The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book

Last updated

The Boston Cooking School magazine of culinary science and domestic economics The Boston Cooking School magazine of culinary science and domestic economics (1908) (14580410059).jpg
The Boston Cooking School magazine of culinary science and domestic economics

The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book (1896) by Fannie Farmer is a 19th-century general reference cookbook which is still available both in reprint and in updated form. It was particularly notable for a more rigorous approach to recipe writing than had been common up to that point.

Contents

In the preface Farmer states:

It is my wish that it may not only be looked upon as a compilation of tried and tested recipes, but that it may awaken an interest through its condensed scientific knowledge which will lead to deeper thought and broader study of what to eat.

Farmer's 1896 compilation became the best-selling cookbook of the era. [1]

In 2007, that period of American culinary history was recreated in an elaborate dinner using the Victorian cooking methods outlined in this book. The extensive preparations and the ultimate results were described in a book entitled Fannie's Last Supper by Christopher Kimball, and an American public television program of the same name [2] was broadcast in 2010. [1]

Publication history

When Little, Brown & Company was preparing the first edition of Fannie Farmer's cookbook, they were not confident it would sell well. As such, the first edition, released in 1896, had a limited run of only 3,000 copies. [3] It proved an immediate success.

Facsimiles of the original book are still in print. Heavily revised successor books, later retitled The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, have also been published, the most recent being the thirteenth edition by author Marion Cunningham, originally issued in 1990 and then reissued in 1996 for the 100th anniversary of the original book.

The twelfth and thirteenth editions were published by Knopf Publishing Group.

Notes

  1. 1 2 "Toasting Fannie Farmer With An Epic Victorian Feast". National Public Radio. October 14, 2010.
  2. "Fannie's Last Supper". American Public Television. Archived from the original on May 26, 2012. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
  3. Nelson, Randy F. (1981). The Almanac of American Letters . Los Altos, California: William Kaufmann. p. 94. ISBN   9780865760189. OCLC   7167910 . Retrieved March 4, 2023 via Internet Archive.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Recipe</span> Instructions for preparing food

A recipe is a set of instructions that describes how to prepare or make something, especially a dish of prepared food. A sub-recipe or subrecipe is a recipe for an ingredient that will be called for in the instructions for the main recipe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cookbook</span> Book of recipes

A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christopher Kimball</span> American chef, editor, publisher, and radio/TV personality

Christopher Kimball is an American editor, publisher, and radio and TV personality. He is notable as one of the founders of America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country and as the creator of Christopher Kimball's Milk Street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chocolate brownie</span> Baked chocolate confection

A chocolate brownie, or simply a brownie, is a chocolate baked confection. Brownies come in a variety of forms and may be either fudgy or cakey, depending on their density. Brownies often, but not always, have a glossy "skin" on their upper crust. They may also include nuts, frosting, cream cheese, chocolate chips, or other ingredients. A variation made with brown sugar and vanilla rather than chocolate in the batter is called a blond brownie or blondie. The brownie was developed in the United States at the end of the 19th century and popularized there during the first half of the 20th century.

<i>Joy of Cooking</i> Book by Irma S. Rombauer

Joy of Cooking, often known as "The Joy of Cooking", is one of the United States' most-published cookbooks. It has been in print continuously since 1936 and has sold more than 20 million copies. It was published privately during 1931 by Irma S. Rombauer (1877–1962), a homemaker in St. Louis, Missouri, after her husband's suicide the previous year. Rombauer had 3,000 copies printed by A.C. Clayton, a company which had printed labels for fancy St. Louis shoe companies and for Listerine mouthwash, but never a book. Beginning in 1936, the book was published by a commercial printing house, the Bobbs-Merrill Company. With nine editions, Joy of Cooking is considered the most popular American cookbook.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deviled egg</span> Egg-based dish

Deviled eggs are hard-boiled eggs that have been shelled, cut in half, and filled with a paste made from the egg yolks mixed with other ingredients such as mayonnaise and mustard. They are generally served cold as a side dish, appetizer or a main course during gatherings or parties. The dish's origin can be seen in recipes for boiled, seasoned eggs as far back as ancient Rome, where they were traditionally served as a first course. The dish is popular in Europe, North America and Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chocolate pudding</span> Class of desserts with chocolate flavours

