The American Housewife

Fantastic history of early-1800's cooking & homemaking!

Nearly 400 recipes for just about anything that could be eaten at the time -including pickles & jams - and many household tips on subjects such as removing stains, making glues and dyes, repairing broken dishes, etc. I'm quite sure it was written by an educated, fairly well-to-do American homemaker, as there were very few uniquely European spellings, phrases, or words; her (I assume) grammar & spelling are near-perfect. One gets a good look at what living was like during that era, certainly making me appreciative of my gas range, dishwasher, and refrigerator (rather than hearth cooking, and, if lucky, an icebox.) While it is somewhat dry to read cover-to-cover, I'm sure it is historically correct, including some ingredients that even Wikipedia doesn't know, and use of substances (mostly chemicals ) that our granny-state government has restricted or banned from non-commercial use. The book does have a functional Table of Contents, (starting about page 6) which should have earned it six stars. I recommend it book without reservation. (Marian Otis)