Publisher Description

Originally published in 1838, Randolph's work is more than just a regional cookbook. It also gives a picture of dishes that were popular around the country at the time. Reflecting the influence of cuisines from other cultures, The Virginia Housewife preserves the multiethnic flavors of American cuisine of the 1830s.

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CONTENTS. SOUPS. Page Asparagus soup.....13 Beef soup.....13 Gravy soup.....14 Soup with Bouilli.....15 Veal soup.....15 Oyster soup.....16 Barley soup.....16 Dried pea soup.....17 Green pea soup.....17 Ochra soup.....17 Hare or Rabbit soup.....18 Soup of any kind of old fowl.....18 Catfish soup.....19 Onion soup.....19 To dress turtle.....20 For the soup.....21 Mock turtle soup of calf''s head.....22 BEEF Directions for curing beef.....22 To dry beef for summer use.....24 To corn beef in hot weather.....25 Important observations on roasting, boiling, frying, &c......26 Beef a-la-mode.....29 Brisket of beef baked.....29 Beef olives.....29 To stew a rump of beef.....30 A fricando of beef.....30 An excellent method of dressing beef.....31 To collar a flank of beef.....31 To make hunter''s beef.....31 A nice little dish of beef.....32 Beef steaks.....32 To hash beef.....33 Beef steak pie.....33 Beef a-la-daube.....33 VEAL. Directions for the pieces in the different quarters of veal.....34 Veal cutlets from the fillet or leg.....34 Veal chops.....35 Veal cutlets.....35 Knuckle of veal.....36 Baked fillet of veal.....36 Scotch collops of veal.....36 Veal olives.....37 Ragout of a breast of veal.....37 Fricando of veal.....37 To make a pie of sweet-breads and oysters.....38 Mock turtle of calf''s head.....38 To grill a calf''s head.....39 To collar a calf''s head.....40 Calf''s heart, a nice dish.....40 Calf''s feet fricassee.....41 To fry calf''s feet.....41 To prepare rennet.....41 To hash a calf''s head.....42 To bake a calf''s head.....42 To stuff and roast calf''s liver.....43 To broil calf''s liver.....43 Directions for cleaning calf''s head and feet.....43 LAMB. To roast the fore-quarter, &c......44 Baked lamb.....44 Fried lamb.....44 To dress lamb''s head and feet.....44 MUTTON. Boiled leg of mutton.....45 Roasted leg of mutton.....46 Baked leg of mutton.....46 Steaks of a leg of mutton.....46 To harrico mutton.....46 Mutton chops.....47 Boiled breast of mutton.....47 Breast of mutton in ragout.....47 To grill a breast of mutton.....47 Boiled shoulder of mutton.....48 Shoulder of mutton with celery sauce.....48 Roasted loin of mutton.....48 PORK. To cure bacon.....48 To make souse.....50 To roast a pig.....51 To barbecue shote.....51 To roast a fore-quarter of shote.....52 To make shote cutlets.....52 To corn shote.....52 Shote''s head.....53 Leg of pork with pease pudding.....53 Stewed chine.....53 To toast a ham.....54 To stuff a ham.....54 Soused feet in ragout.....54 To make sausages.....54 To make black puddings.....54 A sea pie.....55 To make paste for the pie.....55 Bologna sausages.....55 FISH. To cure herrings.....56 To bake sturgeon.....57 To make sturgeon cutlets.....57 Sturgeon steaks.....57 To boil sturgeon.....58 To bake a shad.....58 To boil a shad.....58 To roast a shad.....59 To broil a shad.....59 To boil rock fish....59 To fry perch.....60 To pickle oysters.....60 To make a curry of catfish.....60 To dress a cod''s head and and shoulders.....61 To make sauce for the cod''s head.....61 To dress a salt cod.....62 Matelote of any kind of firm fish.....62 Chowder, a sea dish.....63 To pickle sturgeon.....63 To caveach fish.....64 To dress cod fish.....64 Cod fish pie.....64 To dress any kind of salted fish.....65 To fricassee cod sounds and and tongues.....65 An excellent way to dress fish.....66 Fish a-la-daub.....66 Fish in jelly.....66 To make egg sauce for a salt cod.....67 To dress cod sounds.....67 To stew carp.....67 To boil eels.....68 To pitchcock eels.....68 To broil eels.....68 To scollop oysters.....68 To fry oysters.....69 To make oyster loaves.....69 POULTRY, &C. To roast a goose.....69 To make sauce for a goose.....70 To boil ducks with onion sauce.....70 To make onion sauce.....70 To roast ducks.....70 To boil a turkey with oyster sauce.....71 To make sauce for a turkey.....72 To roast a turkey.....72 To make sauce for a turkey.....72 To boil fowls.....73 To make white sauce for fowls.....73 Fricassee of small

