Civil War Recipes: Receipts from the Pages of Godey's Lady's Book
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Godey's Lady's Book, perhaps the most popular magazine for women in nineteenth-century America, had a national circulation of 150,000 during the 1860s. The recipes (spelled "receipts") it published were often submitted by women from both the North and the South, and they reveal the wide variety of regional cooking that characterized American culture. There is a remarkable diversity in the recipes, thanks to the largely rural readership of Godey's Lady's Book and to the immigrant influence on the country in the 1860s. Fish and game were readily available in rural America, and the number of seafood recipes testifies to the abundance of the coastal waters and rivers. The country cook was a frugal cook, particularly during wartime, so there are a great many recipes for leftovers and seasonal produce. In addition to a wide sampling of recipes that can be used today, Civil War Recipes includes information on Union and Confederate army rations, cooking on both homefronts, and substitutions used during the war by southern cooks. School Library Journal YA-Motivated by their interests in cooking and history and the search for a plum-pudding recipe like Grandma's, this mother-son team has compiled a cookbook that is rich in Civil War information. Drawn from a 19th-century women's magazine, the recipes were usually submitted by middle-class readers from the rural North and South, and were intended for "common dishes of every day" rather than grand occasions. The authors have added facts about Confederate and Union army rations, customary cooking utensils, and food substitutions frequently used by Southern cooks. Recommended menus, or "bills of fare," for each month, and dates of each recipe's appearance in Godey's are also included. A glossary clarifies terminology rarely used by today's cooks. YAs will be intrigued by this exposure to everyday life during the Civil War. Quaint language ("Thicken some scalding hot milk with a sufficiency of potato flour") enhances the enjoyment of the book, and most recipes can be successfully prepared by modern chefs.-Pamela Cooper-Smuzynski, Fairfax County Public Library, VA Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
