A Day In The Life

It is late and I am so sleepy.  I had to take a Benadryl because the farm next door cut their hay this week and stirred it up today so hay is in the air and my throat is closing (I am singing tomorrow), I am sneezing, my eyes are itching, and there is junk in my head I don't want.  Today, we ate breakfast at the Farm House with Beth and Ron.  If you are ever in the Roanoke area and want a good country breakfast...served in little aluminum pie pans then you need to eat here.  It is right on Hwy 22, so it is easy to find.  After breakfast we headed to the big event of the day.  The Animal Rescue League was having their gigundous book sale.  They have one twice a year and it is a monumental event....trust me on this one.  If you like to read....this is the place to be.  $17.00 later, Frank and I headed back to the house to get the key we had forgotten and then we headed on to my parents house to see what needed to be done now that Eric has moved in.  The ride to Kellyton was glorious!  Eric has done amazing things at my moms....you can actually see the kitchen cabinets...and it is CLEAN!  I was in shock and actually walked out of the room and came back in...because I did not believe my eyes the first time.  I have not seen the cabinet tops in over 3 years.  AMAZING!  We grabbed a bite for lunch at Arby's in Alex City and then came home via Dadeville to see the damage.  It was horrific...and can you believe Dadeville and Elmore Counties were not qualified for FIMA!!!!!  Come on!  I called Beth to see if we were going to practice....she was in Anniston....so we decided to go to the house and wait....That is what we thought!  We let the dog out....and had just sat down when there was a toot in the driveway....it was Marcie and Lyndi and they wanted us to go to LaGrange with them to the Sock Shoppe.  We had tried last Sunday....but the mall was closed for Easter.....Imagine that.  I grabbed my purse and we headed out the door, only to return four hours later.  I got several new pairs of capri's, some really cool socks, a pair of royal blue sequined Yellow Boxes....AND....some of the cutest red flip flops...made out of.....get this....YOGA MATS!  I finished up my graduation shopping at Serendipity....well all but Taylor's present...he is a boy...and Serendipity is definitely a girls place.  We met up with a friend that Marcie works with...and I have adopted....and had a coke will Lyndi finished up her shopping.  She has a job now.  We came home, went to Walmart and got the food I am going to prepare for our churches Homecoming, came BACK home, I cooked some hotdogs for supper, deviled some eggs....and cleaned up the kitchen.  This is my last big event for today....blog....then bed.  Night Night all and I hope you had as fun a day as I did!

HUH?

I know you just knew today my post would be about the Royal Wedding....but I am sorry....I did not get up and watch it this morning...because the night before I was up most of the night worried about the tornadic activity taking place around me.  Sleep deprivation won out of Royal Wedding.  I knew I would be able to see the dress and the hat sometime today on the internet...and to be honest with all that has been going on...that is more than enough.  In the grand scheme of things...Royal Wedding of people I have never met...and never will....is trumped by friends who lost loved ones and homes.  BUT....that is not what my post is about today either....I cannot let this injustice go unnoticed.  Back in October my mom was sent to a Geriatric Psych Ward in Sylacauga....she was carried by ambulance from Adams to Sylacauga (27 miles one way)...and then once she was released...she was carried from Sylacauga back to Adams....do you have any guess what the ambulance bill was???????  The part that my mom is supposed to pay??????  OVER 700.00!!!!!....and this was for only one way!  I mean....COME ON!!!  It is 27 miles for goodness sake.  The whole round trip...might take 1.5 hours.   With two men in the ambulance...do the math...that is 350.00+ each...for 1.5 hours.    I am school teacher with a Masters Degree and 20+ years of experience....and I don't make that much in 3 days!  I have discovered what is wrong with our medical and insurance systems....those who can....PAY for everyone else!  This is an injustice.  Deep breath...ok...I am feeling a bit better....my other beef is with the legal system...but I will save that one for another day.  I hope your weekend is a good one.  I am going to a book sale in Roanoke to help the Animal Rescue Society.  I can't wait...last one they had I loaded up on great reads for low prices. 

The Royal Wedding Is Over!

Yay!

It’s over!

It’s finally and mercifully over!

After weeks of hearing people go on about what Kate’s dress will look like, of what the wedding guests will be dining on, of the proper hats one wears to a royal wedding (really?!), it’s finally OVER.

If you’re living under a rock, I’m talking about the royal wedding.




Did anyone wake up at 4 AM to watch the nuptials?

If so, I swear I won’t laugh. (Well, maybe a little…)

I imagine I’ll catch some re-caps since I can almost bet all the channels will be showing them. I did like when I read how Kate omitted “obey” from her vows, just as Princess Diana did. There is no way I’d say I’d obey my husband. He’d be welcome to say he’d obey me, if he wishes....

Anyway.

No more Royal Wedding!

I imagine now the talk will be about Kate’s uterus and the heir that everyone hopes will be in it soon.

Still. At least we won’t have to hear about Buckingham Palace and disco balls in Buckingham Palace and ugly hats and “oh my Gods what is in the bag, could it be Kate’s dress?” and polishing horse carriages anymore.

So celebrate with me. Raise your glass of bubbly in the air (or in my case, water) and thank chocolate that we are done with the wedding nonsense.

Oh What A Dreadful Night!

What a day and night we have had.  I know many of you who live in states West of Alabama have been experiencing this all during the week....but yesterday....yesterday it affected me and people I know and love.  When I went to bed on Tuesday night I knew that Tallapoosa and Coosa county schools were going to dismiss at 1 due to a good chance of severe weather...I wondered why we had not called school yet.  At 8:00 on Wednesday morning....the Central Office called school for 1:00 and the kids would be sent home then....but not faculty and staff we found out later...we would have to stay until 2:30....and if we had children at daycares, schools, etc...we would have to go and get them and bring them back to the school with us.  I was a bit distressed over this...I felt like...what we value the lives of our students...but not the lives of our staffs and their children.  The pictures of the tornado and damage done in the Cullman area began streaming, I was glued to the weather channels, and worrying more and more the closer they seemed to come.  The thought of making that hour drive in the wind and rain was not pleasing to me.  Finally at 2:30 I walked out of the office, got in my car, and headed to the house.  My little HHR was tossed around a good bit on the way home and I was very nervous by the time I arrived.  From 3:30 until midnight last night I was glued to the weather...as I watched the storms fury unfurl....Tuscaloosa, AL...where I have family, many of my former students and friends children attend...looked like a war zone.  I attended the University myself and recognized some of the unrecognizable....especially with DCMC was a key point.  I was very distressed and hoped all the people I knew were ok.  I heard this morning that one of my former students and her housemates were in their basement...when the storm had passed they came up...and found their house was gone.  God is good.  Houses are replaceable....former students are not!

These pictures are all scenes from Tuscaloosa.  It must have been a nightmare to have been there and going through it.  I can't even imagine. I checked my facebook once....my blogger friend Leigh's son lives in T town.....I had to know if he was ok....as I sat in watched in stunned silence....I have to admit... it made me sick to see it taking place....and knowing there was nothing I could do.  But...again....God is amazing....the campus itself...was not touched.  As the death toll begin to rise...more and more places were hit...Oakman (hey!  that is where my friend Trina's mom, Ms. Marty lives)....Elmore Co...which is near where I teach....had several deaths....Children's Harbor suffered a lot of damage, my friend Rhonda's parents house....gone...her parents were ok.  Dadeville was in the line of fire....I have friends there...so the texting began....it was a frightening day/night  for the entire state.  I am sitting here at my desk this morning...and I could sleep for days....even when I did go to sleep....I dreamed of tornados.  This morning....128+ confirmed dead....and I am sure daylight will bring more.  Please pray for those affected by this horrendous storm....not just here...but everywhere in it's path. 

Are You A Slacker Mom?

Hmmm....

It turns out I’m a Slacker Mom.

According to this snippet I found in Redbook magazine, that is. It’s all in good fun, mind you.





I do everything listed. Is that bad?

Let’s go over the things that are mentioned:

Dutch: Yup, we’ve had Dutch before. It’s rare though, as I love to eat and my stomach seems to go off every two hours.


meTunes: Definitely. There is no way I put on children’s music in my car. I get enough of the awful music from Nick, Jr. I’m not about to put it on when I run errands.


Cupfakes: I do this on the health of my children’s classmates. I wouldn’t want to accidentally poison anyone. I’m not the greatest cook. So to be safe, I always buy store brought products and hope there isn’t one of those “anal” parents in the class who spout on about health and blah blah blah, and how everyone should bring in carrots and blah blah blah. Screw carrots. Who wants to eat carrots during a special occasion?


Wardrobe Momfunction: I do get dressed when I drop Natalie off at preschool (Tommy takes the bus) but there have been days when I’ve forgotten to brush my hair. I don’t know how this happens. Probably because I’m not a morning person so the only thing my brain can remember is to do is get dressed (which I’m thankful for.) My hair is completely forgotten. Once when I did brush my hair another parent was like, “Oh, your hair looks different, did you do something with it?” I replied, “Yes. It’s brushed.”


Swathing: Er…well, sometimes after swim lessons I’m like, “No bath today! Survivor is coming on in a bit. You guys were submerged in water, that’s enough.”

So. Are you a Slacker Mom too?

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I'm guest posting over at Shell's blog today. Check it out!

Tornados & Whirlwinds - Reading Outdoors in 18th-Century America

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Well, it has been a glorious day, until the weather turned to tornado warnings about an hour ago. By the way, I had suspected that tornados were usually called whirwinds in 18th-century America. As one man wrote in the 1739 Boston Newsletter, "...we had a violent Whirlwind or Tornado (as some all it)." But when I searched, I found mention of 851 torandos in American newspapers from 1733 to 1800. Whirlwinds were noted in the same newspapers 1054 times between 1719 and 1800. I was surprised.

The 1st time the English word "tornado" appeared in print was in Richard Hakluyt's (c 1552-1616) Principall Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries in 1589, when W Towerson noted, "We had terrible thunder and lightening, with exceeding gusts of raine, called a Ternado." The term "whirlwind" had been used in print since 1340.

Well, anyway, before the high winds and storms, it would have been the perfect day here in the Chesapeake for reading outdoors. Here are a few 18th-century American ladies doing just that.

