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Mrs. Ira Carpenter cookbook

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Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [Contact Us]3420 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6206

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.

Overview and metadata sections

Nothing is known about this volume's creator, Mrs. Ira Carpenter, other than she was literate and probably lived in England or the United States.

Welsh rarebit, a recipe for which appears in this cookbook, is a dish comprised of a melted cheese sauce over toasted bread. The dish, initially known as "caws pobi," has been popular in Wales since the 16th century. The term Welsh rarebit dates to the 18th century.

Hire's root beer, which appears in this cookbook, was a drink made from an extract developed and produced by Philadelphia pharmacist Charles E. Hires and exhibited at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876. It was initially promoted as a health drink and was advertised as "'the National Temperance' drink and 'the Greatest Health-Giving Beverage in the World.'" (Smith) By 1886, Hires was producing bottled root beer in addition to the root beer extract. In 1962, Charles E. Hires Co. was sold to Crush International. It was subsequently sold to Proctor and Gamble and Cadbury Schweppes American Beverages.

Sources:

Smith, Andrew F. "Hires Root Beer." The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink, Oxford University Press, 2007, p. 508.

Witts, Nicholas. "A Brief History of Welsh Rarebit." The Culture Trip, 4 Feb. 2017, theculturetrip.com/europe/united-kingdom/wales/articles/a-brief-history-of-welsh-rarebit.

This volume contains 151 culinary recipes and was written and compiled by Mrs. Ira Carpenter in 1878.

This volume is bound in quarter leather on marbled paper boards. A significant portion of this volume is blank (p. 20-33, 66-91). There are several hands present in this volume.

Examples of recipes in this volume include variety or union cake (p. 1), Washington cake (p. 3), feather cake (p. 9), Kate Herman's cake (p. 11), Mother C. ginger snaps (p. 17), delicate dish for the sick (p. 35), queen of puddings (p. 39), suet pudding (p. 39), Haviland chocolate cake (p. 45), chicken loaf (p. 55), chicken croquettes (p. 61), Welsh rarebits (p. 93), and Hire's root beer (p. 95).

Publisher
University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts
Finding Aid Author
Kelin Baldridge Smallwood
Finding Aid Date
2024 July 5
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This collection is open for research use.

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Copyright restrictions may exist. For most library holdings, the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania do not hold copyright. It is the responsibility of the requester to seek permission from the holder of the copyright to reproduce material from the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts.

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Mrs. Ira Carpenter cookbook, 1878.
Volume 1

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