Joan’s Country Kitchen

I love historic cookbooks and collect them wherever I go. I think one of the best ways to learn about life in the past is to know how people ate, what recipes they used and how women saw their role in life. Most historic

Historic cookbook by Sarah Josepha Hale

cookbooks, like Early American Cookery: “The Good Housekeeper,” 1841 by Sarah Josepha Hale, not only contains recipes but household hints for cleaning, caring for the sick, living on a budget and nurturing children, among other topics.

Sarah Josepha Hale was born in 1788, in New Hampshire and as an author and magazine editor, she was very influential in shaping the lives of 19th century women. She was the editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book for 40 years. Godey’s, considered a forerunner of the modern women’s magazine, was the most widely read periodical in the US during the Civil War, with 150,000 subscribers.

Sarah Josepha Hale also wrote novels and our modern Thanksgiving dinner owes it’s beginnings to her description of that holiday dinner in Northwood; or, Life north and south: showing the true character of both.

The historic cookbook, Good Housekeeper, was written in 1839, when there were probably less than 30 American cookbooks published. Other cookbooks of the time focused on frugal living but Hale wanted to combine frugal with healthy, to teach “how to live well, and to be well while we live.” She includes “cheap dishes” like Cheap Bread, Pork and Beans and Pea Soup, but she also addresses the “proper quality of food” to promote health, especially for children, who, in the 1800’s, often died before their second birthday.

The Good Housekeeper also gives advice for cleaning and first aid. To clean straw carpets, “wash them in salt and water and wipe them with a clean dry cloth.” For burns, “Apply cotton wool dipped in oil as soon as possible and it it on till the fire is entirely out, which will usually take from two days to a week.”

The Good Housekeeper contains recipes for the sick as well. Here’s a recipe for gruel, commonly thought to be an easy to digest meal for the sick. “Sift the Indian meal through a find sieve; wet two spoonfuls of this meal with cold water, and beat it till there are no lumps; then stir it into a pint of boiling water, and let it boil half an hour, stirring all the time.”

Other sound health advice - “In setting out early to travel, a light breakfast before starting should always be taken; it is a great protection against cold, fatigue and exhaustion.”

The Good Housekeeper also contains recipes, naturally. There is a chapter on making bread, cooking meat from partridges to mutton, making sausage, salting meat to preserve it, how to make gravies, jams and jellies, and how to use herbs and spices.

Reading historic cookbooks helps us to realize how women’s lives are woven together with their sisters down through the years. Our concerns about family and managing a household haven’t really changed entirely - we’re all still interested in preparing healthy food on a budget, caring for our children and spouses. We have much in common with those who came before us and it’s good to know what they went through to give us the life we have today.

I love my crock pot. It’s easy to make just about any type of recipe in the crockpot from soups to desserts. I always love to add to my crockpot cookbook library and recently found this terrific addition by Stephanie O’Dea entitled Make It Fast, Cook It Slow: The Big Book of Everyday Slow Cooking which even offers a crockpot version of banana bread, chai tea latte and caramel apples. This isnt’ just another crockpot cookbook!

Stephanie’s crockpot cookbook offers 454 pages of delicious-sounding, easy to understand recipes with ingredients you actually have on hand. I haven’t had a chance to try more than a few but Stephanie gives readers her family’s “verdict” on each recipe, including the specific verdict of her young children. If you’re a mom who wants to cook delicious food for hard to please youngsters, this book is for you.

Stephanie O’Dea’s blog, crockpot365.blogspot.com, is dedicated to slow cooking and offers more delicious recipes.

I always love a great Hannah Swensen mystery by Joanne Fluke and Blueberry Muffin Murder was another hit. Reading a Joanne Fluke mystery, set in Lake Eden, Minnesota, is like having a homey visit with Hannah, her sister Andrea, Hannah’s two boyfriends, Mike and Norman, and all the various characters who reside in this chilly little town, including the neurotic Moishe the cat.