{"id":39776,"date":"2020-04-27T11:04:40","date_gmt":"2020-04-27T15:04:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/?p=39776"},"modified":"2020-04-27T11:04:40","modified_gmt":"2020-04-27T15:04:40","slug":"henriette-davidis-and-her-cookbooks-in-the-german-americana-collection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/2020\/04\/henriette-davidis-and-her-cookbooks-in-the-german-americana-collection\/","title":{"rendered":"Henriette Davidis and Her Cookbooks in the German Americana Collection"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cover<\/a>Food always provides a familiar comfort for people.\u00a0 As anyone who has attempted to get baking supplies over the last few weeks may know, people have been turning to cooking for some solace and perhaps just something to do in these unusual times.\u00a0 If you are looking for any historic recipes or information on a historic cookbook author or just something to read, this blog post is for you!<\/p>\n

Several years ago, I discovered a cookbook by the author Henriette Davidis in the German Americana collection at the Archives and Rare Books Library.\u00a0 Initially I was just looking for a sample cookbook and Davidis\u2019 cookbook had a nice cover which would work well visually for showing a class.\u00a0 As I began researching the author, though, I found that this cookbook and its author had an interesting story.<\/p>\n

Henriette Davidis was the most famous German cookbook author of her day, she provided recipes and tips that helped middle-class women in Germany establish their households.\u00a0 She was kind of like the Martha Stewart of her time and provided women with the tools they needed to cook, run a home, and entertain.\u00a0 Henriette Davidis was born in 1801 in Wengern, Germany.\u00a0 Her father was a German Lutheran pastor and her mother, who was Dutch, was a skilled housekeeper and cook.\u00a0 Henriette was their thirteenth child.\u00a0 She was homeschooled until the age of 15 when she was sent to a girl\u2019s school and then a training school for teachers.<\/p>\n

\"Drawing<\/a>Davidis\u2019 first job was as a tutor to the four children of one of her sisters, but in 1828, she returned home to care for her mother after her father\u2019s death.\u00a0 While caring for her mother, Davidis became known locally for her cooking skills and she also began working on her first cookbook.\u00a0 After her mother died, Davidis took a position as a headmistress at a school where girls were taught the domestic skills they would need to run their own households.<\/p>\n

Davidis continued to cook and collect recipes from around Germany and she both tested them and improved them.\u00a0 Her first cookbook was published in 1845 under the title Zuverl<\/em>\u00e4ssige und selbstgepr<\/em>\u00fcfte Recepte der gew<\/em>\u00f6hnlichen und feineren K<\/em>\u00fcche<\/em> or Reliable and Author-Tested Recipes for Everyday and Fine Cooking<\/em>. \u00a0It was not until the 3rd<\/sup> edition in 1847 that the title became what it is popularly known as Praktisches Kochbuch f<\/em>\u00fcr die gew<\/em>\u00f6hnliche und feinere K<\/em>\u00fcche<\/em> or the Practical Cookbook for Everyday and Fine Cooking<\/em>.\u00a0 It was also after the publication of the third edition that Davidis was able to resign her position as headmistress and devote herself to writing full-time.<\/p>\n

Davidis continued to publish cookbooks and guides for young women.\u00a0 She wrote guides for hostesses of \u201chigher\u201d and then \u201clower\u201d stations, instructions for the care of a vegetable garden, a cookbook for girls, and a guide to life for young women in which she recognized possible professions for women including nursing, teaching, and secretarial work. \u00a0\u00a0Davidis died of a stroke in April of 1876.\u00a0 At the time, the 21st<\/sup> edition of her Praktisches Kochbuch<\/em> was already in print and had been translated into Dutch, French, English and Danish.<\/p>\n

\"Praktisches<\/a>The first American edition of Davidis\u2019 cookbook was not published after her death.\u00a0 The publisher, George Brumder, was a bookshop owner in Milwaukee who offered many books imported from Germany and knew that his customers would like an American edition of the Praktisches Kochbuch<\/em>.\u00a0 He collaborated with his wife (also named Henriette) who was an accomplished cook herself, although she is not credited anywhere in the book. \u00a0They did not publish a straight reprint of Davidis\u2019 22nd<\/sup> European edition.\u00a0 Instead the Brumders attempted to create a bi-cultural cookbook by introducing American ingredients and American recipes from their own kitchen, unnamed German American housewives, and the chef at Milwaukee\u2019s Newhall House Hotel.\u00a0 The American recipes included cornbread, catfish, marble cake, apple pie, and squash (pumpkin) pie.\u00a0 The Brumder\u2019s other changes included a chapter on special diets for illnesses and converting measurements to American equivalents.<\/p>\n

