Six New Acquisitions -

UTSA Libraries Special Collections is ringing in the New Year by adding six additional manuscript cookbooks to our digital repository.

Personal and family recipe books such as these trace the cook’s place in her (or his) world. Members of the writer’s social network are often named in recipe titles – aunts, cousins, and neighbors are memorialized. On the other hand, cooks also copy or simply paste in recipes from published cookbooks and magazines, and some books document their author’s enrollment in formal culinary classes. Some cooks add recipes in no particular order, or do so over time as they encounter new dishes. Others set out to make a “clean’ copy of their recipes and a few provide tables of contents or indices.

Ranging from 1904 to 1937, these newly-digitized texts document food preparation and its milieu in the homes and cooking schools of early 20th century Mexico. Over the course of this coming year, recipes from each cookbook will be kitchen-tested for La Cocina Histórica. Meanwhile, please explore and enjoy. Happy Cooking and Happy New Year!