The NYS Library's 4th Tasting History Series returned in early 2023 showcasing recipes from the 18th century. As the source for our recipes, we used Amelia Simmon’s American Cookery. This is the first cookbook to be written by an American and published in the United States. The NYS Library’s Manuscripts and Special Collections unit has a copy of the 2nd edition, which was published in 1796 in Albany, NY. Amelia Simmon's American Cookery is available in the NYS Library's Digital Collections: http://purl.nysed.gov/nysl/43895651

Amelia Simmon's American Cookery is available in the NYS Library's Digital Collections.

The first recipe of our Tasting History series is a Carrot Pudding! In this case, a pudding is less the custard-y textured dessert Americans usually think of and more akin to a traditional cake-like British pudding. This recipe calls for a coffee cup full of boiled and strained carrots, 5 eggs, 2 oz each of sugar and butter then cinnamon and rose water to taste. Mix them together then bake for an hour in a deep dish without a paste (or crust). The lack of direction with these recipes is common for the time period and made for some interesting results throughout the series! Our chef chose this recipe hoping it would be similar to a carrot cake. Unfortunately, that isn’t how it turned out. The eggs sank and separated from the carrot mixture in the deep dish. Our chef felt the lack of flour may have had something to do with that or that perhaps a shallower dish would have been a better choice. Introducing taste tester Mike! Mike was like a pro and dove straight in with the sniff test. Whatever he smelled seemed to give him pause but he ventured on and had a bite. Sadly, I didn’t manage to capture that exact moment but did get the aftermath which was Mike needing a quick sip of water! He said the texture was off, the carrot mixture and the spongy egg layers didn’t work well together.

Next up for Tasting History series is a Cramberry (cranberry) Tart with Paste No. 9! The cranberry portion of this recipe is quite short. Stew, strain, and sweeten cranberries. Put them in Paste No. 9 (a separate recipe included elsewhere in the book) and “add spices til grateful.” Bake gently. The paste recipe is much more instructive but lacks baking temps and times. Cranberries are the star of the show in this recipe and that’s partly why our chef chose it. They also chose it because they found the line “add spices til grateful” charming. Thankfully our chef has had lots of experience making cranberry sauce! They let that experience guide them while making this. For spices, they went with cinnamon and vanilla. Another new taste tester this week - Josh! Josh started with a relaxed sniff before taking a large bite of the tart. And then he went back for another. He was so quick I missed capturing both! Josh gave this recipe a seriously enthusiastic thumbs up and later declared it a favorite from this series. This recipe certainly was a crowd favorite!

Our next recipe for this Tasting History series is a Flour Pudding! For this recipe, simply scald a quart of milk and add 5 spoons of flour to it while the milk is still hot. Once that’s cooled add 7 well beaten eggs, 6 ounces of sugar then some salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg to your taste. Bake it for an hour and serve it with a sweet sauce. Our chef enjoys a good pudding and thought this would be fun to try. Other than some clumping issues with the flour and milk, this recipe came together rather easily. Our chef said they stayed true to the spirit of the 18th century and mixed this by hand but confessed that if they made this again, they’d mix it with an immersion blender. Introducing our next taste tester, Tom! Tom was excited to give this a go but stopped to give it a quick sniff test… then a much more thorough sniff test to be certain. On to the first bite and, hey, I think he liked it! Tom felt this one was great and recommends it as a treat for you to try.

Next for our Tasting History series - the first of two Soft Gingerbreads baked in pans! For this recipe, rub 2 pounds of sugar and 1 pound of butter into 4 pounds of flour. Add 8 eggs, an ounce of ginger, a pint of milk, and 4 spoons of rose water. Mix this all together and bake for 15 minutes (which is what the baking instructions are for No. 1). We had two separate chefs try this recipe out. Our first chef thought this looked like an easier baking recipe and, not having much baking experience themselves, felt that they could pull it off. They were surprised at how cake-like the end result was, unlike how most folks think of gingerbread today – more firm for cookies and house construction. Overall, they found this to be an easy recipe they would try again, maybe adding a frosting to the top. Jolana is another new taste tester for this series! She was ready to give this a big bite after the all-important sniff test. After having a short think about it, Jolana was pretty neutral about this gingerbread. Not a big winner for her but nothing terrible.

Welcome back to our Tasting History series and part two of Soft Gingerbreads baked in pans! This is the same recipe from last week: rub 2 pounds of sugar and 1 pound of butter into 4 pounds of flour. Add 8 eggs, an ounce of ginger, a pint of milk, and 4 spoons of rose water. Mix this all together and bake for 15 minutes. We had two separate chefs try this recipe out. Our second chef really enjoys gingerbread and wanted to see how this would turn out. They said the batter was very heavy and, since they were doing this the 18th century way, their arm got tired fast. Overall, they felt this was a little lacking in the taste department. Let’s see if our taste tester agrees… Taste tester Matt has made his Tasting History return! Right back into the swing of things, Matt went in with a sniff test. You can see the concentration in his eyes. Next up, the bite followed by a contemplative chew. In the end, this wasn’t Matt’s favorite, but he didn’t think it was awful.

Next for our Tasting History series is Indian Slapjack! This recipe is named Indian Slapjack due to its use of cornmeal. Corn as a crop was introduced to Europeans by indigenous Americans. Starting with a quart of milk, add a pint of cornmeal, 4 eggs, 4 spoons of flour, and a little salt. Beat all that together and either cook on a griddle, fry in a dry pan, or bake in a greased pan. Our chef chose this because this recipe sounded like it would make yummy, cornmeal pancakes. Unfortunately, the mixture didn’t mix well at all, the cornmeal sinking out of the milk and egg. Trying to save this recipe, our chef decided to bake it instead of cooking this on a griddle. Sadly, the cornmeal and milk/egg mixture separated fully, leaving a custard-y layer on top and a cornmeal ‘crust’ on the bottom. Taste tester Tom went in for a quick sniff followed by a bite. He was not a fan. The custard didn’t have much flavor and the cornmeal ‘crust’ was dry. Tom was hoping for more and gave his next, uneaten forkful a reproachful look.