1896 Cookbook
By Loretta
@noni1959 (11493)
United States
October 16, 2025 10:28pm CST
The Christian thrift store in town sells books five for a dollar, and about once a week I find three to five that catch my eye. This week I found, "The Original Fannie Farmer 1896 Cook Book", from The Boston Cooking School. What first caught my attention was the beautiful gold embossing and the gold-edged pages.
Once I am in my new house, I plan to choose a recipe and make it exactly as written. The book is filled with charming sections full of old-fashioned wisdom, including Hints to the Young Housekeeper and Recipes Prepared for the Sick. Some recipes sound wonderful, like French Rusks, while others made me pause, such as Mock Turtle Soup. I thought “mock” meant a simple substitute, but it actually calls for a calf’s head. That is one recipe I will definitely skip.
I am really looking forward to going backward in time, cooking from scratch, and discovering how they did things in the 1800s. Did you know that back then they used formaldehyde, borax, salicylic acid, lead, copper compounds, and other dangerous chemicals to preserve food? We have certainly come a long way.
9 people like this
9 responses
•
17 Oct
Are any of the recipes "weird" if you know what I mean? Like they were popular back in the day but we never hear about them getting made in today's day and age? Did you see any in there that are still popular today? I also understand you with the way it looks; it's just such a pretty book. It would have caught my eye too. I remember my daycare owner had a garage sale (she ran the daycare from her home and ended up purchasing the home next door to live in while she ran the daycare out of her original home) and one of the books was a recipe book for all kinds of things to make out of/with chocolate. I remember I couldn't wait to read it because it was just so pretty to look at.
3 people like this
@noni1959 (11493)
• United States
17 Oct
There are so many weird recipes and some I have to look up what the names mean. There are a lot of recipes still used today like biscuits, egg pies (quiche), and several cakes. Just many have different names for them. That mock turtle soup was an odd one for me. It has recipes for roast duck, mandarin cake, and other dishes. One area had recipes to use leftover fish innards from cleaning the fish!
2 people like this
@LindaOHio (208116)
• United States
17 Oct
The Fannie Farmer Cookbook is a good one to have. Good recipes and nostalgic reading. Yes, we've come quite a ways in taking toxic things out of our foods....but we still have a ways to go.
2 people like this
@noni1959 (11493)
• United States
19 Oct
@LindaOHio I used to watch those but no longer. They put so much into their work. I get tired watching them.
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (208116)
• United States
18 Oct
@noni1959 I like to watch programs that cover the things they used to add to food and drinks.. It's shocking.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (183060)
• Boise, Idaho
18 Oct
Whoa! A calves' head. Yuck! I've been doing a lot of research into the Victorian Era and yes, I knew they used some odd ingredients.
2 people like this
@celticeagle (183060)
• Boise, Idaho
19 Oct
@noni1959 .......Yes, a lot of work for sure back then.
1 person likes this
@Tampa_girl7 (53943)
• United States
17 Oct
It sounds like it would be interesting to go through.
2 people like this
