Call Number:

Ms. Codex 2189

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

1 volume(s)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

English recipe book, circa 1800-1850, Ms. Codex 2189, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

circa 1800-1850 (inclusive)

Form:

Cookbooks and Codices (bound manuscripts)

Abstract:

This volume contains 103 culinary, household, and medicinal recipes created and compiled by an unknown creator in England in the early 19th century.

This volume was created by an unknown person in the early 19th century.

Mock turtle soup, a recipe for which is included in this volume, was developed to mimic the popular 18th century "turtle soup" recipe after its titular ingredient, the green turtle, was hunted to near extinction. Mock turtle soup recipes use a diverse range of animal-based ingredients in an attempt to replicate the texture created by the green turtle. Most recipes include a whole calf's head.

Count Rumford's soup, a recipe for which is included in this volume, was developed by Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford around the year 1800 as a nutrition-dense economical dish to feed the poor. The dish typically consisted of barley, peas, vegetables, potato, and sour beer. Count Rumford is also credited with establishing the first soup kitchen.

Sources:

Bramen, Lisa. "Count Rumford and the History of the Soup Kitchen." Smithsonian Magazine, 2010, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/count-rumford-and-the-history-of-the-soup-kitchen-26785526/

Buttery, Neil. "Mock Turtle Soup." British Food: A History, https://britishfoodhistory.com/2016/08/09/mock-turtle-soup/

Kurti, Nicholas. "Rumford and Culinary Science." Cooks & Other People: Proceeding of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery, 1995.

This volume contains 103 culinary, household, and medicinal recipes created and compiled by an unknown creator in England in the early 19th century.

The volume is comprised of loose papers sewn together without covers. There are several hands present throughout the volume, including two that contributed culinary recipes and at least four that contributed household and medicinal recipes.

Examples of recipes in this volume include to make beef olives (p. 1), Count Rumford's Soup (p. 2), to pickle salmon as at Newcastle (p. 3), to make curry (p. 4), to make flummery (p. 8), lemon brandy (p. 29), mock turtle soup (p. 21), bread patties (p. 33), white soup (p. 34), hooping cough (whooping cough) (p. 49), "spermecets" (p. 49), marking ink (p. 51), Johnson's salve (p. 53), sarsaparilla decoction (p. 53), and for a locked jaw (p. 56).