Early American Cookery

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.