1750 Joseph Badger (American Colonial Era artist, 1798-1765) Mrs. Nathaniel Brown (Anna Porter Brown)

1750-1760 Joseph Badger (American Colonial Era artist, 1798-1765)Mrs. John Edwards (Abigail Fowle)

1755 Benjamin West (American colonial era artist, 1738-1820). Mrs Geo Ross Anne Lawler Franklin & Marshall

1764 John Singleton Copley (American Colonial Era artist, 1738-1815) detail Mary Greene Mrs Dan Hubbard

1767 James Claypoole, Jr. (American Colonial Era artist, 1743-1814) Ann Galloway Mrs Joseph Pemberton Phil Acad of Arts

1789 Ralph Earl (American artist, 1751-1801) Esther Boardman

1789-1795 George William West (American artist, 1770-1795) Sybil West Holland Mrs Francis Utie Holland

1793 James Peale (American artist, 1749-1831) Ramsey Polk Family in Cecil County MD

1798 William Clarke (American painter, fl. 1785-1806) ) Mrs William Frazer Delaware
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Cookbooks & Food in 18th-Century England Spread to the Colonies Reflecting Changes in Society

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Burgeoning cities in England

During the 18th century, English life started to breed the money-fuelled materialism that we are familiar with today. As landowners forced peasants off their land, freeing up the opportunity for commercial farming, the industrial revolution was taking hold. Consequently there were huge population shifts, as vast numbers of people moved from the countryside to the towns. Cities swelled, stretching out to incorporate both dilapidated slums and elegant new vistas. Britain was developing a consumer culture, and city life throbbed with activity. Glinting shops, market stalls, cattle traffic, puppet shows, dog fights, fops, prostitutes, and pickpockets, all packed out the streets. Street vendors sold everything from scissor grinding and matches to oranges, hot gingerbread, and love songs. It was an age of gambling on both a large scale (on the stock market) and a small scale (in domino games or cockfighting). As a result, fortunes were frequently made and lost overnight.

Technology

It was also a century of great technological innovation, and the activities of the kitchen were affected just as much as society at large. Rolled sheet iron produced improved kitchen utensils, superior fire grates, and modern novelties like the clockwork spit. In earlier times cattle were killed at the beginning of winter when fodder ran out. Therefore meat had to be salted so that it was preserved during the winter months. In the 18th century, however, the English adopted new winter feeding methods, which enabled fresh meat to be available all year round. Improved seeds from Holland brought new varieties of fruit and vegetables to England, while better transport allowed fish to be brought inland fresh from the sea, and regional foods - such as cheddar cheese - to be enjoyed all over the country.

English favourites and flavours from abroad

Although the Whig aristocracy employed French chefs, the swelling ranks of middle England liked their simple, plain fare, enjoying roast and boiled meats, pies, and puddings. Roast beef became part of the construction of a British national identity, in opposition to the fancy sauces of France. The invention in the late 17th century of a muslin cloth for steaming, fed England's obsession with puddings - previously, a cook would have had to obtain fresh animal guts in which to steam her pudding. And the English had an enormous appetite for puddings, whether stuffed with meat or game, or oozing with butter or custard.

Whilst the poor depended increasingly on bread and cake, the wealthy were enjoying such delicacies as vermicelli and macaroni from Italy, curry, pilau rice and mango pickle from India, and even turtle soup containing freshly imported turtles from the West Indies. They grew exotic fruits in their hothouses, and kept ice-cream in their ice houses.

Spirits such as gin and brandy were extremely popular.

Indulgence

The government had given enormous financial backing to the distilling industry at the beginning of the century, having realised that the production of spirits offered a solution to the problem of the corn surplus. Spirits were hugely profitable and were produced in abundance. Consequently they were dirt cheap, and as gin and brandy shops spread like rashes over the cities' poor districts, the incidence of alcoholism among men, women and even children became appallingly high.

This age of indulgence led to widespread health problems, with a high incidence of gout, diabetes, heart and liver disease. And many foods were secretly or unwittingly made with poisonous ingredients. Pickles were made green, sweets multi-coloured, and cheese rind red, all with the use of copper and lead. Pepper was mixed with floor sweepings to bulk it out, and alum (a toxic mineral salt) made bread whiter. Even copper and brass pans were dangerous - when mixed with acidic food, they produced a poisonous layer of verdigris.

Cookery Books

Throughout this period booksellers churned out popular recipe books, fully aware of the commercial viability of recipes linked to prestigious chefs. Unfortunately many of the books were thrown together by money-making charlatans who had simply filched their material from existing publications.

With the growth of the middle classes during the course of the 18th century, there was an increasing demand for books designed to save the lady of the house from the tedious duty of instructing her kitchen maids. So recipe books such as The Art of Cookery by Hanna Glassie were directed at the servants rather than the mistress, and were written in plain and accessible language.

From the British Library.
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The Art of Cookery by Hanna Glassie

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The first American edition of The Art of Cookery by Hannah Glasse was published in Alexandria, Virginia in 1805. The English edition of the cookbook had been available in the colonies for decades.

The Art of Cookery, written by Hannah Glasse, was published in 1747. It was a best seller for over a hundred years, and made Glasse one of the best-known cookery writers of the eighteenth century.

As Glasse explains in the preface, the book was intended to be an instruction manual for servants - 'the lower sort' as she called them. During the 1700s there was a fashion for books of this kind, which were designed to save the lady of the house from the tedious duty of instructing her kitchen maids. As Hannah Glasse puts it, the book should 'improve the servants and save the ladies a great deal of trouble'. She is dismissive of the fanciful language used by other cookery book writers, which she feels simply confuses the servants: 'the poor girls are at a loss to know what they mean,' she writes. In contrast, her style is precise and direct.

Glasse was a housewife, rather than a professional cook, and according to her biographers her primary aim as a writer was to make money. She wrote the book quickly and methodically - in fact 342 of the 972 recipes are taken directly from other books. However, she does show a great deal of skill and originality. Firstly, her writing style is lively, intelligent and amusing. Also, the book contains one of the earliest references to Indian curry in an English cookbook. Asian food first became popular in Britain during the eighteenth century, reflecting the tastes developed by the employees of the East India Company.

Glasse is scornful of the elaborate and extravagant French recipes of the period - 'If gentlemen will have French cooks', she writes, 'they must pay for French tricks'. However, many of her recipes will have been influenced by French cuisine which was becoming increasingly fashionable at the time. Her deliberate hostility towards the French was probably intended to please English readers of a lower social status, who would have disapproved of the excessiveness and conspicuous consumption of French culture.

For the decades following its publication, there were widespread rumours that The Art of Cookery had been written by a man. For a woman to have written such an eloquent and well-organised work seemed implausible to many. James Boswell's diary records a party at the house of the publisher Charles Dilly, at which the issue was discussed. He quotes Samuel Johnson as saying, 'Women can spin very well; but they cannot make a good book of cookery.'

Information from The British Library.
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The Frugal Houswife Available in America 1772

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Pehr Hilleström (Swedish artist, 1732-1816) A Maid Taking Soup from a Cauldron

A cookbook available in the early American republic was

Susannah Carter
The Frugal Housewife, or Complete Woman Cook;...Also The Making of English Wines. New York: G. & R. Waite, no. 64, Maiden-Lane. 1803

Little is known of Susannah Carter, the author of The Frugal Housewife, which was first published as early as 1765 in London and Dublin, and was first reprinted in America in 1772. The 1772 edition was re-printed in America by Benjamin Edes and John Gil, well-known Boston printers, journalists, and booksellers, famous for publishing the works of many Revolutionary writers, and for their role in instigating the Boston Tea Party.

The Frugal Housewife made no mention of colonial cooking or common American ingredients. It wasn't until 1803 that "an appendix containing several new receipts adapted to the American mode of cooking" was added. This probably was not the work of Susannah Carter, but the result of an editing job by the American publisher in order to attract American readers. the identical appendix appeared 2 years later in the first American edition of The Art of Cookery by Hannah Glasse (Alexandria, 1805), a cookbook very popular in its native England.

The Frugal Housewife was one of several English cookbooks that sold well in America. It strongly influenced the aforementioned Amelia Simmons' American Cookery (1796), the first cookbook authored by an American, and containing not just English fare, but dishes based on American ingredients and common to the early country. Much of Simmons' work is original, but much is copied, verbatim or near verbatim, from The Frugal Housewife - a customary and acceptable practice at the time. Susannah Carter's book eventually saw six American editions; many of her British recipes became American standards via Amelia Simmons, even as the success of American Cookery inspired the Americanization of The Frugal Housewife.

This is the 1803 appendix.

AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING SEVERAL NEW RECEPTS ADAPTED TO THE AMERICAN MODE OF COOKING.

To make a baked Indian Pudding.
ONE quart of boiled milk to five spoonfuls of Indian Meal, one gill of molasses, and salt to your taste; putting it in the oven to bake when it is cold.

An Indian Pudding boiled.
One quart of milk, and three half-pints of Indian meal, and a gill of molasses, then put it in a cloth, and let it boil seven, or eight hours. The water boiling when it is put in. Water may be used instead of milk in case you have none.

To make Mush.
Boil a pot of water, according to the quantity you wish to make, and then stir in the meal till it becomes quite thick, stirring it all the time to keep out the lumps, season with salt, and eat it it with milk or molasses.

Buck-Wheat Cakes.
Take milk-warm water, a little salt, a table spoonful of yeast, and then stir in your buck-wheat till it becomes of the thickness of batter; and then let it enjoy a moderate warmth for one night to raise it, bake the same on a griddle, greasing it first to prevent them from sticking.

To make Pumpkin Pie.
Take the Pumpkin and peel the rind off, then stew it till it is quite soft, and put thereto one pint of pumpkin, one pint of milk, one glass of malaga wine, one glass of rosewater, if you like it, seven eggs, half a pound of fresh butter, one small nutmeg, and sugar and salt to your taste.

Dough Nuts.
To one pound of flour, put one quarter of a pound of butter, one quarter of a pound of sugar, and two spoonfuls of yeast; mix them all together in warm milk or water, of the thickness of bread, let it raise, and make them in what form you please, boil your fat (consisting of hog's lard), and put them in.

