The First American Cookbook: A Facsimile of "American Cookery," 1796

by Amelia Simmons

This facsimile of the first American-written cookbook published in the United States is not only a first in cookbook literature, but a historic document. It reveals the rich variety of food Colonial Americans enjoyed, their tastes, cooking and eating habits, even their colorful language.
Author Amelia Simmons worked as a domestic in Colonial America and gathered her cookery expertise from firsthand experience. Her book points out the best ways of judging the quality of meats, poultry, fish, vegetables, etc., and presents the best methods of preparing and cooking them. In choosing fish, poultry, and other meats, the author wisely advises, "their smell denotes their goodness." Her sound suggestions for choosing the freshest and most tender onions, potatoes, parsnips, carrots, asparagus, lettuce, cabbage, beans, and other vegetables are as timely today as they were nearly 200 years ago.
Here are the first uniquely American recipes using corn meal — Indian pudding, "Johnny cake," and Indian slapjacks — as well as the first recipes for pumpkin pudding, winter squash pudding, and for brewing spruce beer. The words "cookie" and "slaw" made their first published appearance in this book. You'll also find the first recommended use of pearlash (the forerunner of baking powder) to lighten dough, as well as recommendations for seasoning stuffing and roasting beef, mutton, veal, and lamb — even how to dress a turtle.
Along with authentic recipes for colonial favorites, a Glossary includes definitions of antiquated cooking terms: pannikin, wallop, frumenty, emptins, and more. And Mary Tolford Wilson's informative Introductory Essay provides the culinary historical background needed to appreciate this important book fully.
Anyone who uses and collects cookbooks will want to have The First American Cookbook. Cultural historians, Americana buffs, and gourmets will find this rare edition filled with interesting recipes and rich in early American flavor.

Genres: Cookbooks, History, Cooking, Nonfiction, Food, Reference, Research

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1796

Reviews

[Sophia]

imagine a society where it's acceptable to bake a cake with 21 eggs in it

[Iryna Tymoshchenko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Надзвичайно цікава з історичної точки зору. Книга унікальна тим, що вперше адаптована під місцеві продукти США, до того ж можна прослідкувати багато цікавих уявлень того часу про те, що і як можна і варто їсти, яка термічна обробка доречна для різних продуктів, як заготовлювати фрукти.
Чудове занурення в щоденну кухню на стику між Британською імперією, що зберегла багато середньовічних традицій і новою кухнею Штатів.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took a while to get used to reading with the s’s looking like f in the middle of words. But it’s really cool to read and learn what they would have eaten in the 1700’s. I made mince pie for the first time, using this recipe. You can’t get more authentic than that!

[Vera Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very specialized interest in early American cookery is required to appreciate this book. Some of the recipes will astound or amuse you. Some are quite delicious.

[kathleen]

read this for my environmental perspectives class. some this is lowkey crazy bc wtf is a tongue pie...

[Jerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is supposedly the very first American cookbook; previous to this most of our cookbooks were from England, or if you were adventurous, possibly some other country such as France or Italy. What makes this cookbook really interesting is the very American outlook. This is not a cookbook for the rich, the poor, the gentry, or the officer, or any other class or profession. It was a cookbook for Americans, for “All Grades of Life”.

And it was not a cookbook about our heritage or our history or our customs because Americans, like the author, were orphans.

The orphan, tho’ left to the care of virtuous guardians, will find it essentially necessary to have an opinion and determination of her own… It must ever remain a check upon the poor solitary orphan, that while those females who have parents, or brothers, or riches, to defend their indiscretions, that the orphan must depend solely upon character. How immensely important, therefore, that every action, every word, every thought, be regulated by the strictest purity, and that every movement meet the approbation of the good and wise.

The cuisines of other countries have their national reputation to back them up. The American cuisine must depend solely upon its character.

There isn’t much in the way of garlic here. “Garlicks, tho’ used by the French, are better adapted to the uses of medicine than cookery.” She does include a clove of garlic in her instructions for pickling melons.

The hardest part of this book is the use of the long “s” to replace the lowercase “s” except when it is the final letter. This was common at the time, although apparently on its way out. The long “s” is often rendered as a lowercase “f” because they look similar, especially when italicized. Compare “ƒ” with “f”. In this book, however, they look nearly identical in places. The difference is a very tiny one on the letter’s crossbar easily lost in the fact that this is both handwritten and very old.

Read a word like “Strawberries” and it looks perfectly modern. Then you come across “eftablifh” or a sentence like “The large ftall fed ox beef is the beft, it has a coarfe open grain, and oily fmoothnefs…” or a phrase like “flouncing on a fweaty horfe.”

The spelling is otherwise incredibly close to our own. The “c” is even used for that sound just as we do, unless words like “fancy” were pronounced differently then.

