Old Southern Cookery: Mary Randolph's Recipes from America's First Regional Cookbook Adapted for Today's Kitchen - Hardcover

by Christopher E. Hendricks (Author), Sue J. Hendricks (Author), Historic Savannah Foundation (Author)

Old Southern Cookery: Mary Randolph's Recipes from America's First Regional Cookbook Adapted for Today's Kitchen gives new life to a beloved book that has spanned two centuries. Using the historic recipes from Mary Randolph's 1824 bestselling cookbook, The Virginia House-Wife or Methodical Cook (considered by many culinary historians to be the first real American cookbook--and all describe it as the first regional cookbook), the authors have chosen the best of the original recipes to show how home cooks can prepare the food using contemporary methods. In translating these historic cooking methods to today's kitchen techniques, headnotes contain pertinent historic facts about such things as butchery, firewood cooking, spices used, European origins of certain recipes, dishes brought by slaves to the New World, and even how our cooking utensils have evolved through two centuries.

Author Biography

Sue James Hendricks is a native of Martinsville, Virginia, and a lifelong cook. She is a former writer and editor for the Winston-Salem Journal, where she developed the monthly periodical, K-12. She is the author of 100 Years of Images: Capturing the Moment. Christopher E. Hendricks is Professor of History at Georgia Southern University in Savannah, where he has taught since 1993. He is a contributor to The Encyclopedia of Appalachia and his publications have appeared in the Journal of the Georgia Association of Historians, the Journal of Southwest Georgia History, and the North Carolina Historical Review. He is the author of numerous publications, including The Backcountry Towns of Colonial Virginia. About Mary Randolph (1762-1828): Mary Randolph was an American author, known for writing The Virginia House-Wife; Or, Methodical Cook (1824), [1] one of the most influential housekeeping and cook books of the 19th century. She was the first person known to be buried at what would become known as Arlington National Cemetery.