The Colonial Cook

My kids have really enjoyed the Colonial People series of books. This book focuses on cooking in Colonial times. It has information on cooking over fires, colonial cookware and gadgets, kitchen houses, dependencies (smokehouse, dairy, spring house, etc), foods that colonial people grew and raised, and how flour was made. It also has a small recipe section in the back (9 recipes). It has great photographs of historical interpreters cooking, tending plants and animals, and preparing foods. It also has wonderful illustrations. We really like the the cross section illustrations that show how the gristmill worked and how the dependencies were built.

The workings of a colonial kitchen are surprisingly well-detailed in this lavishly illustrated book by Bobbie Kalman. Who was in the kitchen, how they worked, the foods and gadgets that they used plus much more is presented in a lively manner that will stimulate further interest in the subject. Native American and African American cooking are, of course, included. 18th century recipes for modern cooks are here, and some new family favorites are sure to be among them. If you haven't had peanut soup ... well, you just don't know how to live!