Choice Recipes Compiled By Practical Housekeepers of Sonoma County, California

San Francisco, CA: The Whitaker & Ray Co, 1900. Very good. 8 3/8" x 5 5/8". Cloth over flexible boards. Pp. 57, [2]. Very good: covers lightly scuffed, soiled and creased; tiny tear and offsetting to ffep; two pages moderately spotted and two with a tiny closed tear; a bit of creasing at margins; lightly toned.

This is a lovely cookbook composed exclusively of recipes by women in Sonoma County, California.

The book holds 230 recipes in 17 categories including breads, salads, soups, pickles and fish. Sweets were the star, with sections for puddings, pudding sauces, pies, "frozen dainties," cakes and "confectionery." Each recipe noted the California "Miss" or "Mrs." responsible for its inclusion, and there were small quotes at the beginnings of most sections, such as "Love in a cottage and cottage pudding with it" and "'An't please your Honour,' quoth the peasant, 'This same dessert is very Pleasant.'" A segment devoted to "breakfast and luncheon dishes" included waffles, baked eggs and "codfish balls," and one section held recipes intended "For the Invalid's Tray." The book also suggested a "mock chicken salad" made with veal, a "coffee jelly" and Mrs. Sutherland's "favorite pudding." A few cooking tips and "rules" were interspersed, and one page advertised Sonoma County's Oakmead Orchards, with instructions on cooking dried fruits. There were full page ads for the insurance agencies responsible for the book's publication, and a table of weights and measures for liquids and select ingredients was included at the rear as well.

A "choice" presentation of California women's culinary expertise, issued at the turn of the century. OCLC shows three entries with a total of 17 holdings.