Every fpecies generally of falt water Fifh, are beft frefh from the water…

Some of the language is odd even given the age. Discussing onions, she writes:

…if you conƒult cheapneƒs, the largeƒt are beƒt; if you conƒult taƒte and ƒoftneƒs, the very ƒmalleƒt are the moƒt delicate, and uƒed at the firƒt tables.

The meaning of “consult” here is both fairly obvious and as far as I can tell unattested in dictionaries.

There are also interesting notes, mostly in passing, about… I’m not sure what:

[Salmon] are ameliorated by being 3 or 4 days out of water, if kept from heat and the moon, which has much more injurious effect than the ƒun.

This may not be superstition!

The first third of the book is about how to choose meats, vegetables, and so forth. And even once she gets into the “receipts” many of them are less about what we would call a recipe than about how to cook the item in question:

To Roast Beef.
THE general rules are, to have a brisk hot fire, to hang down rather than to spit, to baste with salt and water, and one quarter of an hour to every pound of beef, tho’ tender beef will requ9ire less, while old tough beef will require more roasting; pricking with a fork will determine you whether done or not; rare done is the healthiest and the taste of this age.

And some of the recipes are things I’m just not even going to bother trying to find. “A Foot Pie” certainly does sound interesting, as does “scald neets feet, and clean well, (grass fed are best), but I’m probably not going to be scalding any neets feet any time soon.

All three of the recipes I ended up making were on facing pages in the puddings section. The Cream Almond Pudding was first. After a bit of trouble with the language—she appears to use “settled” in a way that few other people did even at the time, at least in writing—it went very well. It’s definitely a dessert, but not at all sweet. There’s no sugar in it. It is, I expect, meant to always be eaten with the sauce, which is just sugar and butter (which is a great sauce). It was not very good at all without the sauce, and very good with it. The recipe technically called for wrapping the pudding in cloth and boiling it. I chose to put it in a small casserole dish and steam it in the top of a steamer.

Not the full messy 18th century experience, but a lot easier to handle. The other two puddings I made both called for baking. Neither called for even an old-school oven “temperature”, but I used 350° for each.

The Carrot Pudding was, or seemed to be, a very modern recipe, even if it lacks very modern instructions:

A coffee cup full of boiled and strained carrots, 5 eggs, 2 ounces sugar and butter each, cinnamon and rose water to your taste, baked in a deep dish without paste.

While the almond pudding and the corn meal pudding that I made later both seem to say to mix the eggs in whole, this says nothing about how the eggs go in, and given the complete lack of flour I decided to separate them and fold the whites in last. It meant a very high-rising pudding, and light. This was probably the best of the three, although the “Nice Indian Pudding” that I made last night seemed to improve overnight.

The latter is a corn meal (“fine Indian meal”) pudding with raisins and butter. It also calls for sugar, but the amount is entirely up to the cook; it’s mentioned along with the “spice”—which spice isn’t mentioned—so I assumed it was meant to be more of a flavoring than a sweetener. I used a half tablespoon per egg and per approximate cup of milk.

Approximate, because I didn’t want to make a full recipe, but it calls for “3 pints scalded milk” and 7 eggs. I chose to interpret 3 pints as 6 cups, and made a two-sevenths recipe. I also replaced the raisins with dried cranberries, because I think cranberries and cornmeal go well together.

Of the other recipes I’ve marked as wanting to try soon, the Apple Pie is at the top of the list. It’s nothing like a modern apple pie: the apples are stewed and strained, mixed with lemon zest, and spiced with cinnamon, mace, rose-water, and sugar. It’s an applesauce pie but without any attempt to make it a custard.

If you’re interested in the history of cooking in America, it’s a fascinating read, and it’s available on the Internet Archive. Most of the recipes require a lot of interpretation, but are fun to make and nothing’s gone to waste so far!

[Alisa Hedden · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful reproduction of the first ever American cookbook, with recipes using ingredients unique to America. While the recipes contained in this book are not what would be normally produced in a modern American kitchen, they provide a valuable insight into the changes of the home and marketplace. But one thing has not changed, as Amelia states: “and the best cook cannot alter the first quality, they must be good, or the cook will be disappointed.” Or, in modern American, always get the best, freshest ingredients you can obtain, for the best end results.
Some of the most fascinating pieces that I, personally, found in this book are the descriptions of how some tradesmen would try to trick the shopper into purchasing a poor quality product. For example, “deceits are used to give the (fish) a freshness of appearance, such as peppering the gills, wetting the fins and tails, and even painting the gills, or wetting with animal blood”. While the original book was only 47 pages and the reprint which translates the original in modern English is a slim 100 pages, there is a lot of very good information and a few things I would like to try. Luckily I do know where to get food grade rosewater (a good organic or health food store can help you out).
Originally published in 1796, this volume is a treasure sure to be valued to be treasured by anyone that enjoys history, cooking or food. With its red cover, gilt edges and red ribbon page marker, this book is definitely nice enough to give as a present. © Night Owl Reviews - http://www.NightOwlReviews.com

[James Violand · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love to cook. I love to eat. No, no, I'm not fat - it's genetic with me. Anyway, this book is a reprint of one from the late 1700s. I've learned a lot from this work but mostly how good a roast becomes when you dust it with flour. That's the only way I do any roast from now on. Other than that trick, we've pretty much adapted the techniques and recipes in this book.