To make Sausages.
Take your pork, fat and lean together, and mince it fine, then season it with ground pepper, salt, and sage pounded, then have the offals well cleaned, and fill them with the above; they are then fit for use. When you put them in your pan remember to prick them to prevent them from bursting.

To make Blood Puddings.
Take your Indian meal (according to the quantity you wish to make), and scald it with boiled milk or water, then stir in your blood, straining it first, mince the hog's lard and put it in the pudding, then season it with treacle and pounded penny-royal to your taste, put it in a bag and let it boil six or seven hours.

To make Cranberry Tarts.
To one pound of flour three quarters of a pound of butter, then stew your Cranberry's to a jelly, putting good brown sugar in to sweeten them, strain the cranberry's, and then put them in your patty-pans for baking in a moderate oven for half an hour.

To pickle Peppers.
Take your peppers and cut a slit in the side of them, put them in cold salt and water for twelve hours, then take them out and put them in fresh salt and water, and hang them over the fire in a brass kettle, letting the water be as hot as you can bear your band in, let them remain over the fire till they turn yellow, when they turn yellow, shift the water, and put them in more salt and water of the same warmth; then cover them with cabbage leaves till they turn green, when they are done, drain the salt and water off, then boil your vinegar, and pour it over them: they will be fit for use in three days.

To pickle Beets.
Put into a gallon of cold vinegar as many beets as the vinegar will hold, and put thereto half an ounce of whole pepper, half an ounce of all spice, a little ginger, if you like it, and one head of garlic.

Note. Boil the beets in clear water, with their dirt on as they are taken out of the earth, then take them out and peal them, and when the vinegar is cold put them in, and in two days they will be fit for use. The spice must be boiled in the vinegar.

To make Peach Sweetmeats.
To one pound of Peaches put half a pound of good brown sugar, with half a pint of water to dissolve it, first clarifying it with an egg; then boil the peaches and sugar together, skimming the egg off, which will rise on the top, till it is of the thickness of a jelly. If you wish to do them whole, do not peel them, but put them into boiling water, and give them a boil, then take them out and wipe them dry.-- Pears are done the same way.

Quince Sweetmeats.
To one pound of quinces put three quarters of a pound of good brown sugar: the quinces boiled. With respect to the rest follow the above receipt.

Green Gage Sweetmeats.
Make a syrup just as you do for quinces; only allowing one pound of sugar, to one pound of gages.-- Plumbs and damsons are made the same way.

A Receipt to make Maple Sugar.
Make an incision in a number of maple trees, at the same time, about the middle of February, and receive the juice of them in wooden or earthen vessels. Strain this juice (after it is drawn from the sediment) and boil it in a wide mouthed kettle. Place the kettle directly over the fire, in such a manner that the flame shall not play upon its sides. Skim the liquor when it is boiling. When it is reduced to a thick syrup and cooled, strain it again, and let it settle for two or three days, in which time it will be fit for granulating. This operation is performed by filling the kettle half full of syrup, and boiling it a second
time. To prevent its boiling over, add to it a piece of fresh butter or fat of the size of a walnut. You may easily determine when it is sufficiently boiled to granulate, by cooling a little of it. It must then be put into bags or baskets, through which the water, will drain. This sugar, if refined by the usual process, may be made into as good single or double refined loaves, as were ever made from the sugar obtained from the juice of the West India cane.

To make Maple Molasses.
This may be done three ways.
1. From the thick syrup, obtained by boiling after it is strained for granulation.
2. From the drainings of the sugar after it is granulated.
3. From the last runnings of the tree [which will not granulate] reduced by evaporation to the consistence of molasses.

To make Maple Beer.
To every four gallons of water when boiling, add one quart of maple molasses. When the liquor is cooled to blood heat, put in as much yeast as is necessary to ferment it. Malt or bran may be added to this beer, when agreeable. If a table spoonful of the essence of spruce be added to the above quantities of water and molasses, it makes a most delicious and wholesome drink.

Receipt to make the famous Thieves Vinegar.
Take of wormwood, thyme, rosemary, lavender, sage, rue and mint, each a handful; pour on them a quart of the best wine vinegar, set them eight days in moderate hot ashes, shake them now and then thoroughly, then squeeze the juice out of the contents through a clean cloth; to which add two ounces of camphire. The use thereof is to rinse the mouth, and wash there with under the arm pits, neck and shoulders, temples, palms of the hands, and feet, morning and evening; and to smell frequently thereat, has its salutary effects. N. B. The above receipt did prove an efficacious remedy against the plague in London, when it raged there in the year 1665.

Method of destroying the putrid Smell which Meat acquires during hot Weather.
Put the meat intended for making soup, into a saucepan full of water, scum it when it boils, and then throw into the saucepan a burning pit coal, very compact and destitute of smoke, leave it there for two minutes, and it will have contracted all the smell of the meat and the soup.

If you wish to roast a piece of meat on the spit, you must put it into water until it boils, and after having scummed it, throw a burning pit coal into the boiling water as before; at the end of two minutes, take out the meat, and having wiped it well in order to dry it, put it upon the spit.

To make Spruce Beer out of the Essence.
For a cask of eighteen gallons take seven ounces of the Essence of Spruce, and fourteen pounds of molasses; mix them with a few gallons of hot water; put it into the cask; then fill the cask with cold water, stir it well, make it about lukewarm; then add about two parts of a pint of good yeast or the grounds of porter; let it stand about four or five days to work, then bung it up tight, and let it stand two or three days, and it will be fit for immediate use after it has been bottled.

To make Spruce Beer out of Shed Spruce.
To one quart of Shed Spruce, two gallons of cold water, and so on in proportion to the quantity you wish to make, then add one pint of molasses to every two gallons, let it boil four or five hours and stand till it is luke-warm, then put one pint of yeast to ten gallons, let it work, then put it into your cask, and bung it up tight, and in two days it will be fit for use.

To make an Eel Pie.
Skin your eels and parboil them, then season them with pepper and salt, and put them into your paste, with half a dozen raw oysters, one quarter of a pound of butter, and water.

To make a Pork Pie.
Take fresh pork and cut it into thin slices, season it with pepper and salt, and put it into your paste.

To make a raise Pork Pie.
Take six ounces of butter to one pound of flour, and so on in proportion, boil the butter in a sufficient quantity of water to mix with the flour hot, let the paste be stiff and form it in a round shape with your hands; then put in your pork, seasoned to your taste with pepper and salt, and then bake it for about an hour.

To make a Bath Pudding.
Take one pint of new milk, six eggs beat well in the milk, four table spoonfuls of fine flour, three table spoonfuls of yeast, three spoonfuls of rose-water, and three spoonfuls of Malaga wine; grate into it a small nutmeg, sweetened with fine soft sugar to your taste; mix them all well together, and let them stand
one hour before they are to be baked: bake them in eight small patty-pans, and one large one for the middle of the dish; butter the patty-pans; put them in a fierce oven, and in fifteen minutes they will be done.

To make a pot Pie.
Make a crust and put it round the sides of your pot, then cut your meat in small pieces, of whatever kind the pot-pie is to be made of, and season it with pepper and salt, then put it in the pot and fill it with water, close it with paste on the top; it will take three hours doing.

To make Short Gingerbread.
One pound of superfine flour, to half a pound of good fresh butter, and so on in proportion to the quantity you wish to make, beat your butter till it froths, half an ounce of ginger, a few carraway seeds, and one pound of sugar, roll it out thin and bake it.
Common gingerbread is made the same way, only molasses instead of sugar.

To make Whafles.
One pound of sugar, one pound of flour, one pound of butter, half an ounce of cinnamon, one glass of rose water; make it in balls as big as a nutmeg, and put them in your whafle iron to bake.

To make Crullers.
One pound of flour to half a pound of good brown-sugar, and half a pound of butter, let your hog's lard be boiling, then make them into what form you please, and put them in to fry.

From The Historic American Cookbook Project: Feeding America
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Ham Steaks and Alcohol?

“I don’t want to get drunk!” Tommy shrieked.

Wait.

Let’s back up a couple of hours before Tommy’s statement was uttered.

It was Sunday. Easter. And I was in charge of making Easter dinner. On my own. I made it easy for myself and got a ham steak, instead of a regular ham. Ham steaks are safe.

Then I decided to make mashed potatoes, a sweet potato casserole (from a box, I’m not that bold), devilled eggs, corn, and rolls.

Simple enough.

Here’s the thing though: I don’t like making multiple things at once. It tends to overwhelm me. I generally make simple foods…Hamburger Helper, Sloppy Joes, spaghetti...

Proof that my kids are used to simple stuff?

When I was mashing the potatoes, Tommy blinked and went, “Where’s the box?”

I usually make mashed potatoes from a box, you see.

I was in the middle of mashing potatoes, flipping the ham steak, stirring the corn and then I heard a beeping noise.

“What is that racket?” I shouted. I was already overwhelmed and had dried potato on my nose.

“The oven,” Tommy called out.

Oh. Right. The sweet potato casserole.

I was in the middle of tending to the ham steak when I heard a splash...crap, the corn had boiled over.

I went to deal with that and then I smelt something burning.

And realized I forgot the rolls in the oven.

“Shit!” I bellowed. I yanked open the oven and reached in to grab the rolls…without an oven mitt. “SHIT!” My arm recoiled and I took a few steps back. An abandoned Easter egg got caught under my foot so I went sprawling to the ground. “I hate cooking,” I sniffled onto the floor that desperately needed to be mopped. What in the WORLD was that dark spot by my nose?

“Yay, we’re playing!” Natalie shouted, running in. She immediately dropped to the ground.

“I’m not playing,” I insisted, rising to my feet.

“Awww,” Natalie pouted.

I took the rolls out (with a mitt this time) and ran my burnt hand under the cold water. After my hand felt semi-normal again, I prepared the kid’s plates. I brought them out to the table, where my children waited. It would have been nice had they clapped when I walked out. I mean, I had slaved in the kitchen for hours. More like one hour, but still. Instead they blinked at me and when I set Tommy’s plate in front of him, he yelped, “It’s ORANGE!” and started gagging.

