Archive.org has a host of old cookery books (from mid-19th to mid-20th Century) available in many formats and on a host of topics. I happened across a few in my Pinterest feed and gone completely down the rabbit hole in this treasure trove of information. Sure some ideas might be out of date, but you never know what you might find when you explore these books. I’ll be sharing more books as I find them in the coming weeks. –Douglas
Historical Cooking Books: Famous old receipts used a hundred years and more in the kitchens of the North and the South (1908) by Jacqueline Harrison Smith – 25 in a series
What might you find in these old cookbooks? What special recipes have been handed down to you? Share in the Comments!
Available in PDF, Text, JPG formats, and more
INTRODUCTION.
The title of this book by itself conveys so much that any intro- duction to the many good things told in its pages seems superfluous. It certainly should not require any urging to induce all who can to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them.
“One hundred years ago and more” brings before us a delightful period in our country’s history, and recalls the generous, cordial feel- ings which prevailed among our ancestors — that ” open-handed spirit, irank and blythe, of ancient hospitality,” which made the homes of the New World all that a stranger could desire.
We may reconcile ourselves to the passing of ” the fugaceous hospitalities of the snuffbox ” as needing the powdered wig and three- cornered hat to justify them. What a genuine ring there is in the words of Washington, referring to Mount Vernon, when he said : ” T.et the hospitality of the house with respect to the poor be kept up; let no one go hungry away.” And the cordiality of Jefferson while living in Philadelphia is delightfully expressed in a letter to Richard Peters: “Call on me whenever you come to town, and if it should be about the hour of three, I shall rejoice the more. You will find a bad dinner, a good glass of wine, and a host thankful for your favour and desirous of encouraging repetitions of it, wathout number, form, or ceremony.”
It was a time when there was truly that ” hospitality sitting with gladness,” w-hich all the luxuries of the present day cannot supply.
Publisher Philadelphia : J. Winston
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