Bibliography Biography Sources
Bibliography of Items in the Feeding America Collection
Biography
Though no bibliographical information exists on this author, this guide to
household duties, written with clarity, intelligence and originality makes
the question of authorship intriguing. There is humor in the Preface, where
the author points out that a work intended for Americans should not carry
English, French or Italian methods of "rendering things indigestible
. . . or distorting and disguising the most loathesome objects to render
them sufferable . . ." There is originality in the instruction that
recipes should not necessarily be followed to the detail. "Let everyone,
therefore, consider the best prescription in cookery, as nothing more than
a basis to be followed to the letter, or deviated from, according to taste
and circumstances." There is broad knowledge: this author includes techniques
for raising fruit trees, a recipe for "Nice Cookies that will keep three
months," multiple pages on properly preparing coffee following methods
used in Paris, and a recipe for Moorish "cubbub" or kabobs, taken
from a shipwrecked mariner, Captain Riley. There is also the usual advice
for cleaning, for preserving foods, and for protecting one's health. The
first printed cookbook in Canada (1831), The Cook Not Mad is an original
in many senses. Unfortunately, its run in America was short-lived: after
its initial publication in 1830, it was issued only twice more, in 1831 and
1841.
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- The Cook Not Mad, or Rational Cookery; Being A Collection of Original
and Selected Receipts, Embracing Not Only the Art of Curing Various Kinds
of Meats and Vegetables for Future Use, but of Cooking in its General
Acceptation, to the Taste, Habits, and Degrees of Luxury, Prevalent with
the American Publick, in Town and Country. To Which are Added, Directions
for Preparing Comforts for the SICKROOM; Together with Sundry Miscellaneous
Kinds of Information, of Importance to Housekeepers in General, Nearly
All Tested by Experience. Anonymous. Watertown, MA: Knowlton & Rice,
1831.
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DuSablon, Mary Anne. America's Collectible Cookbooks. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 1994.
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Lowenstein, Eleanor. Bibliography of American Cookery Books, 1741-1860. Worcester, MA: American Antiquarian Society, 1972.