American Cookery The Art of Dressing Viands, Fish, Poultry, and Vegetables’, by Amelia Simmons
The first American cookbook is ‘American Cookery The Art of Dressing Viands, Fish, Poultry, and Vegetables’, by Amelia Simmons and published in 1796. The recipe is below and additional historical context is further down.
The recipe I’ve chosen to highlight is the ‘Indian Slapjack’. I’ve done so for several reasons; it’s one of several recipes that highlight the influence of Native American cuisine on a traditionally European palate, it’s easy to reproduce, and it’s cousin, the pancake, is still loved in America today.
The Recipe: Indian Slapjack.
- One quart of milk
- 1 pint of indian meal (cornmeal)
- 4 eggs
- 4 spoons of flour
- Little salt
Beat together, baked on gridles, or fry in a dry pan, or baked in a pan which has been rub’d with suet, lard or butter.
From the words of a nice article by American Heritage,
“Half the native American recipes first appearing in print in American Cookery contained what we know as corn meal, easily the most valuable gift the Indians gave the first starving settlers, who named it “Indian meal.” It would not have occurred to them to call it “corn,” which in England and in most of Europe is a general term for any cereal grain. This is perhaps the oldest of Simmons’ corn-meal recipes:”
Also keep in mind that the first successful European colony in the United States was Jamestown, in 1607. This cookbook represents 189 years of food evolution and speaks to the unique adaptations that Europeans undertook to both survive, and, like all food, to enjoy!
If you’d like to look at other recipe’s in the cookbook, there are plenty of free publications of it online.