Author Biography

Mary Randolph earned her law degree from the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the author of The Executor's Guide: Settling Your Loved One's Estate or Trust, 8 Ways to Avoid Probate, Every Dog's Legal Guide: A Must-Have Book for Your Owner, and Deeds for California Real Estate. She is also a coauthor of the legal manual for Quicken WillMaker Plus. She has been a guest on The Today Show and has been interviewed by many publications, including the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and more. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family.

Review

Introduction The Virginia Housewife: or, Methodical Cook By Mary Randolph Baltimore: Plaskitt, Fite, 1838 (1838) This is considered by some to be the first truly American cookbook and by all to be the first regional American cookbook. This work is still in print and still forms the basis of traditional Virginia cooking. It has been praised by many culinary authorities both for its delineation of authentic Virginia foods and its careful attention to detail. Upon its first appearance in 1824 it was an immediate success and it was republished at least nineteen times before the outbreak of the Civil War. In addition, copies appeared in the late nineteenth century and modern Southern authors aften reference it. The recipes in The Virginia House-Wife are simply splendid. It contains a number of Southern specialties, some appearing in print for the first time: Ochra Soup, Catfish Soup, Barbecued Shote (""This is the name given in the southern states to a fat young hog""), Curry of Catfish, Ochra and Tomatoes; Gumbo (""A West India Dish""), Chicken Pudding (""A Favourite Virginia Dish""), Field Peas, Apoquiniminc Cakes (a form of beaten biscuits). Clearly we are in the South. But Mrs. Randolph knew about much more than Southern cooking; she includes recipes from England, France, Spain, the East Indies, the West Indies and New England (Dough Nuts - A Yankee Cake), among others. Her Spanish dishes are most intriguing: Gaspacho, Ropa Vieja and Ollo. We find polenta, vermicelli, macaroni and curry. We find recipes for corning, for fricando and fricassee, for haricot and matelote and salmagundi; we have a-la-modes, a-la-daubes and a-la-cremes. We learn how to caveach fish and to pitchcock eels. Mrs.Randolph tells us how to pickle several dozen items, including oysters, sturgeon, lemons, onions, nasturtiums, radish pods, English walnuts, peppers, green nectarines and asparagus. Anyone who doubts that early Americans savored salads and vegetables need only look at what Mrs. Randolph offers. There are recipes for artichokes, asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, cucumbers, eggplant, French beans, Jerusalem artichokes, lima beans, mushrooms, onions, parsnips, peas, peppers, potatoes, potato pumpkin, red beet roots, salsify, savoy cabbage, sea kale, sorrel, spinach, sprouts and young greens, squash, sweet potatoes, turnips, turnip tops, winter squash, onions, and tomatoes. Indeed, Mrs. Randolph has seventeen recipes using tomatoes in the various editions of her cookbook. This provides further evidence to correct the misinformation that Americans did not use tomatoes prior to the mid-nineteenth century. We should mention Mrs. Randolph's wondrous ice-cream recipes. There are twenty-two flavors, plus variations, including black walnut, pineapple, quince, peach, pear, chocolate, citron and almond.
Karen Hess, wrote, ""The most influential American cookbook of the 19th century was The Virginia Housewife ... There are those who regard it as the finest book ever to have come out of the American kitchen, and a case may be made for considering it to be the earliest full-blown American cookbook. [it] may be said to document the cookery of the early days of our republic.""

Long Description

Originally published in 1838, Randolph's work is more than just a regional cookbook. While gathering the best of Southern cooking, it also gives a picture of dishes that were popular around the country at the time. Reflecting the influence of cuisines from other cultures, The Virginia Housewife preserves the multiethnic flavors of American cuisine of the 1830s. The recipes will be a delight to modern cooks-especially the 22 flavors of ice cream!

Review Quote

Karen Hess, wrote, "The most influential American cookbook of the 19th century was The Virginia Housewife ... There are those who regard it as the finest book ever to have come out of the American kitchen, and a case may be made for considering it to be the earliest full-blown American cookbook. [it] may be said to document the cookery of the early days of our republic."

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