MARJORIE KREIDBERG A HOUSEWIFE in the 1870s stirs the cur­ household manuals in the Minnesota His­ rant ketchup that simmers on the wood- torical Society that together represent over burning stove, and the aroma of its spices a hundred years of cooking literature. mingles with the compelling fragrance of Among the books produced prior to 1900 freshly baked bread cooling on the kitchen are those published locally by church- table. Happily she knows her husband will women, others planned as promotions for not become either "dyspeptic or frowning" commercial interests, and larger works that from the bread, its sweetness guaranteed in enjoyed nationwide sales. her book of Valuable Recipes (187[?] ).i A landmark in cookbook publishing his­ Within its covers she finds instructions for tory— and one of the earliest in the socie­ preparing pickled chicken, strawberry acid, ty's collection — is Miss Beechers Domestic hickory nut cake, corn bread, and hominy Receipt Book (1852). Its author, Catherine pudding, but she also discovers a formula to E. Reecher, a reformer with an evangelical cure wrinkles, a remedy to relieve neuralgia zeal, hoped to remedy the evil suffered by pain, and a method for cleaning alpacas and young women who enter "their most ardu­ ribbons. ous and sacred duties so inexperienced and Her domestic guide, published by the uninformed" that their health, spirit, confi­ ladies of the Westminster Presbyterian dence, and happiness are threatened.- To Church in Minneapofis, is part of a diverse achieve her goal, the sister of the Reverend and extensive collection of cookbooks and Henry Ward Reecher and Harriet Reecher Mrs. Kreidberg, a former part-time editorial ^Westminster, Valuable Recipes, 27. A list of the books used in preparing this article appears on assistant on the staff of the historical society, page 116. Pages cited in these footnotes refer only is compiling a recipe collection from the so­ to the quotations given. ciety's holdings. ^ Beecher, Dome.^ic Receipt Book, preface. Fall 1968 105 Stowe dedicated her life to education. She founded schools for women and promoted domestic science as an essential part of the curriculum. She wrote articles and books and lectured widely to pursue her crusade for domestic education. Miss Beecher's treatise, first published in A "kitchen =S=^ 1841 and quoted — not always with luxury" =^=~^_^-__ .=^g^ credit — for many years afterward, com­ bines recipes, cooking instructions, and ex­ haustive advice on matters of domestic poor cooking is but one of Miss Beecher's concern. Central to all of her rules for house­ aims in her campaign to relieve the "deplor­ keeping is the "habit of doing everything in able sufferings" of young women subjected the best manner," a basic tenet that she to a "defective domestic education^ She equates with good taste, "that nice percep­ emphasizes the need to plan ahead, preserv­ tion of fitness and propriety which leads a ing, canning, and drying food in the proper person to say and do whatever is suitable season to provide an agreeable variety and appropriate in all possible circum­ throughout the year. Fundamental to such stances."^ planning is the care of family stores. The She is not content merely with prescribing storeroom should be cool and dry. Barrels standards but tells how and why they are of salt fish "must not be kept near other to be applied. Her general directions for food, as they impart a fishy smell and taste to preparing cakes, for example, caution the it." Decayed vegetable matter should be dis­ cook to "Tie up your hair so that none can posed of regularly to prevent the "miasma" it fall, put on a long-sleeved apron, have the creates "that sometimes causes the most fatal kitchen in order, and then arrange all the ar­ diseases." ^ ticles and utensils you will have occasion to Prevention of illness and care of the sick use." In advance of her time. Miss Beecher are among Miss Beecher's concerns. She sup­ instructs the cook to weigh the ingredients plies designs for furnishings to bring comfort the first time she prepares a recipe, then to them. Her interest in functional conven­ transfer each to a "small measure cup," not­ iences extends to household needs as well. ing the amount in her "receipt book, and Efficient broom closets, a combination iron­ ever after use the same measure cup." •* ing table and settee, a reflector oven, a long- A sound reason for the cook to follow handled dustpan, and a dual-purpose knife exact instructions is dramatized by Miss and saw blade are some of the useful ob­ Beecher in the chapter on breadmaking. jects illustrated and described in the book. Such care, she writes, may be considered "a Details for the construction of an inexpen­ great drudgery, but it is worse drudgery to sive refrigerator are included for persons have sickly children, and