Every Body’s Cook and Receipt Book

By Philomelia Hardin

This volume in the American Antiquarian Cookbook Collection was published in Cleveland in 1842. An early example of regional American cookery, it is believed to be the first cookbook printed west of the Alleghenies, and the recipes emphasize local specialties.

Although there is no biography available for author Philomelia Ann Maria Antoinette Hardin, the subtitle of her book, “But More Particularly Designed for Buckeyes [Ohio], Hoosiers [Indiana], Wolverines [Michigan], Corncrackers [Kentucky], Suckers [Illinois], and All Epicures Who Wish to Live with the Present Times,” beautifully demonstrates the down-to-earth, local quality of this regional Midwestern cookbook—reputedly the first cookbook printed west of the Allegheny Mountains. In the mid-nineteenth century, many cookbook writers emphasized the practicality of local ingredients and culinary techniques since the isolation of communities and poor transportation made it difficult to cook with East Coast or European recipes.

Hardin’s cookbook contains a full range of recipes from soup to nuts as well as “Valuable Rules” for housekeeping, simple remedies and medical recipes, and advice on the management of bees and care of fruit trees. Locale specific recipes such as Buckeye Dumplings, Wolverine Junket, Hoosier Pickles and Corncrackers Pudding are threaded throughout.

This edition of Every Body’s Cook and Receipt Book by Philomelia Hardin was reproduced by permission from the volume in the collection of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1812 by Isaiah Thomas, a Revolutionary War patriot and successful printer and publisher, the Society is a research library documenting the life of Americans from the colonial era through 1876. The Society collects, preserves, and makes available as complete a record as possible of the printed materials from the early American experience. The cookbook collection includes approximately 1,100 volumes.