“Tommy, it’s sweet potatoes. You ate them all the time as a baby,” I explained.

“It’s ORANNGEEEE!” He turned pale. Tommy can be sensitive to foods.

“Fine, Tommy,” I said, sliding his offensive sweet potatoes on my plate. Then I went into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of sparkling Apple Cider. “I got a special drink for us!”

I expected the kids to oooo and ahhh.

Instead Tommy went, “Is there alcohol in that?”

“No, it’s juice,” I explained through clenched teeth. I was about ready to lose my temper.

And now let’s fast forward to the beginning of the post.

To when Tommy shrieked, “I don’t want to get drunk!” Thank you, police officers who visited Tommy’s school and discussed alcohol and drugs. Or, if I’m being perfectly honest, Homer Simpson.

“You won’t get drunk Tommy BECAUSE THERE IS NO ALCOHOL in this,” I insisted.

“In school we were told to alert an adult if someone tried to offer us alcohol,” Tommy continued primly. “Alcohol is bad.”

Well, not when you need it at night after a hard day with two ungrateful children…

Obviously I couldn’t say this though.

“Alcohol is bad,” I confirmed. “You aren’t allowed to have any until you are 21 and even then, I’d prefer you not to ever get drunk.”

“Have you been drunk before?” Tommy wondered.

Oh for…

“Tommy, this is Easter. That’s not appropriate.” (As it wouldn’t have been appropriate to reply, “Yes. Lots.” ) I opened the apple cider and poured some in our special glasses. Natalie immediately took a sip.

“I like it!” she yelled. It would turn out the drink would be the only thing she liked.

Tommy took his glass and sniffed it. It was like he didn’t believe me. I sincerely hope when his teacher asked all the kids what they had for Easter dinner, that Tommy didn’t say, “Ham. And alcohol.”

“It’s not alcohol!” I snapped again. I was about ready to pour the non-alcoholic liquid over Tommy’s head.

Tommy took a tentative sip. He swished it around his mouth. Then he swallowed and went, “I don’t like it. Too spicy.”

As I said, Tommy is sensitive to foods. It’s why he doesn’t ever drink soda. Thanks to the fizzy bubbles, he insists that it’s too spicy for him. And since the apple cider was bubbly, I could see why he didn’t care for it.

After the drink drama, I started to eat. Everything was edible.

Next year, however, I hope we’re rich enough to be able to afford a cook on Easter.

Or if not, perhaps we’ll just go out to eat.

Desserts, Breads, and Puddings from Amelia Simmons 1798 Cookbook

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Pehr Hilleström (Swedish artist, 1732-1816) A Maid Taking Soup from a Cauldron

Desserts, Breads, and Puddings from Amelia Simmons 1798 Cookbook

Apple Pie.
Stew and strain the apples, to every three pints, grate the peal of a fresh lemon, add cinnamon, mace, rose-water and sugar to your taste--and bake in paste No. 3.

Every species of fruit such as peas, plums, rasberries, black berries may be only sweetened, without spices--and bake in paste No. 3.

Currant Pies.
Take green, full grown currants, and one third their quantity of sugar, proceeding as above.

A buttered apple Pie.
Pare, quarter and core tart apples, lay in paste No. 3. cover with the same; bake half an hour, when drawn, gently raise the top crust, add sugar, butter, cinnamon, mace, wine or rose-water q: s:

P U D D I N G S.

A Rice Pudding.
One quarter of a pound rice, a stick of cinnamon, to a quart of milk (stired often to keep from burning) and boil quick, cool and add half a nutmeg, 4 spoons rose-water, 8 eggs; butter or puff paste a dish and pour the above composition into it, and bake one and half hour.

No. 2. Boil 6 ounces rice in a quart milk, on a slow fire 'till tender, stir in one pound butter, interim beet 14 eggs, add to the pudding when cold with sugar, salt, rose-water and spices to your taste, adding raisins or currants bake as No. 1.

No. 3. 8 spoons rice boiled in 2 quarts milk, when cooled, add 8 eggs, 6 ounces butter, wine, sugar and spices, q: s: bake 2 hours.

No. 4. Boil in water half pound ground rice till soft, add 2 quarts milk and scald, cool and add 8 eggs, 6 ounces butter, 1 pound raisins, salt, cinnamon and a small nutmeg, bake 2 hours.

No. 5. A cheap one, half pint rice, 2 quarts milk, salt, butter, allspice, put cold into a hot oven, bake 2 and half hours.

No. 6. Put 6 ounces rice into water, or milk and water, let it swell or soak tender, then boil gently, stirring in a little butter, when cool stir in a quart cream, 6 or 8 eggs well beaten, and add cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar to your taste, bake.

N. B. The mode of introducing the ingredients, is a material point; in all cases where eggs are mentioned it is understood to be well beat; whites and yolks and the spices, fine and settled.

A Nice Indian Pudding.
No. 1. 3 pints scalded milk, 7 spoons fine Indian meal, stir well together while hot, let stand till cooled; add 7 eggs, half pound raisins, 4 ounces butter, spice and sugar, bake one and half hour.

No. 2. 3 pints scalded milk to one pint meal salted; cool, add 2 eggs, 4 ounces butter, sugar or molasses and spice q: s: it will require two and half hours baking.

No. 3. Salt a pint of meal, wet with one quart milk, sweeten and put into a strong cloth, brass or bell metal vessel, stone or earthen pot, secure from wet and boil 12 hours.

A Sunderland Pudding.
Whip 6 eggs, half the whites, take half a nutmeg, one pint cream and a little salt, 4 spoons fine flour, oil or butter pans, cups or bowls, bake in a quick oven one hour. Eat with sweet sauce.

A Whitpot.
Cut half a loaf of bread in slices, pour thereon 2 quarts milk, 6 eggs, rose-water, nutmeg and half pound of sugar; put into a dish and cover with paste, No. 1. bake slow 1 hour.

A Bread Pudding.
One pound soft bread or biscuit soaked in one quart milk, run thro' a sieve or cullender, add 7 eggs, three quarters of a pound sugar, one quarter of a pound butter, nutmeg or cinnamon, one gill rose-water, one pound stoned raisins, half pint cream, bake three quarters of an hour, middling oven.

A Flour Pudding.
Seven eggs, one quarter of a pound of sugar, and a tea spoon of salt, beat and put to one quart milk, 5 spoons of flour, cinnamon and nutmeg to your taste, bake half an hour, and serve up with sweet sauce.

A boiled Flour Pudding.
One quart milk, 9 eggs, 7 spoons flour, a little salt, put into a strong cloth and boiled three quarters of an hour.

A Cream Almond Pudding.
Boil gently a little mace and half a nutmeg (grated) in a quart cream; when cool, beat 8 yolks and 3 whites, strain and mix with one spoon flour one quarter of a pound almonds; settled, add one spoon rose-water, and by degrees the cold cream and beat well together; wet a thick cloth and flour it, and pour in the pudding, boil hard half an hour, take out, pour over it melted butter and sugar.

An apple Pudding Dumplin.
Put into paste, quartered apples, lye in a cloth and boil two hours, serve with sweet sauce.

Pears, Plumbs, &c.
Are done the same way.

Potatoe Pudding.
Baked. No. 1. One pound boiled potatoes, one pound sugar, half a pound butter, 10 eggs.

No. 2. One pound boiled potatoes mashed, three quarters of a pound of butter, 3 gills milk or cream, the juice of one lemon and the peal grated, half a pound sugar, half nutmeg, 7 eggs (taking out 3 whites,) 2 spoons rose-water.

Apple Pudding.
One pound apple sifted, one pound sugar, 9 eggs, one quarter of a pound butter, one quart sweet cream, one gill rose-water, a cinnamon, a green lemon peal grated (if sweet apples, add the juice of half a lemon, put on to paste No. 7. Currants, raisins and citron some add, but good without them.

Carrot Pudding.
A coffee cup full of boiled and strained carrots, 5 eggs, 2 ounces sugar and butter each, cinnamon and rose water to your taste, baked in a deep dish without paste.

A Crookneck, or Winter Squash Pudding.
Core, boil and skin a good squash, and bruize it well; take 6 large apples, pared, cored, and stewed tender, mix together; add 6 or 7 spoonsful of dry bread or biscuit, rendered fine as meal, half pint milk or cream, 2 spoons of rose-water, 2 do. wine, 5 or 6 eggs, beaten and strained, nutmeg, salt and sugar to your taste, one spoon flour, beat all smartly together, bake.

The above is a good receipt for Pompkins, Potatoes or Yams, adding more moistening or milk and rose water, and to the two latter a few black or Lisbon currants, or dry whortleberries scattered in, will make it better.

Pompkin.
No. 1. One quart stewed and strained, 3 pints cream, 9 beaten eggs, sugar, mace, nutmeg and ginger, laid into paste No. 7 or 3, and with a dough spur, cross and chequer it, and baked in dishes three quarters of an hour.

No. 2. One quart of milk, 1 pint pompkin, 4 eggs, molasses, allspice and ginger in a crust, bake 1 hour.

Orange Pudding.
Put sixteen yolks with half a pound butter melted, grate in the rinds of two Seville oranges, beat in half pound of fine Sugar, add two spoons orange water, two of rose water, one gill of wine, half pint cream, two naples biscuit or the crumbs of a fine loaf, or roll soaked in cream, mix all together, put it into rich puff-paste, which let be double round the edges of the dish; bake like a custard.

A Lemon Pudding.
1. Grate the yellow of the peals of three lemons, then take two whole lemons, roll under your hand on the table till soft, taking care not to burst them, cut and squeeze them into the grated peals.

2. Take ten ounces soft wheat bread, and put a pint of scalded white wine thereto, let soak and put to No. 1.

3. Beat four whites and eight yolks, and put to above, adding three quarters of a pound of melted butter, (which let be very fresh and good) one pound fine sugar, beat all together till thoroughly mixed.

4. Lay paste No. 7 or 9 on a dish, plate or saucers, and fill with above composition.

5. Bake near 1 hour, and when baked--stick on pieces of paste, cut with a jagging iron or a doughspur to your fancy, baked lightly on a floured paper; garnished thus, they may be served hot or cold.

