Why a 19th-century reader crossed out this classic Shrewsbury cake recipe
In short: Mary Randolph’s 1824 cookbook, The Virginia Housewife, is a cornerstone of American culinary history. Yet, one well-loved physical copy reveals a reader who took a pen to the pages, striking out the recipe for Shrewsbury cakes. This act of archival defiance offers a rare glimpse into historical domestic debate.
Mary Randolph, born into the Virginia gentry, authored The Virginia Housewife in 1824. Following financial reversals, she leveraged her domestic skills and the labor of enslaved people in her household to run a boardinghouse, eventually monetizing her expertise through this publication. The book serves as a vital record of the culinary knowledge shared between Randolph, her extended family, and the enslaved individuals who worked within her kitchens.
The physical copy held at the Special Collections Research Center at William & Mary provides a unique look at how readers interacted with such texts. Unlike digital versions, the physical volume is an octavo-sized book that shows significant wear, including a missing title page and added lined paper. It reveals that the book was a living document; owners frequently pasted in newspaper clippings and made handwritten edits, correcting grammar or marking recipes they found objectionable.
The recipe for Shrewsbury cakes—a mixture of sugar, flour, coriander seeds, melted butter, eggs, and brandy—was one such target. A reader explicitly struck out this recipe in black ink, highlighting that cookbooks were not just static instructions but sites of active engagement and disagreement. These annotations demonstrate how domestic knowledge was curated, contested, and passed down through generations, reflecting the complex intersection of food, memory, and identity in nineteenth-century Virginia.
While often cited as the first 'real' American cookbook, this claim is debated, as other earlier works exist. Regardless of its status, the book remains a crucial primary source for understanding how women recorded and adapted their domestic practices. By examining the physical modifications made by its owners, researchers can track the evolution of culinary traditions and the personal, often critical, relationship between the cook and the printed page.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Shrewsbury Cakes From The 1856 'The Virginia Housewife' - Old Cookbook Show
- Also: Cooking by the Book: Mary Randolph's The Virginia Housewife | William & Mary Libraries
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