Brumder first published Davidis\u2019 work as the Handbuch for der Hausfrau<\/em> [The Housewife\u2019s Handbook], but in the same year, he republished the work as the Praktisches Kochbuch fue die Deutschen in Amerika [Practical Cookbook for the German\u2019s in America].\u00a0 The work went through multiple printings and may have sold as many as 12,000 copies.<\/p>\n

The Archives and Rare Books Library holds more than one copy of the American edition of the Praktisches Kochbuch.\u00a0 Someday in the future, when the library reopens to the public, you can come and take a look yourself.\u00a0 In the meantime, you can try the recipe below from one of the American editions of Davidis\u2019 book.<\/p>\n

Stollen<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sufficient for 2-3 Cakes<\/em><\/p>\n

1 qt. of milk
\n6 cents yeast
\n12-15 cups of flour
\n1 lb of sugar
\n1 lb of butter
\n6 eggs
\n\u00bc lb of blanched ground almonds
\n1\/8\u00a0 lb of bitter blanched ground almonds
\n\u00bc cup of brandy<\/p>\n

Preparation:\u00a0 Warm the milk and stir into a smooth batter with 4 \u00bd cups of flour, add the yeast dissolved in \u00bd cup of milk and set the sponge to rise.\u00a0 Stir in the melted butter, eggs, raisins, citron, sweet and bitter almonds, brandy and the rest of the flour to make a pretty stiff dough.\u00a0 Knead it until it will not adhere to the hands.\u00a0 Cut the dough into 2 or 3 parts, as many \u201cstollen\u201d as you with to have, and shape them nice and round, then set to rise in a warm place.\u00a0 Butter a pan for each cake, double up the dough, place it into the pan and set to rise again.\u00a0 Bake in a medium oven.\u00a0 If the cakes are large, bake them 2 hours, if small, 1 \u00bd hours.\u00a0 As soon as you take them out of the oven, brush them with butter and strew them with sugar.\u00a0 These cakes must be prepared in a warm place.<\/p>\n

\"Davidis<\/a><\/p>\n

References:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Arndt, Alice, ed. Culinary biographies: a dictionary of the world’s great historic chefs, cookbook authors and collectors, farmers, gourmets, home economists, nutritionists, restaurateurs, philosophers, physicians, scientists, writers, and others who influenced the way we eat today<\/em>, YES Press, 2006.<\/p>\n

Davidis, Henriette. Praktisches Kochbuch F\u00fcr Die Deutschen In Amerika: Zuverl\u00e4ssige Und Selbstgepr\u00fcfte Anweisungen Zur Bereitung Der Verschiedenartigsten Speisen Und Getr\u00e4nke, Zum Backen, Einmachen U. S. W. <\/em>Milwaukee: Brumder’s Verlag, 1879. Available on Haithi Trust: https:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/2027\/loc.ark:\/13960\/t19k50n7h<\/a> and in the Archives and Rare Books Library: \u00a0TX721 .D25 1879<\/a><\/p>\n

Davidis, Henriette. German National Cookery for American Kitchens: A Practical Book of the Art of Cooking As Performed In Germany<\/em>. Milwaukee, Wis.: C.N. Caspar co. book emporium, 1904. Available on Hathi Trust: https:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/2027\/uiug.30112076887808<\/a> and in the Archives and Rare Books Library: ARB Fick \u00a0TX721 .D2713 1904<\/a><\/p>\n

Davidis, Henriette and Hedwig Voss. Praktisches Kochbuch Fu R Die Deutschen In Amerika: Zuverla Ssige Und Selbstgepru Fte Anweisungen Zur Bereitung Der Verschiedenartigsten Speisen Und Getra Nke, Zum Backen, Einmachen, Etc<\/em>. Milwaukee, Wis.: Geo. Brumder’s Verlag, 1899. Available on Hathi Trust: https:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/2027\/uiug.30112073541432<\/a> and in the Archives and Rare Books Library: ARB Fick \u00a0TX721 .D255 1899<\/a><\/p>\n

Pitschmann,Louis A. \u201cIntroduction:\u00a0 The History of Henriette Davidis\u2019 Practical Cookbook in America, 1879-1913\u201d in Pickled Herring and Pumpkin Pie: A Nineteenth-Century Cookbook for German immigrants to America<\/em> by Henriette Davidis. Madison, Wisconsin: Max Kade Institute, 2002. Available at http:\/\/digital.library.wisc.edu\/1711.dl\/German.MaxKadeTexts2002<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Food always provides a familiar comfort for people.\u00a0 As anyone who has attempted to get baking supplies over the last few weeks may know, people have been turning to cooking for some solace and perhaps just something to do in … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,600,31,13],"tags":[585,64],"class_list":["post-39776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arb","category-special-collections-2","category-uc","category-uclibraries","tag-cookbooks","tag-german-americana"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39776\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/liblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}