Puff Pastes for Tarts.
No. 1. Rub one pound of butter into one pound of flour, whip 2 whites and add with cold water and one yolk; make into paste, roll in, in six or seven times one pound of butter, flowring it each roll. This is good for any small thing.

No. 2. Rub 6 pound of butter into fourteen pound of flour, eight eggs, add cold water, make a stiff paste.

No. 3. To any quantity of flour, rub in three fourths of its weight of butter, (12 eggs to a peck) rub in one third or half, and roll in the rest.

No. 4. Into two quarts flour (salted) and wet stiff with cold water roll in, in nine or ten times one and half pound of butter.

No. 5. One pound flour, three fourths of a pound of butter, beat well.

No. 6. To one pound of flour rub in one fourth of a pound of butter wet with three eggs and rolled in a half pound of butter.

A Paste for Sweet Meats.
No. 7. Rub one third of one pound of butter, and one pound of lard into two pound of flour, wet with four whites well beaten; water q: s: to make a paste, roll in the residue of shortening in ten or twelve rollings--bake quick.

No. 8. Rub in one and half pound of suet to six pounds, of flour, and a spoonful of salt, wet with cream, roll in, in six or eight times, two and half pounds of butter--good for a chicken or meat pie.

Royal Paste.
No. 9. Rub half a pound of butter into 1 pound of flour, four whites beat to a foam, add two yolks, two ounces of fine sugar; roll often, rubbing one third, and rolling two thirds of the butter is best; excellent for tarts and apple cakes.

C U S T A R D S
1. One pint cream sweetened to your taste, warmed hot; stir in sweet wine, till curdled, grate in cinnamon and nutmeg.

2. Sweeten a quart of milk, add nutmeg, wine, brandy, rose-water and six eggs; bake in tea cups or dishes, or boil in water, taking care that it don't boil into the cups.

3. Put a stick of cinnamon to one quart of milk, boil well, add six eggs, two spoons of rose-water--bake.

4. Boiled Custard--One pint of cream, two ounces of almonds, two spoons of rose-water, or orange flower water, some mace; boil thick, then stir in sweetening, and lade off into china cups, and serve up.

Rice Custard.
Boil a little mace, a quartered nutmeg in a quart of cream, add rice (well boiled) while boiling sweeten and flavor with orange or rose-water, putting into cups or dishes, when cooled, set to serve up.

A Rich Custard.
Four eggs beat and put to one quarter cream, sweetened to your taste, half a nutmeg, and a little cinnamon--baked.

A sick bed Custard.
Scald a quart of milk, sweeten and salt a little, whip 3 eggs and stir in, bake on coals in a pewter vessel.

TARTS--Apple Tarts.
Stew and strain the apples, add cinnamon, rose-water, wine and sugar to your taste, lay in paste, royal, squeeze thereon orange juice--bake gently.

Cramberries.
Stewed, strained and sweetened, put into paste No. 9, and baked gently.

Marmolade, laid into paste No. 1, baked gently.

Apricots, must be neither pared, cut or stoned, but put in whole, and sugar sifted over them, as above.

Orange or Lemon Tart.
Take 6 large lemons, rub them well in salt, put them into salt and water and let rest 2 days, change them daily in fresh water, 14 days, then cut slices and mince as fine as you can and boil them 2 or 3 hours till tender, then take 6 pippins, pare, quarter and core them, boil in 1 pint fair water till the pippins break, then put the half of the pippins, with all the liquor to the orange or lemon, and add one pound sugar, boil all together one quarter of an hour, put into a gallipot and squeeze thereto a fresh orange, one spoon of which, with a spoon of the pulp of the pippin, laid into a thin royal paste, laid into small shallow pans or saucers, brushed with melted butter, and some superfine sugar sifted thereon, with a gentle baking, will be very good.

N. B. pastry pans, or saucers, must be buttered lightly before the paste is laid on. If glass or China be used, have only a top crust, you can garnish with cut paste, like a lemon pudding or serve on paste No. 7.

Gooseberry Tart.
Lay clean berries and sift over them sugar, then berries and sugar till a deep dish be filled, cover with paste No. 9, and bake some what more than other tarts.

Grapes, must be cut in two and stoned and done like a Gooseberry.

S Y L L A B U B S

To make a fine Syllabub from the Cow.
Sweeten a quart of cyder with double refined sugar, grate nutmeg into it, then milk your cow into your liquor, when you have thus added what quantity of milk you think proper, pour half a pint or more, in proportion to the quantity of syllabub you make, of the sweetest cream you can get all over it.

A Whipt Syllabub.
Take two porringers of cream and one of white wine, grate in the skin of a lemon, take the whites of three eggs, sweeten it to your taste, then whip it with a whisk, take off the froth as it rises and put it into your syllabub glasses or pots, and they are fit for use.

To make a fine Cream.
Take a pint of cream, sweeten it to your pallate, grate a little nutmeg, put in a spoonful of orange flower water, and rose water, and two spoonfuls of wine; beat up four eggs and two whites, stir it all together one way over the fire till it is thick, have cups ready and pour it in.

Lemon Cream.
Take the juice of four large lemons, half a pint of water, a pound of double refined sugar beaten fine, the whites of seven eggs and the yolk of one beaten very well; mix altogether, strain it, set it on a gentle fire, stirring it all the while and skim it clean, put into it the peel of one lemon, when it is very hot, but not to boil; take out the lemon peal and pour it into china dishes.

Raspberry Cream.
Take a quart of thick sweet cream and boil it two or three wallops, then take it off the fire and strain some juices of raspberries into it to your taste, stir it a good while before you put your juice in, that it may be almost cold, when you put it to it, and afterwards stir it one way for almost a quarter of an hour; then sweeten it to your taste and when it is cold you may send it up.

Whipt Cream.
Take a quart of cream and the whites of 8 eggs beaten with half a pint of wine; mix it together and sweeten it to your taste with double refined sugar, you may perfume it (if you please) with musk or Amber gum tied in a rag and steeped a little in the cream, whip it up with a whisk and a bit of a lemon peel tyed in the middle of the whisk, take off the froth with a spoon, and put into glasses.

A Trifle.
Fill a dish with biscuit finely broken, rusk and spiced cake, wet with wine, then pour a good boil'd custard, (not too thick) over the rusk, and put a syllabub over that; garnish with jelly and flowers.

C A K E.

Plumb Cake.
Mix one pound currants, one drachm nutmeg, mace and cinnamon each, a little salt, one pound of citron, orange peal candied, and almonds bleach'd, 6 pound of flour, (well dry'd) beat 21 eggs, and add with 1 quart new ale yeast, half pint of wine, 3 half pints of cream and raisins, q: s:

Plain Cake. Nine pound of flour, 3 pound of sugar, 3 pound of butter, 1 quart emptins, 1 quart milk, 9 eggs, 1 ounce of spice, 1 gill of rose-water, 1 gill of wine.

Another. Three quarters of a pound of sugar, 1 pound of butter, and 6 eggs work'd into 1 pound of flour.

A rich Cake.
Rub 2 pound of butter into 5 pound of flour, add 15 eggs (not much beaten) 1 pint of emptins, 1 pint of wine, kneed up stiff like biscuit, cover well and put by and let rise over night.


To 2 and a half pound raisins, add 1 gill brandy, to soak over night, or if new half an hour in the morning, add them with 1 gill rose-water and 2 and half pound of loaf sugar, 1 ounce cinnamon, work well and bake as loaf cake, No. 1.

Potatoe Cake.
Boil potatoes, peal and pound them, add yolks of eggs, wine and melted butter work with flour into paste, shape as you please, bake and pour over them melted butter, wine and sugar.

Johnny Cake, or Hoe Cake.
Scald 1 pint of milk and put to 3 pints of indian meal, and half pint of flower--bake before the fire. Or scald with milk two thirds of the indian meal, or wet two thirds with boiling water, add salt, molasses and shortening, work up with cold water pretty stiff, and bake as above.

Indian Slapjack.
One quart of milk, 1 pint of indian meal, 4 eggs, 4 spoons of flour, little salt, beat together, baked on gridles, or fry in a dry pan, or baked in a pan which has been rub'd with suet, lard or butter.

Loaf Cakes.
No. 1. Rub 6 pound of sugar, 2 pound of lard, 3 pound of butter into 12 pound of flour, add 18 eggs, 1 quart of milk, 2 ounces of cinnamon, 2 small nutmegs, a tea cup of coriander seed, each pounded fine and sifted, add one pint of brandy, half a pint of wine, 6 pound of stoned raisins, 1 pint of emptins, in it having dried your flour in the oven, dry and roll the sugar fine, rub your shortning and sugar half an hour, it will render the cake much whiter and lighter, heat the oven with dry wood, for 1 and a half hours, if large pans be used, it will then require 2 hours baking, and in proportion for smaller loaves. To frost it. Whip 6 whites, during the baking, add 3 pound of sifted loaf sugar and put on thick, as it comes hot from the oven. Some return the frosted loaf into the oven, it injures and yellows it, if the frosting be put on immediately it does best without being returned into the oven.


Another. No. 2. Rub 4 pound of sugar, 3 and a half pound of shortning, (half butter and half lard) into 9 pound of flour, 1 dozen of eggs, 2 ounces of cinnamon, 1 pint of milk, 3 spoonfuls coriander seed, 3 gills of brandy, 1 gill of wine, 3 gills of emptins, 4 pounds of raisins.


Another. No. 3. Six pound of flour, 3 of sugar, 2 and a half pound of shortning, (half butter, half lard) 6 eggs, 1 nutmeg, 1 ounce of cinnamon and 1 ounce of coriander seed, 1 pint of emptins, 2 gills brandy, 1 pint of milk and 3 pounds of raisins.


Another. No. 4. Five pound of flour, 2 pound of butter, 2 and a half pounds of loaf sugar, 2 and a half pounds of raisins, 15 eggs, 1 pint of wine, 1 pint of emptins, 1 ounce of cinnamon, 1 gill rose-water, 1 gill of brandy--baked like No. 1.

