American Antiquarian Cookbook Collection

Published in 1861 in Hamilton, Ontario, this volume in the American Antiquarian Cookbook Collection is an early example of Canadian cookery, compiled from the best available English, French, and American recipes and adapted to Canadian kitchens.

The content of The Canadian Housewife’s Manual of Cookery owes much to contemporary cookbooks published in America, England, and France. There are several hundred recipes including soups, sauces, fish, meats, poultry, eggs, game, vegetables, puddings, pancakes, fritters, pastry, cakes, bread, sweets, salads, ale, beer, and summer drinks. In addition, the book contains a chapter on homemade concoctions for various illnesses, information on maintaining a dairy and cheese-making, keeping chickens, and ten pages of advertisements for everything from newspapers and books to jewelry, foodstuffs, patent remedies, and clothing. The recipes include a new emphasis on local produce such as squash, pumpkins, and tomatoes, and the general tone is one of sensible economy. The books urges housewives to “make the home the sweet refuge of a husband fatigued by intercourse with a jarring world.”