American Cookery

By Amelia Simmons and Melissa Clark

This eighteenth century kitchen reference is the first cookbook published in the U.S. with recipes using local ingredients for American cooks.

Named by the Library of Congress as one of the eighty-eight “Books That Shaped America,” American Cookery was the first cookbook by an American author published in the United States. Until its publication, cookbooks used by American colonists were British. As author Amelia Simmons states, the recipes here were “adapted to this country,” reflecting the fact that American cooks had learned to prepare meals using ingredients found in North America. This cookbook reveals the rich variety of food colonial Americans used, their tastes, cooking and eating habits, and even their rich, down-to-earth language.

Bringing together English cooking methods with truly American products, American Cookery contains the first known printed recipes substituting American maize for English oats; the recipe for Johnny Cake is the first printed version using cornmeal; and there is also the first known recipe for turkey. Another innovation was Simmons’s use of pearlash—a staple in colonial households as a leavening agent in dough, which eventually led to the development of modern baking powders. A culinary classic, American Cookery is a landmark in the history of American cooking.

“Thus, twenty years after the political upheaval of the American Revolution of 1776, a second revolution—a culinary revolution—occurred with the publication of a cookbook by an American for Americans.” —Jan Longone, curator of American Culinary History, University of Michigan

This facsimile edition of Amelia Simmons's American Cookery was reproduced by permission from the volume in the collection of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts, founded in 1812.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Oct 16, 2012
• ISBN: 9781449423988

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A M E R I C A N

C O O K E R Y

This edition of Amelia Simmons’s American Cookery was reproduced by permission from the volume in the collection of the American Antiquarian Society (AAS), Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1812 by Isaiah Thomas, a Revolutionary War patriot and successful printer and publisher, the Society is a research library documenting the life of Americans from the colonial era through 1876. AAS aims to collect, preserve, and make available as complete a record as possible of the printed materials from the early American experience. The cookbook collection includes approximately 1,100 volumes.

Published in 1796 in Hartford by Hudson & Goodwin, American Cookery is widely recognized as the first cookbook written by an American for American kitchens, and it is an important document in culinary history. According to the Historic American Cookbook Project of Michigan State University, The importance of this work cannot be overestimated. Its initial publication was, in its own way, a second Declaration of American Independence.

OTHER BOOKS IN THE AMERICAN

ANTIQUARIAN COOKBOOK COLLECTION

The Canadian Housewife's Manual of Cookery

Cottage Economy, by William Cobbett

The Compleat Housewife, by Eliza Smith

The Cook Not Mad

Dainty Dishes, by Lady Harriet E. St. Clair

Dairying Exemplified, by Josiah Twamley

Fifteen Cent Dinners for Families of Six, by Juliet Corson

The Hand-Book of Carving

How to Mix Drinks, by Jerry Thomas

Jewish Cookery Book, by Esther Levy

Miss Leslie’s New Cookery Book, by Eliza Leslie

Mrs. Owen’s Illinois Cook Book, by Mrs. T.J.V. Owen

Mrs. Porter’s New Southern Cookery Book, by Mrs. M.E. Porter

The New England Cook Book 

The Physiology of Taste, by Jean A. Brillat-Savarin

The Times’ Recipes, by The New York Times

A Treatise on Bread, by Sylvester Graham

Vegetable Diet, by William Alcott

What to Do with the Cold Mutton

American Cookery copyright © 2012 by American Antiquarian Society. Introduction, Glossary, Index copyright © 2012 by Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of reprints in the context of reviews.

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T A B L E  O F  C O N T E N T S

Introduction by Melissa Clark

The Facsimile

Index of Recipes

Glossary

INTRODUCTION

by MELISSA CLARK

We proceed to roots and vegetables—and the best cook cannot alter the first quality, they must be good, or the cook will be disappointed.

In the current culinary landscape, there is a sharp focus on ingredient-driven cooking. Restaurants, chefs, and passionate home cooks have discovered, or rather, remembered, that the best dish is born out of the best ingredients. No amount of skill, equipment, or technique can make up for mealy tomatoes or bland cheese. Amelia Simmons knew this—knew it in such a way that would impress even the most devoted locavore of today. Her knowledge of her ingredients was staggering—not only did she discuss various livestock breeds and produce varietals, but she also revealed a deep connection to their production and lifecycles. Amelia understood soil, animal feed, precipitation, and river currents, and how these aspects of food production could shape the ultimate products themselves. She encouraged her readers to use the best ingredients they could find.

If this sounds familiar, it’s because this philosophy is still at the heart of American cuisine. And American Cookery is the first truly American cookbook. It is here where we can find that quintessential American pairing—turkey with cranberries. Amelia Simmons wrote recipes utilizing corn meal and Jerusalem artichokes, both New World ingredients. Before her book, American women had to figure out how to substitute these new-world ingredients into their familiar old-world recipes. Amelia spells it out, guiding cooks away from their colonial past and into their independent future. Her recipes draw a clear distinction between the foods of our former British rulers and the cookery of our brand-new nation. Naming recipes Election Cake and Independence Cake underscores her commitmment to, and celebration of, our nascent identity.

What little we know about Amelia Simmons, the woman, we know from Amelia Simmons, the author. She tells us frankly of her low birth, calling herself an orphan. It is through cooking that she was able to elevate her standing and achieve a certain degree of independence. Amelia adhered to those rules and maxims which have stood the test of ages and extolled her fellow American women to do the same. It’s quite clear that she believed in the American Dream—that with constancy, conviction, and courage, anyone could improve their lives.

In American Cookery, Amelia directly addresses

Reviews for American Cookery

[mrslee_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Interesting to read as history, not very practical for recipes unless you want to reenact Colonial times.

[jvioland_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

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.