On Food and History

From the State of Maine. 19th Century Manuscript Recipe Holder

In an earlier post I introduced nineteenth century Recipe Holders. Here is a wonderful example of a handmade Holder acquired from an estate in Maine. By examining the contents, the original owner started this little beauty in England. Apparently the household immigrated to Ontario, Canada and ended their journey somewhere in Maine.

The 5.5x7-inch covers are closely woven brown linen (possibly hand-loomed) over cardboard. The fabric might have been red or blue and have faded to this common brown color, caused by oxidation. On the exterior is a sampler of embroidery stitches in green wool. Originally there was a green ribbon to tie the Holder closed. Notice the spine is ample to enfold many recipes through the years.

Inside, the folder boards are inset with black silk. there are five labeled envelopes sewn to the front board which organize the recipes by categories: Puddings, Candies, Cakes, Icings and Miscellaneous. Within these little envelopes are small pieces of paper with recipes written in a youthful hand, possibly a teen project of sorts.

A Biography of Mrs. W. M. Dickinson's 1908 Rumford Complete Cook Book

Each time I find an old cook book at a garage or household sale, I feel like a delicious sleuth or voyeur of sorts. I feel that I'm snooping into someone's life, finding telltale signs of what happened in the cook's kitchen while she owned that book. I like to fill in the blanks, inferring details of her life, her likes, what she chose to write and cook. That's a fairly romantic notion. The story of a cook's kitchen is far from ordinary.

Here's how I do it.

At an estate sale in Wisconsin there was a well-loved first edition copy of the popular Rumford Complete Cook Book (c1908 by Lily Haxworth Wallace) sitting amidst a myriad of product pamphlets. There was no spine left to secure the pages to the book . The mottled blue cloth card covers were held together by an ancient rubber band. I gently opened the book and discovered the volume belonged to Mrs. W. M. Dickinson, who had penned her name and the date July 20th 1913. All the loose pages were covered with her recipes, first written in pencil, then snippets pasted to the outer boards. I moseyed over to the checkout counter of the sale with a firm grip on this little gem. I knew there must be a story between those two covers.

Leafing through the pages, there were check marks with comments on tried recipes. A big star * next to Green Tomato Pickle. Big parenthesis around Seed Cookies made with caraway. A note “O.K. makes 9” next to Pecan Sticks. Whole Wheat Biscuit had been rewritten “1 lb. whole wheat flour = 3 cups+" She noted, "additional baking powder, salt, butter and a large egg" to replace 1 small egg called for in the original recipe. To the recipe for Puff Paste, Mrs. D. translates ½ pound pastry flour equals 2 cups. Under each of her entries she uses a flourishie detail, ~~||~~, divulging a touch of her personality.