Online Cookbooks

1400's Online Cookbooks 

Liber Cure Cocorum

Both poetry and cookery book! Parallel transcription of a modern translation of the book and a 1862 edition of the ancient manuscript.

Online Cookbooks 1650-1699 

The Accomplisht Cook

''...or the Art and Mystery of Cookery. Wherein the whole ART is revealed in a more easie and perfect Method, than hath been publisht in any language.''

The Queen-Like Closet

''...or Rich Cabinet Stored With All Manner Of Rare Receipts For Preserving, Candying And Cookery. Very Pleasant And Beneficial To All Ingenious Persons Of The Female Sex''. Not sure I'd picture Snail Water in a queen-like closet, but that's just me.... I'll take the Bisket-Cakes and Rasberry Tart, though!

Online Cookbooks 1750-1799 

American Cookery

Reputed to be the first American cookbook ever published. Amelia Simmons, orphan, started a huge trend!

English Housewifery

Elizabeth Moxon's early cookbook ''Exemplified in above Four Hundred and Fifty Receipts Giving Directions for most Parts of Cookery''. Love the section at the end with menus for every season! View actual book (a bit hard to read) here.

The Forme of Cury

While pubished in 1780, this is a copy, with notes, of a document said to have been compiled by the master-cooks of Richard II around the year 1390. Very intersting old cookbook written in Middle English!

Online Cookbooks 1800-1849 

The Cook's Oracle

Dr. Kitchiner's classic cookbook from 1829. Contains approximately 500 recipes that the good doctor believed would protect against ''the pernicious effects of improper Diet''.

Directions for Cookery, in Its Various Branches

Miss Leslie's general remarks on food and lots of recipes, from back in the day when they still measured things in jills!

Domestic Cookery

''Useful receipts and hints to young housekeepers''. Interesting older cookbook with thoughtful remarks on housekeeping, many of which are still valid today.

The Jewish Manual

''Practical Information in Jewish and Modern Cookery with a Collection of Valuable Recipes & Hints Relating to the Toilette''. Judith Cohen Montefiore covers cooking, cosmetics and even includes a nice little section on mental health at the end!

1850-1860 Online Cookbooks 

The Book of Household Management

AS WITH THE COMMANDER OF AN ARMY, or the leader of any enterprise, so is it with the mistress of a house. And Mrs. Beeton was the Commander-in-Chief with tons of hints on running an efficient household and over 1800 recipes to feed the hungry rank-and-file.

1880's Online Cookbooks 

Miss Parloa's New Cook Book

Before there was the Joy of Cooking, there was Miss Parloa and her guide to shopping, outfitting a kitchen and cooking in it.

The White House Cook Book

''A Comprehensive Cyclopedia of Information for the Home'' from 1887 by the Steward of the White House.

1890's Online Cookbooks 

The Art of Living in Australia

Much of this is a nice snapshot of living in Australia at the turn of the century, but Philip Muskett also includes ''three hundred Australian cookery recipes and accessory kitchen information by Mrs. H. Wicken''. A very interesting book!

Cassell's Vegetarian Cookery

Vegetarianism is not at all a new thing; it's just taken a while to catch on. This ''manual of cheap and wholesome diet'' has a lot of ideas for cooking soups, vegetables, fruits, etc. but is a bit lacking in bread and dessert recipes.

Favorite Dishes from 1893

Compiled by Carrie V. Shuman. Souvenir cookbook from the World's Columbian Exhibition.

Made-Over Dishes from 1899

By Sarah Tyson Heston Rorer. Economical cookbook with hints to make your leftovers go farther. With interesting recipes that include Gobbits, Klopps, Mock Terrapin and Rice Muffins.

Recipes Tried and True from 1894

From the Ladies' Aid Society of the First Presbyterian Church, Marion, Ohio. Simple, hearty recipes include things like Green Corn Patties, Cottage Pudding and about 8 different recipes for Doughnuts!

Online Cookbooks 1900-1905 

Cookbooks from the Pan-American Exposition from 1900-01

Includes links to Helen Louise Johnson's The Enterprising Housekeeper and the Ladies Aid Society of the Riverside Methodist Episcopal Church's Pan-American Cook Book. The links to the cookbooks on their main page don't seem to work at the moment, but try the ones I've got here; they seem to be working for now.

A Little Cookbook for A Little Girl from 1905

By Caroline French Benton. Little Margaret's birthday present is learning to cook, and she learns how to make an awful lot of tasty things!

