I was browsing some of the vintage cookbooks I had picked up at auction and came across one with illustrations of kitchen items from the 19th century. I realized that I have updated versions of them and had seen others from the early 20th century at auction.
The book was titled “The American Home Cookbook,” and according to the preface was written “entirely with a view to ‘practical utility’ for young Housekeepers who have not had the benefit of regular instructions in the affairs of the kitchen.” It prided itself on being different from other cookbooks that were “written on a principle of lavish expenditures, and refer to a great number of things that are never seen at the tables of the frugal and industrious.”
There was no author’s name on the cookbook, only this statement, ostensibly by the publisher Dick & Fitzgerald of New York: “The whole based on many years of experience by an American Lady.”
The introductory remarks at the front of the book offered 15 pages of small engraved illustrations and explanations for “articles” that these poor young housekeepers must have in their kitchens – at the same time warning them to own only what is “likely to be required, but not one article more than is wanted.”
That’s good advice, but anyone who loves to cook knows that we have more knives, pots, dishes and everything else that we will ever use. I have items in my kitchen that seemed like a good idea when I bought them – 3 cast iron skillets, for example, all different sizes, but I always use the small one – along with novelty items that I thought would make my time in the kitchen easier.
Flipping through the delicate pages of the 1854 cookbook was like leafing through history. The illustrations offered a glimpse into the early 19th-century culture of one class of people, presumably middle class. It was certainly not the norm for a large part of the country’s rural and undereducated population, and its enslaved Africans. I’m quite sure some of those folks toiled in kitchens that may have had some of these items, and were creating cookbooks culled from their cooking and baking.
In my research, I learned that the University of Michigan’s Clement Library has a facsimile copy of an 1866 book titled “A Domestic Cookbook” by a black woman named Malinda Russell. A few years ago, I came across another cookbook at auction from the late 19th century titled “What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking, Soups, Pickles, Preserves, Etc.” by Abby Fisher, another black woman. I thought Fisher’s cookbook, published in 1881, was the first.
Many of the items in the American Home Cook Book also represented changes that were taking place in the country’s kitchens. Electricity didn’t arrive until the late 19th century and only for the few people who could afford it.
Along with recipes written as paragraphs, the cookbook gave tips on how to buy, clean, cut and cook different types of meats and other products. It was also an advertising tool for the publisher: The front and back pages listed other types of books for sale through the mail, including games, letter-writing, etiquette and parlor magic, and freemasonry.
Here is a sampling of the household items, along with descriptions, that the cookbook considered necessary:
Lignumvitae (wooden) mortar and pestle. The adulteration of ground spices, makes this an important article where good spices are wanted. (These come up at auction in various forms all the time. I grind my black pepper in a pepper mill; it’s easier to buy the other spices already ground.)
Water filter. For purifying cistern water for cooking and table use. (I use a water-filtering pitcher to clean tap water for drinking. I got tired of lugging those heavy plastic bottles from the grocery store.)
Patent ice cream freezer and moulds. By which Creams, Ices, &c., can be frozen fit for table use in a very few minutes. The forms are easily managed and now coming into general family use. (I bought a small electric one – not hand-churning like this one – some years ago. I think I used it once, and I know exactly where it is: on the top shelf in my pantry. It used to sit next to the electric rice cooker, which I finally took to Goodwill.)
Coffee roaster. To each pound of coffee put one table-spoonful of water. The coffee will thoroughly roast without being burned. (There are many modern versions of the coffeemaker.)
Soup digester. The great importance of this valuable utensil, the Digester not only to poor families, but to the public in general, in producing a larger quantity of wholesome and nourishing food, by a much cheaper method than has ever been hitherto obtained, is a matter of such serious and interesting consideration, as cannot be too earnestly recommended to those who make economy in the support of their families an object of their attention. (Whew!)
Roasting screen and jack. The screen is adapted to the ranges and cook stoves in general use. The jack is wound up and runs so as to keep the meat consistently turning til cooked. (Sounds like the George Foreman electric rotisserie grill. I had one of those; it was a chore to clean.)
Patent ice breaker. To break ice for table use and for making ice cream. (I’ve seen smaller hand-held versions at auction.)
Sausage meat cutter. Will cut four pounds of meat per minute for sausages, hash, etc. (I’ve seen versions of these meat grinders at auction.)
Water cooler, filled in with charcoal, preserves the ice and keeps water icy cold. The water is kept cooler than the atmosphere without ice.
Meat safe. To protect food from mice, insects, &c. (These days, refrigerators serve that purpose.)