Chocolate puddings are a class of desserts in the pudding family with chocolate flavors. There are two main types: a boiled then chilled dessert, texturally a custard set with starch, commonly eaten in the U.S., Canada, Germany, Sweden, Poland, and East and South East Asia; and a steamed/baked version, texturally similar to cake, popular in the UK, Ireland, Australia, Germany and New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fannie Farmer</span> American chef

Fannie Merritt Farmer was an American culinary expert whose Boston Cooking-School Cook Book became a widely used culinary text.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parker House roll</span> Type of bread roll

A Parker House roll is a bread roll made by flattening the center of a ball of dough with a rolling pin so that it becomes an oval shape, and then folding the oval in half. They are made with milk and are generally quite buttery, soft, and slightly sweet with a crispy shell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irma S. Rombauer</span> American cookbook author (1877–1962)

Irma S. Rombauer was an American cookbook author, best known for The Joy of Cooking (1931), one of the world's most widely read cookbooks. Following Irma Rombauer's death, periodic revisions of the book were carried out by her daughter, Marion Rombauer Becker, and subsequently by Marion's son Ethan Becker. The Joy of Cooking remains in print, edited by members of the Rombauer–Becker family, and more than 18 million copies have been sold.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Candy thermometer</span>

A candy thermometer, also known as a sugar thermometer or jam thermometer, is a cooking thermometer used to measure the temperature and therefore the stage of a cooking sugar solution. A candy thermometer is similar to a meat thermometer but can read higher temperatures, usually 400 °F/200 °C or more. Candy thermometers can also be used to measure hot oil for deep frying.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Johnson Bailey Lincoln</span>

Mary Johnson Bailey Lincoln was an influential Boston cooking teacher and cookbook author. She used Mrs. D.A. Lincoln as her professional name during her husband's lifetime and in her published works; after his death, she used Mary J. Lincoln. Considered one of the pioneers of the Domestic Science movement in the United States, she was among the first to address the scientific and nutritional basis of food preparation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corn chowder</span> Creamy corn soup from the United States

Corn chowder is a chowder soup prepared using corn as a primary ingredient. Basic corn chowder is commonly made of corn, onion, celery, milk or cream, and butter. Additional ingredients sometimes used include potatoes or squash, salt pork, fish, seafood and chicken. In the United States, recipes for corn chowder date to at least as early as 1884. Corn chowder is mass-produced as a canned food in the U.S.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicken à la King</span>

Chicken à la King is a dish consisting of diced chicken in a cream sauce, often with sherry, mushrooms, and vegetables, generally served over rice, noodles, or bread. It is also often served in a vol-au-vent or pastry case. It is sometimes made with tuna or turkey in place of chicken.

Cottage pudding is a traditional American dessert consisting of a plain, dense cake served with a sweet glaze or custard. The glaze is generally cornstarch based and flavored with sugar, vanilla, chocolate, butterscotch, or one of a variety of fruit flavors such as lemon or strawberry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duchess potatoes</span> Shaped and baked mashed potatoes

Duchess potatoes consist of a purée of mashed potato, egg yolk, and butter, which is forced from a piping bag or hand-moulded into various shapes which are then baked in a high temperature oven until golden. They are typically seasoned similarly to mashed potatoes with, for example, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. They are a classic item of French cuisine, and are found in historic French cookbooks.

Marion Cunningham was an American food writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Creamed eggs on toast</span> American breakfast dish consisting of cream sauce and hard-boiled eggs on toast or biscuits

Creamed eggs on toast is an American breakfast dish. It consists of toast or biscuits covered in a gravy made from béchamel sauce and chopped hard-boiled eggs. The gravy is often flavored with various seasonings, such as black pepper, garlic powder, celery salt, Worcestershire sauce, sherry, chopped parsley and/or chopped chives. The Joy of Cooking recommends making the bechamel with 12 cream and 12 chicken stock and adding capers or chopped pickle. As with many other dishes covered in light-colored sauce, a sprinkle of paprika or cayenne is often added as decoration.

Janet McKenzie Hill (1852–1933) was a prominent early practitioner of culinary reform, food science and scientific cooking, author of many cookbooks.

The Boston Cooking School was founded in 1879 by the Women’s Education Association of Boston "to offer instruction in cooking to those who wished to earn their livelihood as cooks, or who would make practical use of such information in their families." The school became famous following the 1896 publication of The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book by its principal at the time, Fannie Merritt Farmer.

References