Manuscript Book, How to Cook a Husband, c.1880 (Ms2010-079)

Manuscript Book, How to Cook a Husband, c.1880 (Ms2010-079)

The collection contains a single hand-made ribbon-bound manuscript entitled, A Novel Recipe “How to Cook a Husband.” The book’s recipe instructs newlywed women on how to treat their husbands well with metaphors that compare wifely duties and cooking. It starts off with the lines, “A good many husbands are utterly spoiled by mismanagement in cooking and are so not tender and good.”
Although the creator of the original story is unknown, the story is thought to have originated in New England in the early 1880s.

Ms2010-079

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: How to Cook a Husband Manuscript Book, Ms2010-079, Special Collections, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va.