Another Plain Cake.
No. 5. Two quarts milk, 3 pound of sugar, 3 pound of shortning, warmed hot, add a quart of sweet cyder, this curdle, add 18 eggs, allspice and orange to your taste, or fennel, carroway or coriander seeds; put to 9 pounds of flour, 3 pints emptins, and bake well.

Cookies.
One pound sugar boiled slowly in half pint water, scum well and cool, add two tea spoons pearl ash dissolved in milk, then two and half pounds flour, rub in 4 ounces butter, and two large spoons of finely powdered coriander seed, wet with above; make roles half an inch thick and cut to the shape you please; bake fifteen or twenty minutes in a slack oven--good three weeks.

Another Christmas Cookey.
To three pound flour, sprinkle a tea cup of fine powdered coriander seed, rub in one pound butter, and one and half pound sugar, dissolve three tea spoonfuls of pearl ash in a tea cup of milk, kneed all together well, roll three quarters of an inch thick, and cut or stamp into shape and size you please, bake slowly fifteen or twenty minutes; tho' hard and dry at first, if put into an earthen pot, and dry cellar, or damp room, they will be finer, softer and better when six months old.

Molasses Gingerbread.
One table spoon of cinnamon, some coriander or allspice, put to four tea spoons pearl ash, dissolved in half pint water, four pound flour, one quart molasses, four ounces butter, (if in summer rub in the butter, if in winter, warm the butter and molasses and pour to the spiced flour,) knead well 'till stiff, the more the better, the lighter and whiter it will be; bake brisk fifteen minutes; don't scorch; before it is put in, wash it with whites and sugar beat together.

Gingerbread Cakes, or butter and sugar Gingerbread.
No. 1. Three pounds of flour, a grated nutmeg, two ounces ginger, one pound sugar, three small spoons pearl ash dissolved in cream, one pound butter, four eggs, knead it stiff, shape it to your fancy, bake 15 minutes.

Soft Gingerbread to be baked in pans.
No. 2. Rub three pounds of sugar, two pounds of butter, into four pounds of flour, add 20 eggs, 4 ounces ginger, 4 spoons rose water, bake as No. 1.

Butter drop do.
No. 3. Rub one quarter of a pound of butter, one pound sugar, sprinkled with mace, into one pound and a quarter flour, add four eggs, one glass rose water, bake as No. 1.

Gingerbread.
No. 4. Three pound sugar, half pound butter, quarter of a pound of ginger, one doz. eggs, one glass rose water, rub into three pounds, bake as No. 1.

A cheap seed Cake.
Rub one pound sugar, half an ounce allspice into four quarts flour, into which pour one pound butter, melted in one pint milk, nine eggs, one gill emptins, (carroway seed and currants, or raisins if you please) make into two loaves, bake one and half hour.

Queens Cake.
Whip half pound butter to a cream, add 1 pound sugar, ten eggs, one glass wine, half gill rose water, and spices to your taste, all worked into one and a quarter pound flour, put into pans, cover with paper, and bake in a quick well heat oven, 12 or 16 minutes.

Pound Cake.
One pound sugar, one pound butter, one pound flour, one pound or ten eggs, rose water one gill, spices to your taste; watch it well, it will bake in a slow oven in 15 minutes.

Another (called) Pound Cake.
Work three quarters of a pound butter, one pound of good sugar, 'till very white, whip ten whites to a foam, add the yolks and beat together, add one spoon rose water, 2 of brandy, and put the whole to one and a quarter of a pound flour, if yet too soft add flour and bake slowly.

Soft Cakes in little pans.
One and half pound sugar, half pound butter, rubbed into two pounds flour, add one glass wine, one do. rose water, 18 eggs and a nutmeg.

A light Cake to bake in small cups.
Half a pound sugar, half a pound butter, rubbed into two pounds flour, one glass wine, one do. rose water, two do. emptins, a nutmeg, cinnamon and currants.

Shrewsbury Cake.
One pound butter, three quarters of a pound sugar, a little mace, four eggs mixed and beat with your hand, till very light, put the composition to one pound flour, roll into small cakes--bake with a light oven.


N.B. In all cakes where spices are named, it is supposed that they be pounded fine and sifted; sugar must be dryed and rolled fine; flour, dryed in an oven; eggs well beat or whipped into a raging foam.

Diet Bread.
One pound sugar, 9 eggs, beat for an hour, add to 14 ounces flour, spoonful rose water, one do. cinnamon or coriander, bake quick.

R U S K.--To make.
No. 1. Rub in half pound sugar, half pound butter, to four pound flour, add pint milk, pint emptins; when risen well, bake in pans ten minutes, fast.

No. 2. One pound sugar, one pound butter, six eggs, rubbed into 5 pounds flour, one quart emptins and wet with milk, sufficient to bake, as above.

No. 3. One pound sugar, one pound butter, rubbed into 6 or 8 pounds of flour, 12 eggs, one pint emptins, wet soft with milk, and bake.

No. 4. P. C. rusk. Put fifteen eggs to 4 pounds flour and make into large biscuit; and bake double, or one top of another.

No. 5. One pint milk, one pint emptins, to be laid over night in spunge, in morning, melt three quarters of a pound butter, one pound sugar, in another pint of milk, add luke warm, beat till it rise well.

No. 6. Three quarters of a pound butter, 1 pound sugar, 12 eggs, one quart of milk, put as much flour as they will wet, a spoon of cinnamon, gill emptins,let it stand till very puffy or light; roll into small cakes and let it stand on oiled tins while the oven is heating, bake 15 minutes in a quick oven, then wash the top with sugar and whites, while hot.

Biscuit.
One pound flour, one ounce butter, one egg, wet with milk and break while oven is heating, and in the same proportion.

Butter Biscuit.
One pint each milk and emptins, laid into flour, in sponges; next morning add one pound butter melted, not hot, and knead into as much flower as will with another pint of warmed milk, be of a sufficient consistence to make soft--some melt the butter in the milk.

A Butter Drop.
Four yolks, two whites, one pound flour, a quarter of a pound butter, one pound sugar, two spoons rose water, a little mace, baked in tin pans.

P R E S E R V E S.

For Preserving Quinces.
Take a peck of Quinces, pare them, take out the core with a sharp knife, if you wish to have them whole; boil parings and cores with two pound frost grapes, in 3 quarts water, boil the liqour an hour and an half, or till it is thick, strain it thro' a coarse hair sieve, add one and a quarter pound sugar to every pound of quince; put the sugar into the sirup, scald and scim it till it is clear, put the quinces into the sirup, cut up two oranges and mix with the quince, hang them over a gentle fire for five hours, then put them in a stone pot for use, let them in a dry cool place.

For preserving Quinces in Loaf Sugar.
Take a peck of Quinces, put them into a kettle of cold water, hang them over the fire, boil them till they are soft, then take them out with a fork, when cold, pare them, quarter or halve them, if you like; take their weight of loaf sugar, put into a bell-metal kettle
or sauce pan, with one quart of water, scald and skim it till it is very clear, then put in your Quinces, let them boil in the sirup for half an hour, add oranges as before if you like, then put them in stone pots for use.

For preserving Strawberries.
Take two quarts of Strawberries, squeeze them through a cloth, add half a pint of water and two pound sugar, put it into a sauce pan, scald and skim it, take two pound of Strawberries with stems on, set your sauce pan on a chaffing dish, put as many Strawberries into the dish as you can with the stems up without bruising them, let them boil for about ten minutes, then take them out gently with a fork and put them into a stone pot for use; when you have done the whole turn the sirup into the pot, when hot; set them in a cool place for use.

Currants and Cherries may be done in the same way, by adding a little more sugar.

The American Citron.
Take the rine of a large watermelon not too ripe, cut it into small pieces, take two pound of loaf sugar, one pint of water, put it all into a kettle, let it boil gently for four hours, then put it into pots for use.

To keep White Bullace, Pears, Plumbs, or Damsons, &c. for tarts or pies.
Gather them when full grown, and just as they begin to turn, pick all the largest out, save about two thirds of the fruit, to the other third put as much water as you think will cover them, boil and skim them; when the fruit is boiled very soft, strain it through a coarse hair sieve; and to every quart of this liquor put a pound and a half of sugar, boil it, and skim it very well; then throw in your fruit, just give them a scald; take them off the fire, and when cold, put them into bottles with wide mouths, pour your sirup over them, lay a piece of white paper over them, and cover them with oil.

To make Marmalade.
To two pounds of quinces, put three quarters of a pound of sugar and a pint of spring water; then put them over the fire, and boil them till they are tender; then take them up and bruise them; then put them into the liquor, let it boil three quarters of an hour, and then put it into your pots or saucers.

To preserve Mulberries whole.
Set some mulberries over the fire in a skillet or preserving pan; draw from them a pint of juice when it is strained; then take three pounds of sugar beaten very fine, wet the sugar with the pint of juice, boil up your sugar and skim it, put in two pounds of ripe mulberries, and let them stand in the sirup till they are thoroughly warm, then set them on the fire, and let them boil very gently; do them but half enough, so put them by in the sirup till next day, then boil them gently again; when the sirup is pretty thick, and will stand in round drops when it is cold, they are done enough, so put all into a gallipot for use.

To preserve Goosberries, Damsons, or Plumbs.
Gather them when dry, full grown, and not ripe; pick them one by one, put them into glass bottles that are very clean and dry, and cork them close with new corks; then put a kettle of water on the fire, and put in the bottles with care; wet not the corks, but let the water come up to the necks; make a gentle fire till they are a little codled and turn white; do not take them up till cold, then pitch the corks all over, or wax them close and thick; then set them in a cool dry cellar.

To preserve Peaches.
Put your peaches in boiling water, just give them a scald, but don't let them boil, take them out, and put them in cold water, then dry them in a sieve, and put them in long wide mouthed bottles: to half a dozen peaches take a quarter pound of sugar,clarify it, pour it over your peaches, and fill the bottles with brandy, stop them close, and keep them in a close place.

