Tag: 1730s

To make Ginger-bread

Little DorritLeave a comment

I’m always fascinated by recipes that pop up over and over again throughout different cookbooks. Early cookbook authors copied from one another extensively, frequently reprinting recipes from other cookbooks word-for-word or with only a few minor alterations. The copied recipes are almost never attributed to their original authors, a practice that would be considered plagiarism today but was common at the time. I’ve found this exact gingerbread recipe in three 18th and 19th century cookbooks so far, and wouldn’t be surprised if it turns up in more.

Read More »

A Seed Cake

Little Dorrit3 Comments

‘”Come along in, and have some tea!” he managed to say after taking a deep breath.

“A little beer would suit me better, if it is all the same to you, my good sir,” said Balin with the white beard. “But I don’t mind some cake — seed cake, if you have any.”

“Lots!” Bilbo found himself answering, to his own surprise; and he found himself scuttling off, too, to the cellar to fill a pint beer-mug, and to the pantry to fetch two beautiful round seed-cakes which he had baked that afternoon for his after-supper morsel.’ – from The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien, 1937.

Read More »