Hand written initial page from Hannah Wolley, The Queen-like Closet, recipe for orange pudding?., 1672. Photograph. [Library of Congress] Accessed October 8, 2018. https://www.loc.gov/item/2003674993/.

The photograph above is of an original, handwritten page from Hannah Wolley’s book The Queen-like Closet or Rich Cabinet.  Hannah Wolley was one of the first women to attempt to make living by selling cook books, and one of the most successful of her time. Originally, she learned her culinary skills from her mother and older sisters, and was able to hone these skills while working in the house of a noble woman starting at the age of 17. Luckily, her employer recognized Wolley’s exceptional talent and gave her the tools, such as recipes and luxury ingredients, to improve her cooking. [2] When Wolley was married, she moved away from her employer to Hackney, a borough of London, and was able to turn her knowledge of household management into a profitable business.

The success of The Queen-like Closet can be attributed to its audience. Wolley seems to have directed her book at people in lower classes and servants working for noblemen, just as she had when she was younger. This assumption can be made because most of the recipes are simplified versions of lavish dishes one would expect to eat in an aristocrat’s home. She also included French techniques and flavors that were popular at the time. [2] This would have allowed many more people to experience the taste of luxury because the ingredients were cheaper and easier to access.

The nature of the ingredients Wolley included in her recipes would have made them very practical for colonizers traveling to America. Because most ingredients were easily found and inexpensive, they could have been transported from England to America or even found in America. For example, the above recipe for orange pudding calls for eggs, butter, and oranges, among other things. [1] All three of these ingredients would have been able to be found in America and readily obtained by trading for them or by being made by the colonizers. It is likely that any of the colonizers craved the food of their homeland and used Wolley’s recipes to satisfy that craving because of the adaptable nature of her cookbook.

[1] Hand written initial page from Hannah Wolley, The Queen-like Closet, recipe for orange pudding?., 1672. Photograph. [Library of Congress] Accessed October 8, 2018. https://www.loc.gov/item/2003674993/.

[2] The Queen-like Closet – Frontispiece. [The British Library] Accessed October 8, 2018. http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/texts/cook/1600s2/queenh/closet.html

 

Caroline Schreder