To preserve Apricots.
Take your apricots and pare them, then stone what you can whole; give them a light boiling in a pint of water, or according to your quantity of fruit; then take the weight of your apricots in sugar, and take the liquor which you boil them in, and your sugar, and boil it till it comes to a sirup, and give them a light boiling, taking off the scum as it rises; when the sirup jellies, it is enough; then take up the apricots, and cover them with the jelly, and put cut paper over them, and lay them down when cold. Or, take your plumbs before they have stones in them, which you many know by putting a pin through them, then codle them in many waters, till they are as green as grass; peel them and codle them again; you must take the weight of them in sugar and make a sirup; put to your sugar a pint of water; then put them in, set them on the fire to boil slowly, till they be clear, skimming them often, and they will be very green. Put them up in glasses, and keep them for use.

To preserve Cherries.
Take two pounds of cherries, one pound and a half of sugar, half a pint of fair water, melt some sugar in it; when it is melted, put in your other sugar and your cherries; then boil them softly, till all the sugar be melted; then boil them fast, and skim them; take them off two or three times and shake them, and put them on again, and let them boil fast; and when they are of a good colour, and the sirup will stand, they are boiled enough.

To preserve Raspberries.
Chuse raspberries that are not too ripe, and take the weight of them in sugar, wet your sugar with a little water, and put in your berries, and let them boil softly; take heed of breaking them; when they are clear, take them up, and boil the sirup till it be thick enough, then put them in again; and when they are cold, put them up in glasses.

To preserve Currants.
Take the weight of the currants in sugar, pick out the seeds; take to a pound of sugar, half a pint of water, let it melt; then put in your currants and let them do very leisurely, skim them, and take them up, let the sirup boil; then put them on again; and when they are clear, and the sirup thick enough, take them off, and when they are cold, put them up in glasses.

To preserve Plumbs.
Take your plumbs before they have stones in them, which you may know by putting a pin through them, then codle them in many waters till they are as green as grass, peel them and codle them again; you must take the weight of them in sugar, a pint of water, then put them in, set them on the fire, to boil slowly till they be clear, skimming them often, and they will be very green; put them up in glasses and keep them for use.

Currant Jelly.
Having stripped the currants from the stalks, put them in a stone jar, stop it close, set it in a kettle of boiling water, half way the jar, let it boil half an hour, take it out and strain the juice through a coarse hair sieve, to a pint of juice put a pound of sugar, set it over a fine quick fire in a preserving pan, or a bell-metal skillet, keep stiring it all the time till the sugar be melted, then skim the skum off as fast as it rises. When the jelly is very clear and fine, pour it into earthen or china cups, when cold, cut white papers just the bigness of the top of the pot, and lay on the jelly, dip those papers in brandy, then cover the top of the pot and prick it full of holes, set it in a dry place; you may put some into glasses for present use.

American Cookery, or the art of dressing viands, fish, poultry, and vegetables, and the best modes of making pastes, puffs, pies, tarts, puddings, custards, and preserves, and all kinds of cakes, from the imperial plum to plain cake: Adapted to this country, and all grades of life.
By Amelia Simmons
Hartford: Printed for Simeon Butler, Northampton, (1798)

Note: This information also appears in a book which is essentially a pirated editon of Amelia Simmons' American Cookery (1798).
The New-England cookery, or the art of dressing all kinds of flesh, fish, and vegetables, and the best modes of making pastes, puffs, pies, tarts, puddings, custards and preserves, and all kinds of cakes, from the imperial plumb to the plain cake. Particularly adapted to this part of our country.
By Lucy Emerson
Montpelier, VT: Printed for Josiah Parks, 1808.
.

On Fruits, Vegetables, & Herbs from Amelia Simmons 1798 Cookbook

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Pehr Hilleström (Swedish artist, 1732-1816) A Maid Taking Soup from a Cauldron

On Fruits, Vegetables, & Herbs 1798 Amelia Simmons Cookbook

ROOTS and VEGETABLES--and the best cook cannot alter the first quality, they must be good, or the cook will be disappointed.

Potatoes, take rank for universal use, profit and early acquirement. The smooth skin, known by the name of How's Potatoe, is the most mealy and richest flavor'd; the yellow rusticoat next best; the red, and red rusticoat are tolerable; and the yellow Spanish have their value--those cultivated from imported feed on sandy or dry loomy lands, are best for table use; though the red or either will produce more in rich, loomy, highly manured garden grounds; new lands and a sand foil, afford the richest flavor'd; and most mealy Potatoe much depends on the ground on which they grow--more on the species of Potatoes planted--and still more from foreign feeds--and each may be known by attention to connoisseurs; for a good potatoe comes up in many branches of cookery, as herein after prescribed.--All potatoes should be dug before the rainy seasons in the fall, well dryed in the sun, kept from frost and dampness during the winter, in the spring removed from the cellar to a dry loft, and spread thin, and frequently stirred and dryed, or they will grow and be thereby injured for cookery.

A roast Potatoe is brought on with roast Beef, a Steake, a Chop, or Fricassee; good boiled with a boiled dish; make an excellent stuffing for a turkey, water or wild fowl; make a good pie, and a good starch for many uses. All potatoes run out, or depreciate in America; a fresh importation of the Spanish might restore them to table use.

It would swell this treatise too much to say every thing that is useful, to prepare a good table, but I may be pardoned by observing, that the Irish have preserved a genuine mealy rich Potatoe, for a century, which takes rank of any known in any other kingdom; and I have heard that they renew their feed by planting and cultivating the Seed Ball, which grows on the tine. The manner of their managing it to keep up the excellency of that root, would better suit a treatise on agriculture and gardening than this--and be inserted in a book which would be read by the farmer, instead of his aimiable daughter. If no one treats on the subject, it may appear in the next edition.

Onions--The Medeira white is best in market, esteemed softer flavored, and not so fiery, but the high red, round hard onions are the best; if you consult cheapness, the largest are best; if you consult taste and softness, the very smallest are the most delicate, and used at the first tables. Onions grow in the richest, highest cultivated ground, and better and better year after year, on the same ground.

Beets, grow on any ground, but best on loom, or light gravel grounds; the red is the richest and best approved; the white has a sickish sweetness, which is disliked by many.

Parsnips, are a valuable root, cultivated best in rich old grounds, and doubly deep plowed, late sown, they grow thrifty, and are not so prongy; they may be kept any where and any how, so that they do not grow with heat, or are nipped with frost; if frosted, let them thaw on earth; they are richer flavored when plowed out of the ground in April, having stood out during the winter, though they will not last long after, and commonly more sticky and hard in the centre.

Carrots, are managed as it respects plowing and rich ground, similarly to Parsnips. The yellow are better than the orange and red; middling siz'd, that is, a foot long and two inches thick at the top end, are better than over grown ones; they are cultivated best with onions, sowed very thin, and mixed with other seeds, while young or six weeks after sown, especially if with onions on true onion ground. They are good with veal cookery, rich in soups, excellent with hash, in May and June.

Garlicks, though used by the French, are better adapted to the uses of medicine than cookery.

Asparagus--the mode of cultivation belongs to gardening; your business is only to cut and dress, the largest is best, the growth of a day sufficient, six inches long, and cut just above the ground; many cut below the surface, under an idea of getting tender shoots, and preserving the bed; but it enfeebles the root: dig round it and it will be wet with the juices--but if cut above ground, and just as the dew is going off, the sun will either reduce the juice, or send it back to nourish the root--its an excellent vegetable.

Parsley, of the three kinds, the thickest and branchiest is the best, is sown among onions, or in a bed by itself, may be drying for winter use; tho' a method which I have experienced is much better--In September, I dig my roots, procure an old thin stave dry cask, bore holes an inch diameter in every stave, 6 inches asunder round the cask, and up to the top--take first a half bushel of rich garden mold and put into the cask, then run the roots through the staves, leaving the branches outside, press the earth tight about the root within, and thus continue on thro' the respective stories, till the cask is full; it being filled, run an iron bar thro' the center of the dirt in the cask, and fill with water, let stand on the fourth and east side of a building till frosty night, then remove it, (by slinging a rope around the cask) into the cellar; where, during the winter, I clip with my scissars the fresh parsley, which my neighbors or myself have occasion for; and in the spring transplant the roots in the bed in the garden, or in any unused corner--or let stand upon the wharf, or the wash shed. Its an useful mode of cultivation, and a pleasurably tasted herb, and much used in garnishing viands.

Raddish, Salmon coloured is the best, purple next best--white--turnip--each are produced from southern feeds, annually. They grow thriftiest sown among onions. The turnip Raddish will last well through the winter.

Artichokes--the Jerusalem is best, are cultivated like potatoes, (tho' their stocks grow 7 feet high) and may be preserved like the turnip raddish, or pickled--they like,

Horse Raddish, once in the garden, can scarcely ever be totally eradicated, plowing or digging them up with that view, seems at times rather to increase and spread them.

Cucumbers, are of many kinds; the prickly is best for pickles, but generally bitter; the white is difficult to raise and tender; choose the bright green, smooth and proper sized.

Melons-- The Water Melons is cultivated on sandy soils only, above latitude 41 1-2, if a stratum of land be dug from a well, it will bring the first year good Water Melons; the red cored are highest flavored; a hard rine proves them ripe.

Muskmelons, are various, the rough skinned is best to eat; the short, round, fair skinned, is best for Mangoes.

Lettuce, is of various kinds; the purple spotted leaf is generally the tenderest, and free from bitter--your taste must guide your market.

Cabbage, requires a page, they are so multifarious. Note, all Cabbages have a higher relish that grow on new unmanured grounds; if grown in an old town and on old gardens, they have a rankness, which at times, may be perceived by a fresh air traveller. This observation has been experienced for years--that Cabbages require new ground, more than Turnips.

The Low Dutch, only will do in old gardens.

The Early Yorkshire, must have rich foils, they will not answer for winter, they are easily cultivated, and frequently bro't to market in the fall, but will not last the winter.

The Green Savoy, with the richest crinkles, is fine and tender; and altho' they do not head like the Dutch or Yorkshire, yet the tenderness of the out leaves is a counterpoise, it will last through the winter, and are high flavored.

The Yellow Savoy, takes next rank, but will not last so long; all Cabbages will mix, and participate of other species, like Indian Corn; they are culled, best in plants; and a true gardener will, in the plant describe those which will head, and which will not. This is new, but a fact.

