, though used by the French, are better adapted to the uses of medicine than cookery." Or her acerbic commentary that landowners must "preserve the orchard from the intrusions of boys, &c. which is too common in America."

Apparently, back in the day, everything was either a pie or a pudding.  Simmons offers recipes for six different meat pies, including chicken (bone in) and calf's feet.  (Simmons isn't one to beat around the bush - the latter recipe is titled "Foot Pie.")  It also has no fewer than six recipes for rice pudding alone.  I'm tempted to try her bread pudding, although unsure how to substitute for "a gill of rose-water."

Her cake recipes are astounding.  I guess cakes were bigger back in the day.  The recipe for "Plain Cake" calls for 9 pounds of flour, 3 pounds sugar, and 3 pounds butter.  Her single cookie recipe sounds frankly awful - its only flavor is coriander.

The final portion of the book is all about how to preserve things, and serves as a reminder of how lucky we are to have grocery stores with freezer aisles.  Not to mention out-of-season produce shipped in from Chile.  Two hundred years ago, if you wanted green peas for Christmas, you had to dry them and stop them up in a bottle filled with lard.