American Cookery
Subtitle: American Cookery, or the art of dressing viands, fish, poultry, and vegetables, and the best modes of making pastes, puffs, pies, tarts, puddings, custards, and preserves, and all kinds of cakes, from the imperial plum to plain cake: Adapted to this country, and all grades of life.
Publisher: Hudson & Goodwin:  Edition 1
Published: 1796
Place of publication: Hartford CT, USA
Language: eng
Description: First cookbook to be written by an American, and published in the United States. Simmons was the first to include uniquely American ingredients, such as cornmeal, in her "receipts." She was the first to substitute certain American words for English terms ("molasses" instead of "treacle," as an example.) She was the first to use the word "squash" in a cookbook, and the now common custard version of "pumpkin pie" was different from the English recipe (which uses pumpkin slices piled between the crusts, like in apple-pie). This is the first cookbook to introduce the use of pearl ash as a chemical leavener (replacing a role previously requiring yeast or egg) American Cookery includes the first use of the words "slaw" and "cookie". One of her cookie recipes, "Butter Drop Do" was the parent of the chocolate chip cookie (created in 1937). This was the first of 2 editions published in 1796.