Synopses & Reviews
Part cookbook, part culinary history, part family history, this book is an engaging and enlightening glimpse into the household of a well-to-do, mid-nineteenth-century Virginia family. Seeking to learn more about her ancestors' daily lives, Anne Zimmer, great-granddaughter of Robert E. and Mary Lee, turned to her great-grandmother's small, now shabby notebook. Packed with recipes, shopping lists, and other domestic jottings, the notebook opened an intimate window onto an earlier way of life.
With recipes for breads, cakes, puddings, sweets, soups, main dishes, vegetables, drinks, and home remedies, The Robert E. Lee Family Cooking and Housekeeping Book will serve as a ready reference on traditional American cookery. For each entry, the author provides the original recipe, helpful notes on the ingredients and techniques employed, and instructionsbased on careful kitchen testingfor adapting the recipe in the modern kitchen. Peppered throughout with family stories and illustrated with photographs from the Lee family and other archives, the book is both an informative investigation of southern foodways and a fascinating look at one family's household history.
Review
Zimmer has blended the ingredients of recipe experimentation, family traditions, and regional heritage into a confection with a message.
Southern Quarterly
Review
I
love this book! Zimmer . . . gives us an illuminating portrait of the Lee family before and after the Civil War.
Jean Anderson, author of The American Century Cookbook
Review
"I
love this book! Zimmer . . . gives us an illuminating portrait of the Lee family before and after the Civil War.
Jean Anderson, author of The American Century Cookbook"
Review
Charming. . . . [Zimmer] provides details on almost every aspect of culinary arts of the last century.
Civil War Courier
Review
The foods and recipe portions of the book [are] a nostalgic delight.
Greensboro News and Record
Review
This is a truly useful and charming volume.
Register of the Kentucky Historical Society
Synopsis
Based on Mrs. Lee's personal notebook and presented by her great-granddaughter, this charming book is a treasury of recipes, remedies, and household history. Both the original and modern versions of 70 recipes are included.
Synopsis
Based on Mrs. Lee's personal notebook and presented by her great-granddaughter, this charming book is a treasury of recipes, remedies, and household history. Both the original and modern versions of 70 recipes are included.
Synopsis
Charming. . . . [Zimmer] provides details on almost every aspect of culinary arts of the last century.
Civil War Courier The foods and recipe portions of the book [are] a nostalgic delight.
Greensboro News and Record Zimmer has blended the ingredients of recipe experimentation, family traditions, and regional heritage into a confection with a message.
Southern Quarterly This is a truly useful and charming volume.
Register of the Kentucky Historical Society I love this book! Zimmer . . . gives us an illuminating portrait of the Lee family before and after the Civil War.
Jean Anderson, author of The American Century Cookbook
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 257-265) and indexes.
About the Author
Anne Carter Zimmer, great-granddaughter of Robert E. and Mary Lee, is a freelance writer and an adventurous cook who lives in Virginia.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Mrs. Lee and Her Family
2. The Notebook
3. Recreating the Lee Table after the War
4. The Receipts
5. Home Remedies and Housekeeping
Appendix A. Lee Family Genealogy
Appendix B. Lee Household Chronology
Selected Bibliography
General Index
Index of Receipts