[Vaishali · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in 1796 by an orphan, this is a rather fascinating peek into American fare in the colonial era. I was floored to discover that rosewater - now an exotic ingredient only found in Indian and middle-eastern marts - was commonly used then. Some fruit no longer in vogue: quinces (from the apple/pear family), damsons (a plum type), and barberries (now used mostly in Irani cuisine).

[Susan Molloy · Rating 5 out of 5]

🖊 My review: While this is a fascinating cookbook to read, it has some convoluted instructions and strange foods that are not familiar in American cooking today. Please note that there are many misspelled words (according to modern American English spelling. American Cookery The Art of Dressing Viands, Fish, Poultry, and Vegetables, however, an important publication, since it is the first published cookbook in the United States.

Note: The definitions of the word "viand" (found in the book title) mean (a) a treat, (b) items of food that are intended to be eaten, (c) an item that is pleasing to eat because it is rare or a luxury - according to Merriam-Webster.

🔻 Genre: 18th Century American Cookbook
✔️Published in 1796.
🖋 The writing style: Sometimes odd.
🗝 What I learned: People ate some odd foods in the 18th century.
💫 What I like best: The entertainment value.
📌 Would I read this again? Yes.
🤔 My rating 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
◼️ Fun fact: This is the first published American cookbook.
🟣 Media form: Kindle version.
🟢 Media form: Project Gutenberg version is a good format to read.

🔲 Excerpts :
This potato cake recipe was made, and was taste tested on "Frontier Patriot" and "Early American" (YouTube channels)

🔸Potato Cake. Boil potatoes, peal and pound them, add yolks of eggs, wine and melted butter work with flour into paste, shape as you please, bake and pour over these melted butter, wine and sugar.

Apple Pie recipe

🔸 A buttered apple Pie. Pare, quarter and core tart apples, lay in paste No. 3, cover with the same; bake half an hour, when drawn, gently raise the top crust, add sugar, butter, cinnamon, mace, wine or rose-water

This must be the longest sentence I ever read!

🔸 To Dress a Turtle. Fill a boiler or kettle, with a quantity of water sufficient to scald the callapach and Callapee, the fins, &c. and about 9 o'clock hang up your Turtle by the hind fins, cut of the head and save the blood, take a sharp pointed knife and separate the callapach [sic] from the callapee [sic], or the back from the belly part, down to the shoulders, so as to come at the entrails which take out, and clean them, as you would those of any other animal, and throw them into a tub of clean water, taking great care not to break the gall, but to cut it off from the liver and throw it away, then separate each distinctly and put the guts into another vessel, open them with a small pen-knife end to end, wash them clean, and draw them through a woolen cloth, in warm water, to clear away the slime and then put them in clean cold water till they are used with the other part of the entrails, which must be cut up small to be mixed in the baking dishes with the meat; this done, separate the back and belly pieces, entirely cutting away the fore fins by the upper joint, which scald; peal [sic] off the loose skin and cut them into small pieces, laying them by themselves, either in another vessel, or on the table, ready to be seasoned; then cut off the meat from the belly part, and clean the back from the lungs, kidneys, &c. and that meat cut into pieces as small as a walnut, laying it likewise by itself; after this you are to scald the back, and belly pieces, pulling off the shell from the back, and the yellow skin from the belly, when all will be white and clean, and with the kitchen cleaver cut those up likewise into pieces about the bigness or breadth of a card; put those pieces into clean cold water, wash them and place them in a heap on the table, so that each part may lay by itself; the meat being thus prepared and laid separate for seasoning; mix two third parts of salt or rather more, and one third part of cyanne [sic] pepper, black pepper, and a nutmeg, and mace pounded fine, and mixt all together; the quantity, to be proportioned to the size of the Turtle, so that in each dish there may be about three spoonfuls [sic] of seasoning to every twelve pound of meat; your meat being thus seasoned, get some sweet herbs, such as thyme, savory, &c. let them be dryed [sic] an rub'd [sic] fine, and having provided some deep dishes to bake it in, which should be of the common brown ware, put in the coarsest part of the meat, put a quarter pound of butter at the bottom of each dish, and then put some of each of the several parcels of meat, so that the dishes may be all alike and have equal portions of the different parts of the Turtle, and between each laying of meat strew a little of the mixture of sweet herbs, fill your dishes within an inch an half, or two inches of the top; boil the blood of the Turtle, and put into it, then lay on forcemeat balls made of veal, highly seasoned with the same seasoning as the Turtle; put in each dish a gill of Madeira Wine, and as much water as it will conveniently . . .

