Wednesday, July 18, 2012

MRS. GOODFELLOW : THE STORY OF AMERICA'S FIRST COOKING SCHOOL
by Becky Diamond

During the nineteenth century, Philadelphia was a thriving city. There were many businesses run by women.
Mrs. Elizabeth Goodfellow was a pastry chef who had her own bakery and confectionery shop. It was very popular and catered to the wealthy.  She also taught cooking to young ladies in the basement of her shop. Not much is really known about Mrs. Goodfellow except that she was married three times (they all died) but she kept the name of her last husband. She did not leave any journal nor were her recipes published. One student of hers, though, Eliza Leslie, kept copious notes of everything that she was taught and years later several cookbooks were published from what Eliza had learned.
There's plenty of neat history on Philadelphia in the book along with drawings and pictures. Following the Epilogue, are the actual recipes that were used in Mrs. Goodfellow's Cooking School. If you have a sweet tooth and are so inclined, you can try them out.

Anyone who is interested in early American cooking will definitely want to read this book.
Recommended.