What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking: An Enduring Testament to African-American Culinary Heritage from 1881

By Abby Fisher and Nancy Fisher

Book Overview

What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking: An Enduring Testament to African-American Culinary Heritage

Abby Fisher was an African-American cook and former enslaved woman who, despite being unable to read or write, authored one of the earliest known cookbooks by a Black American. Born in South Carolina and later relocating to San Francisco after the Civil War, Fisher gained renown for her cooking and food preservation skills, winning awards at state fairs and exhibitions. In 1881, she dictated her recipes and knowledge to others, resulting in the publication of What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking. Her work provides an invaluable firsthand record of Southern cuisine and domestic practice in the 19th century, rooted in African-American traditions and lived experience.

What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking offers over 150 recipes that reflect the flavors, techniques, and resourcefulness of Southern kitchens during and after the era of slavery. From pickles and preserves to savory dishes and sweets, Fisher's instructions are rich in flavor and cultural significance, preserving a legacy that was often passed down orally. More than a cookbook, the volume serves as a cultural document that honors the contributions of African-American women to American food history. Rescued from obscurity and celebrated today by culinary historians, Fisher's work stands as a vital link to the roots of Southern cooking and Black heritage.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1667304445
• ISBN13: 9781667304441
• Release Date: December 2024
• Publisher: Antiquarius
• Length: 82 Pages
• Weight: 0.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Wonderful book on early American cooking

Anyone interested in early American history and how meals were prepared for those that lived in the late 1800’s will enjoy reading this book or adding to their cookbook collection.

Not just a cookbook

This is more than a cookbook (because most recipes you can't recreate), it is a historical account of life as a slave cook.

Interesting for the student of African-American Gastronomy

"What Mrs. Fisher Knows" is a charming antique and should be read by anyone with an interest in African-American or Southern cookery, or anyone who would like to re-create authentic 19th century American cuisine. This reprint of "What Mrs. Fisher Knows" was brought into being by Karen Hess. Hess has provided an informative introduction to the recipes (which are reproduced in their entirety), explaining many 19th century cooking concepts which may be unfamiliar to the modern cook and providing as much of Abby Fisher's story as can be found. In Fisher's original text it is interesting to see some of the earliest known written recipes for several dishes and to discover others which are almost unknown today. Fisher's original recipes are typical of 19th century (and earlier) cookbooks. Each recipe is several sentences in a single paragraph, with no separate ingredient list. In many cases it is assumed that the cook will know how to prepare something that is taken as a given in the recipe. This is a cookbook from a time when all cooking was "from scratch", when there were few labor-saving kitchen gadgets, and printed books were luxury items. It is not a step-by-step cookbook. [For that, see Chef Paul Prudhomme or Southern Living.]"Good Things to Eat" by Rufus Estes is sometimes called the first cookbook written by an African-American. "What Mrs. Fisher Knows" was published thirty years earlier. (It could be said that Mrs. Fisher, a former slave, did not actually "write" the book as she evidently did not know how to write; she dictated the recipes to a member of the Women's Cooperative Printing Office in San Francisco which published the work in 1881.)(The editor, Karen Hess has done similar work on Mary Randolph's "The Virginia Housewife" and "Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery and Booke of Sweetmeats".)