The gradations in the Savoy Cabbage are discerned by the leaf; the richest and most scollup'd, and crinkled, and thickest Green Savoy, falls little short of a Colliflower.

The red and redest small tight heads, are best for slaw, it will not boil well, comes out black or blue, and tinges other things with which it is boiled.

To boil Cabbage.
If your cabbage is large, cut it into quarters; if small, cut it in halves; let your water boil, then put in a little salt, and next your cabbage with a little more salt upon it; make your water boil as soon as possible, and when the stalk is tender, take up your cabbage into a cullender, or sieve, that the water may drain off, and send it to table as hot as you can.
Savoys are dressed in the same manner.

B E A N S.

The Clabboard Bean, is easiest cultivated and collected, are good for string beans, will shell--must be poled.

The Windsor Bean, is an earlier, good string, or shell Bean.

Crambury Bean, is rich, but not universally approved equal to the other two.

Frost Bean, is good only to shell.

Six Weeks Bean, is a yellowish Bean, and early brought forward, and tolerable.

Lazy Bean, is tough, and needs no pole.

English Bean what they denominate the Horse Bean, is mealy when young, is profitable, easily cultivated, and may be grown on worn out grounds; as they may be raised by boys, I cannot but recommend the more extensive cultivation of them.

The Small White Bean, is best for winter use, and excellent.

Calivanse, are run out, a yellow small bush, a black speck or eye, are tough and tasteless, and little worth in cookery, and scarcely bear exportation,

Peas--Green Peas.

The Crown Imperial, takes rank in point of flavor, they blossom, purple and white on the top of the vines, will run from three to five feet high, should be set in light sandy soil only, or they run too much to vines.

The Crown Pea, is second in richness of flavor.

The Rondehaval, is large and bitterish.

Early Carlton, is produced first in the season--good.

Marrow Fats, green, yellow, and is large, easily cultivated, not equal to others.

Sugar Pea, needs no bush, the pods are tender and good to eat, easily cultivated.

Spanish Manratto, is a rich Pea, requires a strong high bush.

All Peas should be picked carefully from the vines as soon as dew is off, shelled and cleaned without water, and boiled immediately; they are thus the richest flavored.

To boil all kinds of Garden Stuff. In dressing all sorts of kitchen garden herbs, take care they are clean washed; that there be no small snails, or caterpillars between the leaves; and that all the coarse, outer leaves, and the tops that have received any injury by the weather, be taken off; next wash them in a good deal of water, and put them into a cullender to drain, care must likewise be taken, that your pot or sauce pan be clean, well tinned, and free from sand, or grease.

To keep Green Peas till Christmas.
Take young peas, shell them, put them in a cullender to drain, then lay a cloth four or five times double on a table, then spread them on, dry them very well, and have your bottles ready, fill them, cover them with mutton suet fat when it is a little soft; fill the necks almost to the top, cork them, tie a bladder and a leather over them and set them in a dry cool place.

To boil French Beans.
Take your beans and string them, cut in two and then across, when you have done them all, sprinkle them over with salt, stir them together, as soon as your water boils put them in and make them boil up quick, they will be soon done and they will look of a better green than when growing in the garden; if they are very young, only break off the ends, then break in two and dress them in the same manner.

To boil broad Beans.
Beans require a great deal of water and it is not best to shell them till just before they are ready to go into the pot, when the water boils put them in with some picked parsley and some salt, make them boil up quick, when you see them begin to fall, they are done enough, strain them off, garnish the dish with boiled parsley and send plain butter in a cup or boat.

To boil green Peas.
When your peas are shelled and the water boils, which should not be much more than will cover them, put them in with a few leaves of mint, as soon as they boil put in a piece of butter as big as a walnut, and stir them about, when they are done enough, strain them off, and sprinkle in a little salt, shake them till the water drains off, send them hot to the table with melted butter in a cup or boat.

To boil Asparagus.
First cut the white ends off about six inches from the head, and scrape them from the green part downward very clean, as you scrape them, throw them into a pan of clear water, and after a little soaking, tie them up in small even bundles, when your water boils, put them in, and boil them quick; but by over boiling they will lose their heads; cut a slice of bread for a toast, and toast it brown on both sides; when your asparagus is done, take it up carefully; dip the toast in the asparagus water, and lay it in the bottom of your dish; then lay the heads of the asparagus on it, with the white ends outwards; pour a little melted butter over the heads; cut an orange into small pieces, and stick them between for garnish.

Herbs, useful in Cookery.

Thyme, is good in soups and stuffings.

Sweet Marjoram, is used in Turkeys.

Summer Savory, ditto, and in Sausages and salted Beef, and legs of Pork.

Sage, is used in Cheese and Pork, but not generally approved.

Parsley, good in soups, and to garnish roast Beef, excellent with bread and butter in the spring.

Penny Royal, is a high aromatic, although a spontaneous herb in old ploughed fields, yet might be more generally cultivated in gardens, and used in cookery and medicines.

Sweet Thyme, is most useful and best approved in cookery.

F R U I T S.

Pears, There are many different kinds; but the large Bell Pear, sometimes called the Pound Pear, the yellowest is the best, and in the same town they differ essentially.

Hard Winter Pear, are innumerable in their qualities, are good in sauces, and baked.

Harvest and Summer Pear are a tolerable desert, are much improved in this country, as all other fruits are by grafting and innoculation.

Apples, are still more various, yet rigidly retain their own species, and are highly useful in families, and ought to be more universally cultivated, excepting in the most compactest cities. There is not a single family but might set a tree in some otherwise useless spot, which might serve the two fold use of shade and fruit; on which 12 or 14 kinds of fruit trees might easily be engrafted, and essentially preserve the orchard from the intrusions of boys, &c. which is too common in America. If the boy who thus planted a tree, and guarded and protected it in a useless corner, and carefully engrafted different fruits, was to be indulged free access into orchards, whilst the neglectful boy was prohibited--how many millions of fruit trees would spring into growth--and what a saving to the union. The net saving would in time extinguish the public debt, and enrich our cookery.

Currants, are easily grown from shoots trimmed off from old bunches, and set carelessly in the ground; they flourish on all soils, and make good jellies--their cultivation ought to be encouraged.

Black Currants, may be cultivated--but until they can be dryed, and until sugars are propagated, they are in a degree unprofitable.

Grapes, are natural to the climate; grow spontaneously in every state in the union, and ten degrees north of the line of the union. The Madeira, Lisbon and Malaga Grapes, are cultivated in gardens in this country, and are a rich treat or desert. Trifling attention only is necessary for their ample growth.

To dry Peaches.
Take the fairest and ripest peaches, pare them into fair water; take their weight in double refined sugar; of one half make a very thin sirup; then put in your peaches, boiling them till they look clear, then split and stone them, boil them till they are very tender, lay them a draining, take the other half of the sugar, and boil it almost to a candy; then put in your peaches, and let them lie all night, then lay them on a glass, and set them in a stove, till they are dry, if they are sugared too much, wipe them with a wet cloth a little; let the first sirup be very thin, a quart of water to a pound of sugar.

To pickle or make Mangoes of Melons.
Take green melons, as many as you please, and make a brine strong enough to bear an egg; then pour it boiling hot on the melons, keeping them down under the brine; let them stand five or six days; then take them out, slit them down on one side, take out all the seeds, scrape them well in the inside, and wash them clean with cold water; then take a clove of garlick, a little ginger and nutmeg sliced, and a little whole pepper; put all these proportionably into the melons, filling them up with mustard-seeds; then lay them in an earthen pot with the slit upwards, and take one part of mustard and two parts of vinegar, enough to cover them, pouring it upon them scalding hot, and keep them close stopped.

To pickle Barberries.
Take of white wine vinegar and water, of each an equal quantity; to every quart of this liquor, put in half a pound of cheap sugar, then pick the worst of your barberries and put into this liquor, and the best into glasses; then boil your pickle with the worst of your barberries, and skim it very clean, boil it till it looks of a fine colour, then let it stand to be cold, before you strain it; then strain it through a cloth, wringing it to get all the colour you can from the barberries; let it stand to cool and settle, then pour it clear into the glasses; in a little of the pickle, boil a little fennel; when cold, put a little bit at the top of the pot or glass, and cover it close with a bladder or leather. To every half pound of sugar, put a quarter of a pound of white salt.

To pickle Cucumbers.
Let your cucumbers be small, fresh gathered, and free from spots; then make a pickle of salt and water, strong enough to bear an egg; boil the pickle and skim it well, and then pour it upon your cucumbers, and stive them down for twenty four hours; then strain them out into a cullender, and dry them well with a cloth, and take the best white wine vinegar, with cloves, sliced mace, nutmeg, white pepper corns, long pepper, and races of ginger, (as much as you please) boil them up together, and then clap the cucumbers in, with a few vine leaves, and a little salt, and as soon as they begin to turn their colour, put them into jars, stive them down close, and when cold, tie on a bladder and leather.

To keep Damsons.
Take damsons when they are first ripe, pick them off carefully, wipe them clean, put them into snuff bottles, stop them up tight so that no air can get to them, nor water; put nothing into the bottles but plumbs, put the bottles into cold water, hang them over the fire, let them heat slowly, let the water boil slowly for half an hour, when the water is cold take out the bottles, set the bottles into a cold place, they will keep twelve months if the bottles are stopped tight, so as no air nor water can get to them. They will not keep long after the bottles are opened; the plumbs must be hard.

American Cookery, or the art of dressing viands, fish, poultry, and vegetables, and the best modes of making pastes, puffs, pies, tarts, puddings, custards, and preserves, and all kinds of cakes, from the imperial plum to plain cake: Adapted to this country, and all grades of life.
By Amelia Simmons
Hartford: Printed for Simeon Butler, Northampton, (1798)

Note: This information also appears in a book which is essentially a pirated editon of Amelia Simmons' American Cookery (1798).
The New-England cookery, or the art of dressing all kinds of flesh, fish, and vegetables, and the best modes of making pastes, puffs, pies, tarts, puddings, custards and preserves, and all kinds of cakes, from the imperial plumb to the plain cake. Particularly adapted to this part of our country.
By Lucy Emerson
Montpelier, VT: Printed for Josiah Parks, 1808.
.