American Cookery facts for kids

First Edition of American Cookery

American Cookery is a very important cookbook written by Amelia Simmons. It was the first cookbook known to be written by an American person. It was published in Hartford, Connecticut in 1796. Before this book, most cookbooks used in the Thirteen Colonies (what would become the USA) came from Britain.

The full title of the book is quite long: American Cookery, or the art of dressing viands, fish, poultry, and vegetables, and the best modes of making pastes, puffs, pies, tarts, puddings, custards, and preserves, and all kinds of cakes, from the imperial plum to plain cake: Adapted to this country, and all grades of life.

Amelia Simmons' American Cookery used words and ingredients that Americans knew and could easily find. It was the first cookbook to include special New England dishes. These included Indian pudding, johnnycake, and what we now call pumpkin pie. The book was also the first to suggest serving cranberry with turkey. It was also the first to use the word "cookey," which came from the Hudson River Valley Dutch language.

This cookbook also introduced something new for baking. It suggested using pearlash, which was an early form of baking soda. This ingredient helped cakes rise and changed how American cakes were made.

The book became very popular. It was printed many times and even copied by others for 30 years after it first came out. Today, only four copies of the very first edition are known to exist. The Library of Congress considers it one of the "Books That Shaped America."

About the Author, Amelia Simmons

We don't know much about Amelia Simmons, the author. The only information we have is from her cookbook's cover. It says she was "Amelia Simmons, An American Orphan." Everything else we know about her comes from guessing. American Cookery is the only book she is known to have written.

In the book's introduction, she wrote:

The candor of the American Ladies is solicitously intreated by the Authoress, as she is circumscribed in her knowledge, this being original work in this country.

This suggests that she might not have had much formal schooling. Other parts of her introduction make it seem like she probably worked in people's homes. She wrote about "those females who have parents, or brothers, or riches." She also mentioned how female orphans might have to work "in the line of domestics."

A food historian named Karen Hess thought Amelia Simmons was from New England. This is because the first edition was published in Hartford. Also, the book includes New England dishes like Indian pudding and johnnycakes. However, many later editions were printed near the Hudson River Valley. This area includes places like Albany and New York. The book also uses some Dutch words, like "slaw" and "cookey." These words were more common in the Hudson Valley than in New England. So, it's possible Simmons was from the Hudson Valley area.

Karen Hess also called Miss Simmons a "good plain cook." She noticed that Simmons used many different herbs and wine in her recipes. Simmons also showed excellent English roasting techniques in her recipes.

History of the Book's Publication

There were 13 known editions of American Cookery published between 1796 and 1831. The book has also been reprinted in the 20th century. For example, Oxford University Press reprinted it in 1958. Dover Publications also started reprinting it in 1984.

First Edition: Hartford, Connecticut, 1796

The very first edition was published in 1796. It was printed by Hudson & Goodwin in Hartford, Connecticut. The words "For the Author" on the title page likely mean that Amelia Simmons paid for the printing herself. This first book did not have hard covers. The title page was also the front cover. The last page was blank.

Second Edition: Albany, New York, 1796

The second edition also came out in 1796. It was published by Charles R. and George Webster in Albany, New York. This edition also did not have hard covers. It was a bit longer, with 64 pages.

Later Editions and Reprints

In 1808, another author named Lucy Emerson copied much of Simmons's book. She changed the title to "The New-England Cookery." But most of the words inside were the same as Simmons's book.

In 1957, Mary Tolford Wilson wrote an essay called "The First American Cookbook." This essay was used as the introduction for a copy of the first edition of American Cookery. This copy was published by Oxford University Press in 1958. Later, Dover Publications reissued it in 1984.

In 1982, Gail Weesner made a new version of the book. She made the old-fashioned "long s" letter look like a modern "s." This made the book much easier to read.

In 1996, food historian Karen Hess helped publish a copy of the second edition of American Cookery. This was for the book's 200th birthday (bicentennial). She wrote the introduction and historical notes for it.

Why American Cookery Was Important

Using American Ingredients

American Cookery is the first known cookbook that mixed English cooking styles with American foods. For example, it has the first printed recipes that use American cornmeal instead of English oats. The recipe for Johnny Cake is thought to be the first printed version made with cornmeal. Both corn and oats are grains. The book also has the first known printed recipe for turkeys (which are native to North America) with cranberries.

Although native Americans had been using corn for many millennia and European and African Americans from earliest Pilgrim days, this book offers the first printed recipes using cornmeal.

Mary Tolford Wilson said that this book is not just the first American-written cookbook. It is also an important historical document. It shows what foods people in Colonial America ate. It also shows their tastes, cooking habits, and even their language. Amelia Simmons worked in homes in Colonial America. She learned her cooking skills from real experience. Wilson wrote that Amelia Simmons is like the "mother of American cookery books."

Karen Hess explained that English cookbooks were used by colonists for a long time. But none of them included specific American recipes. Even though some American foods like turkey and potatoes were used in English cooking, no cookbook was written by an American for Americans until 1796. Hess said that American Cookery is very American because it combines American foods with English cooking traditions.

Jan Longone, from the Historic American Cookbook Project, also noted the book's importance. She said that the book was revolutionary because it used truly American foods. It has five recipes that use cornmeal. These include three for Indian Pudding, one for Johnny Cake, and one for Indian Slapjacks.

Introducing New Ways to Bake

Another very important thing about American Cookery is that it was the first American book to suggest using a chemical leavening agent. This is an ingredient that makes dough rise when baking. At that time, it was called potash, pearl ash, or alkali. This was an early form of modern baking powder.

Jan Longone said that using pearlash was a big change. It was a common item in American homes back then. This practice eventually led to the creation of modern baking powders. She concluded that 20 years after the American Revolution in 1776, a "culinary revolution" happened. This was when an American cookbook was published for Americans.

See also

In Spanish: American Cookery para niños