Old Cookery Books and Ancient Cuisine from 1902

By William Carew Hazlitt. A brief history of English food and cooking. Includes selected recipes from the 1736 Compleat Housewife.

Online Cookbooks 1906-1910 

Chocolate and Cocoa Recipes and Home Made Candy Recipes from 1909

By Janet McKenzie Hill and Maria Parloa. Advertising cookbook from Walter Baker & Co. is two cookbooks in one. Miss Parloa's yummy chocolate and Mrs. Hill's tasty candies will have you drooling!

Joe Tilden's Recipes for Epicures from 1907

Bohemian cooking from the West Coast. Major Joseph Tilden was known for cooking tasty things like Palestine Soup, Toasted Angels and Genoise Pastry.

Reform Cookery Book from 1909

By J. O. Mill. Mrs. Mill's "Up-to-date health cookery for the Twentieth Century". A very early vegetarian cookbook.

365 Foreign Dishes from 1908

''A Foreign Dish for Every Day in the Year''. Starting on January 1st with Austrian Goulasch and ending on December 31st with French Braised Sweetbread, you can cook your way around the world all year long!

1911-1913 Online Cookbooks 

Good Things to Eat as Suggested by Rufus from 1911

By Rufus Estes. ''A Collection of Practical Recipes for Preparing Meats, Game, Fowl, Fish, Puddings, Pastries, Etc.'' Written by a former slave, who worked his way up in the Pullman Company and later became chef at United States Steel Corp. From Asparagus Soup to Strawberry Syrup, everything in this book sounds like very good things to eat indeed!

Ice Creams, Water Ices, Frozen Puddings, Together with Refreshments for All Social Affairs from 1913

By Sarah Tyson Heston Rorer. Recipes for an amazing number of ''Philadelphia'' ice creams, Neapolitan creams, ices and other frozen delights as well as picnic and party food.

Many Ways for Cooking Eggs from 1912

By Sarah Tyson Heston Rorer. Detailed guide to cooking and preserving eggs and making sauces to go with them. Try Eggs au Miroir, Eggs Malikoff or Eggs Zanzibar!

Simple Italian Cookery from 1912

By Antonia Isola. Basic recipes include Pumpkin Soup, Polenta Fritters and Risotto alla Nostrale.

1914 Online Cookbooks 

Bohemian San Francisco from 1914

By Clarence E. Edwords. ''Its restaurants and their most famous recipes - The elegant art of dining.'' This book is part historical travelogue, part poetry book and part cookbook. How about Chili Reinas, Peaches a la Princesse and a Mint Juelp for starters?

Things Mother Used to Make from 1914

By Lydia Maria Gurney. ''A Collection of Old-Time Recipes, Some Nearly One Hundred Years Old and Never Published Before''. From Bannocks to Fried Tomatoes, these are all things I sure wish *my* mother used to make!

1915 Online Cookbooks 

The Allinson Vegetarian Cookery Book

Another early vegetarian cookbook. Dr. Allinson was busy preaching about the benefits of a vegetarian diet way back in 1915!

The Belgian Cook Book

Recipes from Belgian refugees of 1915. With witty commentary by the compiler, Mrs. Brian Luck: Game is like Love, the best appreciated when it begins to go. and ...the good cook must learn about food what every sensible woman learns about love--how best to utilize the cold remains.

The Healthy Life Cook Book

This cookbook by Florence Daniel contains more vegetarian recipes from 1915, many of which are vegan.

Mary at the Farm

And Book of Recipes Compiled during Her Visit among the "Pennsylvania Germans". Mary gives up her job and spends the summer learning housekeeping at her Aunt Sarah's in Pennsylvania so she'll be ready to marry her beau, Ralph. So very 1915, but the recipes all sound good!

The Suffrage Cook Book

Compiled by L. O. Kleber. Now that we are entering upon an age of sane living it is important that the home makers should be impressed with the fact that good health precedes all that is worth while in life, and that it starts in the kitchen; that the dining room is a greater social factor than the drawing room. Cookbook full of recipes for good, healthy food for women to march on!

Table Service

By Lucy G. Allen. This is more of a course on service than a cookbook, but the menus and details on serving etiquette are very interesting all the same!

Online Cookbooks 1918-1919 

The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book

The American classic by Fannie Farmer. This is the 1918 edition, which was the last version completely authored by Fannie herself.