🔸N.B. The mode of introducing the ingredients, is a material point; in all cases where eggs are mentioned it is understood to be well beat; whites and yolks and the spices, fine and settled.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love my Dover thrift editions. This is a reprint of the first cookbook published in the United States by an American author. The introduction to the book is extremely well done and establishes the significance of the book.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first cookbook written by an American, using American foods, and published in America.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting look into early American cooking.

[Belle Meade School]

641.597

[Michelle Nash · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am going to need some serious luck with trying to reproduce these recipes.

[Meg Perin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished the year 2022 with a classic cookbook. Classic because of its rich history of it being the first cookbook written and published in the United States by an American, and by an American woman who used her own experience of cooking with "local" and "organic" ingredients. In other words, fruit, vegetables, and wild game or agricultural animals that could only be found in the Union, as it was dated in 1796. Indigenous ingredients are included as well, and some ingredients are divided out as being better for medicine than for cookery. The recipes are simple, yet difficult in that the reader may not know if a spoonful refers to a teaspoon or a tablespoon, so requires some experimentation. Whether you are a cook or not, indulge in history or not, this cookbook is a glimpse into Colonial America: what was eaten, how it was prepared, spelling and grammar of that timeframe, and celebrating special occasions (i.e., Christmas) with food. My favorite is "Christmas Cookey" and then directly under it, "Another Cookey". Sounded like another Christmas Cookey, but maybe not; again up to the reader's interpretation.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not too certain about its value as a cookbook for today, but I thought this was a cool little historical document with a very informative introductory essay on the text's importance. The front part of the book is devoted to advice on selecting food items ranging from livestock, to fish, to fruits and vegetables. The second part of the book contains the recipes, or receipts as the book terms them. The recipes lack the precision of instructions, but I think it could be fun to pick out one that appeals to you and give it a try. Overall, a cool little book and I give it 4 stars.

[B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first half of this book offers a history of American cookbooks and the place that Simmon's cookbook holds in that history. The second half is a recreation of Simmon's cookbook. Honestly, I loved the first half of it. As to the second? Well, it's going to require some serious playing around in the kitchen to see how many of these can be made and what would need to be updated for the modern kitchen, which I think will be a fun project. However, that said, I'm not sure when that would be because, what spare time?

[Haines Eason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank god this book contains a recipe for spruce beer — something I may actually try to make using this edition’s recipe. I lead with exasperation because this “collection of recipes” is little more than variations on “dish made of sugar, flour, and fat.” I did enjoy it … if in the way one enjoys gawking in a graveyard at the tombstones’ archaisms: They give you a little thrill … but make no impression.

[Cee Martinez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cool historical collection of recipes

It was cool to see the old recipes. It was a little bit of a process to read because of the old 1700s style lettering meaning the "s" looks like a "f".

The baking recipes were interesting. Rosewater was used in desserts in much the same manner as we use vanilla nowadays and I would really love to try these recipes out.

[Benjamin Bookman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cool. The introductory essay was great context and the historical authenticity of including even the mistakes is neat. I just wish there was a third section that included enough "updated" info that I could actually try some of the recipes.

[Evelyn Goldman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish we knew more about Amelia than what is written on her pages. There are true gems that make me wonder if she intended her words to come off the way they do in this modern day. If so, she was an early feminist (see The Queen of All Birds... the Pea Hen)

[Lou Fillari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seems like it was difficult to cook way back when. Good thing there were creative and inspired peoples like Amelia living way back when.

Actually, my ancestors were in Italy and eastern Europe way back when. Amelia's cooking did not affect my lineage.

Cute book. Salty buttery receipts galore.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars for the historical significance. I can’t make much sense of any of the “receipts,” though. And I almost got sick when I read “To Dress a Turtle.” I recognize times were very different, as was the availability of food and cooking methods.

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not a fan of the organization/layout

[Yvonna · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great glimpse into the art of American cookery of our past!

[Donna Covell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow - what a history lesson in cooking and how to maintain a household. Makes me appreciate Food City.

[Darlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being an ancestor of my husband's I couldn't wait to look this over. It's very interesting to see the way recipes were worded.

[Tieg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really fun quick read on early American recipes.

[Honest Mabel · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting

Interesting library borrow it both was and wasn’t what I expected but interesting to borrow I would not buy it