Literary Feast  ·  Read the passage. Cook the meal.
A bill of fare

Molly Brown's Senior Days

by Nell Speed

MOLLY BROWN'S SENIOR DAYSNELL SPEED
Our binding, not the publisher's

“The small grizzled Japanese gentleman had taken tea American fashion with his daughter's Quadrangle friends. With punctilious enjoyment he had eaten everything that was offered to him, cloudbursts, salmon sandwiches, stuffed olives and chocolate cake. The girls had heard that raw carp was a favorite Japanese dish, and salmon being the only fish convenient, they had bought several cans of it in the village in honor of the national taste.”

From a cookbook of 1829

A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.

1829  ·  Child
TEA CAKE

CIDER CAKE. ELECTION CAKE. SPONGE CAKE. WEDDING CAKE. LOAF CAKE. CARAWAY CAKES. DOUGH-NUTS. PANCAKES. FRITTERS. SHORT CAKE. INDIAN CAKE. BREAD, YEAST, &c. PRESERVES, &c. CURRANT JELLY. CURRANT WINE. RASPBERRY SHRUB. COFFEE. CHOCOLATE. TEA. PICKLES. BEER. GENERAL MAXIMS FOR HEALTH. HINTS TO PERSONS OF MODERATE FORTUNE [FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE MASSACHUSETTS JOURNAL.] FURNITURE. EDUCATION OF DAUGHTERS. TRAVELLING AND PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS. PHILOSOPHY AND CONSISTENCY. REASONS FOR HARD TIMES. HOW TO ENDURE POVERTY. APPENDIX TO THE AMERICAN FRUGAL HOUSEWIFE. CARVING. INDEX. APPENDIX.

Sources: The passage is from Nell Speed, Molly Brown's Senior Days, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from Child, The American Frugal Housewife of 1829, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — oxblood cloth, teapot stamp.

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