The International Jewish Cook Book

This is a big kosher cookbook (1600 recipes!) from 1919.

Woman's Institute Library of Cookery Vol. 1

Volume 1 covers Essentials of Cookery, Cereals, Bread and Hot Breads. Each section of the book has examination questions and a test menu to cook at the end.

Woman's Institute Library of Cookery Vol. 2

Volume 2 covers Milk, Butter and Cheese, Eggs and Vegetables. Mmmm, Junket!

Woman's Institute Library of Cookery Vol. 3

More from the Woman's Institute. Covers Soup, Meat, Poultry and Game (Broiled Squirrel, anyone?) and Fish and Shell Fish.

Woman's Institute Library of Cookery Vol. 4

Yummy stuff from the Woman's Institute includes Salads and Sandwiches, Cold and Frozen Desserts, Cakes, Cookies and Puddings and Pastries and Pies. Bring on that Strawberry Pie!

Woman's Institute Library of Cookery Vol. 5

Covers Fruit and Fruit Desserts, Canning and Drying, Jelly Making, Preserving and Pickling, Confections, Beverages, and the all-important Planning of Meals.

Online Cookbooks 1920-1949 

The Cook's Decameron

''A study in taste, containing over two hundred recipes for Italian dishes.'' A novella and a cookbook in one. It's best to read the recipes and skip the story. The recipes are far more entertaining!

A Modern Herbal from 1931

By Mrs. M. Grieve. The classic herbal contains recipes as well as information on the cosmetic and medicinal uses of over 800 herbs.

Mrs. Allen on Cooking, Menus, Service from 1924

By Ida C. Bailey Allen. Very thorough guide to cooking. From making your kitchen a cheery, welcoming spot to whipping up 2500 delicious recipes in it -- Mrs. Allen's got it all covered!

Mrs. Wilson's Cook Book from 1920

By Mary A. Wilson. No-nonsense English cooking from the former cuisiniere to Queen Victoria.

The New Dr. Price Cook Book

Advertising cookbook from Price Baking Powder with recipes for everything from Boston Brown Bread and Bean Soup to Codfish Balls and Wedding Cake.

Twentieth Century Cook Book

''An Up-to-Date and Skillful Preparation on the Art of Cooking''. Includes Modern Candy Making Simplified, The Process of Drying Fruits and Vegetables and Butchering Time Recipes. PDF file.

Online Cookbooks 1950-1999 

La Bonne Soupe Cookbook

Tasty French bistro cooking at its best. A simply beautiful cookbook with menu suggestions for each dish.

The Ground Meat Cookbook

204 intriguing recipes from the Culinary Arts Institute using ground meat, of course. Very 1950's!

Lithuanian Traditional Foods

Collection of tasty, filling recipes with things you'd expect like Beet Soup, Potato Cakes and Kvass, as well as surprises like Carrot Coffee and Honey Mushroom pastries.

The Purdue Chicken Cookbook

By Mitzi Perdue, wife of Frank Perdue. Everything you ever wanted to know and more about cooking chickens!

Online Cookbooks 2000- 

All About Apples

A tasting menu from Scott Carsberg of Lampreia. Available for free download from tastingmenu.com -- requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Wikimedia Cookbook

Technically, it's not a real paper-and-binding cookbook, but it's such a fantastic thing, I've got to include the Wikibooks Cookbook. With recipes from people all over the world, it's got to become the most complete cookery book ever. Check it out, and add some of your favorite recipes, too!

Online Cookbook Collections 

Feeding America: The Historic American Cookbook Project

This site from Michigan State University has a large selection of vintage cookbooks to browse through. They can be viewed as actual images, transcripts or in .pdf format -- just amazing!

The Culinary Collection at University of Guelph

Only 2 of their nearly 5,000 cookbooks are available to read online, but there's the promise of more coming soon. Right now you can browse the Skilful Housewife's Guide from 1848 and The Economical Cookbook from 1915.

The Nineteenth Century in Print

Search for ''Cookery'' on this page, and you'll find 5 cookbooks from the 1800's (as of now), including Mrs. Goodfellow's Cookery As It Should Be and The National Cook Book.

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Tofu

Home of Tofu 1-2-3 by Maribeth Adams. Check out that delicious-looking Waldorf Salad and Maribeth's DVD highlights. I'm a big tofu fan, and now you can be, too!