"Miss Leslie was one of the most important American cooking authorities of the 19th century. Her books on cooking are considered among the best ever produced in this country. Of the recipes in this volume she states that "a large number have been obtained from the South.....many were dictated by colored cooks, of high reputation in the art..." In the volume is buried a jewel: the text of her Indian Meal Book, previously published separately and containing 40 pages of American (Indian) corn recipes, the first such large collection for our native grain" -- Wine and Food Library Catalogue 2000 / Jan Longone, p. 11.

Hannah Peterson's 1870 "The Young Wife's Cook Book" is designed to be a complete source of recipes and information for the inexperienced cook, a book that she can use to start her household and continue to use as she raises her family.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1874.