a peevish husband, who cannot afford to buy one. made so hy having all the nerves of their When Miss Beecher turns her attention stomachs rasped with sour, or heavy bread. to the specifics of cooking, she provides A woman should be ashamed to have poor varied recipes for meat cookery, soups, bread, far more so, than to speak bad gram­ cakes, puddings, pies, preserves, ice creams, mar, or to have a dress out of fashion." A and temperance drinks. All ingredients, housewffe, she continues, who turns out poor bread regularly "may set herself down as a slack baked and negligent housekeep­ '' Beecher, Domestic Receipt Book, 217, 274. er." ^ * Beecher, Domestic Receipt Book, 130. ^Beecher, Domestic Receipt Book, 230, 231. To counteract the disastrous results of " Beecher, Domestic Receipt Book, preface, 223. 106 MINNESOTA History amounts, and methods, when included, are recorded in a series of running sentences. Measurements are most often expressed in terms of gills, ounces, pounds, pints, and quarts — infrequently in cups or spoons. "One great spoonful of flour, loaf sugar, or of melted butter, equals a quarter of an ounce of same. It should be a little heaped." ^ IN CONTRAST to Catherine Reecher's en­ cyclopedic, all-purpose treatise is Miss Leslie's New Cookery Book (1857), a six- hundred-page "complete manual of domes­ tic cookery in all its branches." The author, Eliza Leslie, who also wrote children's stories and contributed to women's maga­ zines, became wealthy through the sale of her culinary works. Distinctive in the 1. Shoulder. 4. Breast S. Neek. 6. Sctag. recipes is Miss Leslie's use of the provender 3. Haunch. of America such as venison, buffalo, and game. Indian meal is basic to many of her A meat chart from Miss Leslie's recipes for breads, griddle cakes, muffins, New Cookery Rook and even cakes for dessert. Her recipe for minced sage, and simmered with the addi­ "Very Plain Indian Dumplings," a combina­ tion of onions and a quarter of a pound of tion of Indian meal, salt, and boiling water, butter that is first rolled in flour. The cooked she explains, is "an excellent appendage to soup is then thickened with boiled or salt pork or bacon." ^ roasted chestnuts that have been peeled and With recurring enthusiasm she summons mashed. Quite different but unquestionably her primary theme that implicit in the na­ appropriate for a gift to give "friends going tion's plentiful food supply is the oppor­ the overland journey to the Pacific" is her tunity to improve nutrition, cooking "Portable Soup," a forerunner of the bouil­ practices, and the kitchen habits of America. lon cube. The soup requires three days to Characteristically, she observes that in prepare, and is made "into a jelly, and then "America, where good things are abundant, congealed into hard cakes, resembling there is no necessity of imbibing the flatu­ glue." Further, her awareness of the Ameri­ lency of weak washy soups." Her recipe for can way of life inspired other recipes such "Squatter's Soup" underscores the point. as one for "Camp Catsup" that she claims When served with wdd turkey or roasted will keep for years if the bottles are well buffalo hump and stewed grapes sweetened corked and stored in a dry place. The for­ with maple sugar, it "will make a good back­ mula calls for strong ale or porter, mixed woods dinner." ^ with white wine, minced shallots, and sea­ For a company dinner. Miss Leslie fur­ soned with mace, nutmeg, and gingerroot, nishes a recipe for soup made from four then boiled slowly and bottled with the ad­ wild ducks, seasoned with salt, pepper, dition of a teaspoon of salad oil.^" When the practical-minded author fo­ ^ Beecher, Domestic Receipt Book, 283. cuses on meat cookery, she calls attention 'Leslie, New Cookery Book, title page, 418. " Leshe, New Cookery Book, 35, 68, 69. not only to the abundance of meat in Amer­ "Leslie, New Cookery Book, 51, 53, 328. ica but to its reasonable cost. Therefore it Fall 1968 107 Miss Leshe scatters pronouncements on weaknesses in the nation's customs through­ out her cookbook. Yet the custodians of the American home whom she sought to change could find Miss Lesfie had fulfilled her com­ mitment to produce a complete guide to cookery. HOUSEWIVES of the late 1870s would dis­ cover in Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping, another book in the society's collection, a combination of recipes and in­ structions on domestic matters. The book was first pubfished in 1877, a time when a competent housewife got ready for spring cleaning by laying in a supply of gall soap to wash floors and bedsteads, sawdust to dampen and use as a sweeping compound, cayenne pepper to discourage mice, rats, and vermin, lime for whitewashing, kero­ sene to keep stoves and iron utensils from rusting, and carbolic acid to disinfect sinks and drains.