Early American Cookery: "The Good Housekeeper," 1841 - Softcover

Hale, Sarah Josepha

3.9

29 ratings by Goodreads

9781626541870: Early American Cookery: "The Good Housekeeper," 1841

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1626541876 ISBN 13: 9781626541870

Publisher: Allegro Editions, 2015

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This charming early Victorian cookbook and treatise on homemaking will present you with a wonderfully direct window into the culinary practices and household tasks of mid-19th century America. Written with delicacy and precision by preeminent early American author, Sarah Joseph Hale (editor of Godey's Lady's Book and author of Mary Had a Little Lamb), The Good Housekeeper covers a wide variety of domestic projects with the aim of promoting the "health, comfort and prosperity" of American families.

Chock-full of recipes and practices geared toward health and longevity, Hale stresses the importance of wholesome food, frugality, and temperance. Her dietary advice is remarkable in its resemblance to modern gastronomic recommendations. Though her suggestions are tailored for different nutritional needs (active men, growing children, sick children, etc.), she is consistent throughout in her instruction to avoid rich foods, sugary deserts, and fried foods in excess, as well as in her emphasis on the importance of eating slowly and limiting alcohol consumption.

In addition to innumerable recipes for tasty and practical meals, modern readers will find tips on preserving foods, smoking meats, polishing marble, cleaning carpets, and curing toothaches and sore throats that range from incredibly helpful to fascinatingly dated. This high-quality republication of The Good Housekeeper, or, the Way to Live Well, and to Be Well While We Live is a treasury of early-American recipes and remedies sure to please cooks, homemakers, Americana buffs, and anyone with an interest in the early days of life in rural America.

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From Library Journal:

Hale was the editor of the 19th-century publication Godey Lady's Book, a forerunner of the modern "woman's magazine." This 1841 title offers recipes and advice on hosting dinners. Though the recipes might seem unhealthy by today's standards?lots of butter and eggs?Hale lived to be 90!
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