Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery and Booke of Sweetmeats [Paperback]

Karen Hess (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 1996

Martha Washington's recipes. Over five hundred classics dating from the Elizabethan and Jacobean times, are gathered in this family cookbook that captures the essence of early American folk culture. Handed down as a manuscript cookbook for generations, Martha Washington's Book of Cookery has been annotated by Karen Hess, a noted culinary historian and cook. "Amerian cookery is a tapestry of extraordinary complex design, reflecting out rich and varied ethnic origins, our New World produce, and our frontier history," writes Hess in her Introduction. For the historian, she documents early American cookery with prose and photographs of Washington's original manuscript and an appendix detailing extensive primary-source research. For the cook, she explains terms and techniques unfamiliar to the modern kitchen, showing how to make old fashioned recipes the traditional way, such as: rose petal vinegar, Oxford Kate's sausages, roast capon with oysters, mince pie, fried pudding, almond butter ginger bread, apple cider. In In paperback for the first time, Martha Washington's "Booke of Cookery" is both a significant primary resource for historians and the perfect gift for enthusiastic cooks and fans of the culinary arts.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Karen Loft Hess[1] (November 11, 1918 -- May 15, 2007) was an American culinary historian. Her 1977 book The Taste of America co-authored with her late husband, John L. Hess, established them as anti-establishment members of the culinary world.

In 1985, Hess became one of the founding members of The Culinary Historians of New York, an association of food professionals, historians, and others interested in studying and writing on the history of food. On October 19, 2004, The Culinary Historians of New York presented her with their first annual Amelia Award, an award which recognizes excellence in culinary history.In 2006, she was listed in the eighth annual Saveur 100, from Saveur Magazine, in an article by Shane Mitchell entitled "The Grandest Dame of American Culinary History". Mitchell says that although Hess came from Nebraska, her "soul must be Southern." Hess's The Carolina Rice Kitchen is the story of how rice from Africa became a South Carolina Low Country staple, as well as how the African cooks shaped Southern cooking.

Product Details

• Paperback: 518 pages
• Publisher: Columbia University Press (April 15, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0231049315
• ISBN-13: 978-0231049313
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #409,720 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one of the best historical cookbooks ever, December 16, 2002

By 

Catherine Iannuzzo (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery and Booke of Sweetmeats (Paperback)

This book is a jewel. Being a 16th-17th century reenactor, I would not have thought that Martha Washington's cookbook would have become such a favorite of mine. The annotations by Karen Hess make it invaluable to anyone interested in historical cookery from the Elizabethan age onwards, and it is a darned good read, informative and fun even if you aren't. This is the book I will give someone who thinks they might possibly be vaguely interested in historical cookery and would like to learn more. It is very well-researched and there is something to learn on every page. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The "AHH HAA" of Historical Cooking, August 5, 2004

By 

Kimberly Costa "18th Century Life Teacher" (Clinton Twp. NJ) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery and Booke of Sweetmeats (Paperback)

This is the historical food researcher's answer to Oprah's "AHH HAA" moments in your life! Sit back and let MS. Hess fill you full of delight as you find out exactly where and how gingerbread got its beginnings and why do we call turkey, well, turkey. The amount of historic research and information is a true goldmine for one serious in their food history or for the novice who would just love to know where all our food preferences comes from. I am a teacher of historic foodways and tell each and every one of my students to start here first! You won't be disapointed.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely Interesting, March 18, 2006

By 

Lillian37 (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery and Booke of Sweetmeats (Paperback)

I stumbled upon this book when I was visiting Mt. Vernon for the first time a few years ago. It looked so interesting I had to purchase it. Even though this is a cookbook, it's very unique with a lot of additional material that explains cooking and the recipes from the time period that the book was written. I'm more of a history buff than a cook, but I really, really enjoyed it.