Cloud City Cook-Book

Nash, William H., Mrs.Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.5

Word count: 65K words
Chapters: 7

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Cloud City Cook-Book by Mrs. William H. NashAuthor: Nash, William H., Mrs.,Language: English, Class: TX: Technology: Home economics, Release Date: Mar 6, 2011

Editor's review

This is a public-domain English cookbook from Project Gutenberg, authored by Mrs. William H. Nash. Its value lies not in literary style or systematic instruction, but in being a freely accessible historical document of daily life: readers can see how early home recipes were written, which ingredients were paired, and what kitchen language was used, and can sense how domestic cooking knowledge was recorded and passed down. As an e-book, it is easy to search and excerpt, making it suitable as supplementary material for food culture, domestic history, or English recipe writing. It need not be read cover to cover; readers can dip into it by ingredient or dish, noting differences in measurements, cooking utensils, and seasoning habits from today. It is more a window onto everyday life than a modern kitchen manual; those expecting practical cooking or systematic culinary instruction may find the content scattered and clearly dated.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in the history of food culture and early home recipes
Students and enthusiasts studying domestic science or English recipe writing
Self-learners seeking free public-domain English materials
General readers who enjoy browsing old cookbooks for details of period life

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking systematic modern cooking instruction and precise recipes
Readers needing Chinese recipes or Chinese home-cooking methods
Those who struggle with English originals and do not wish to use reference tools

Reading tips

Browse the table of contents first, pick out ingredients or dishes of interest, and read selectively rather than straight through.
Jot down old-fashioned units of measurement and utensil names as you read, and compare them with modern methods to understand the differences.
Treat it as historical daily-life material and pay attention to the household division of labor and food customs behind the recipes.
If English reading is difficult, read paragraph by paragraph with a dictionary, focusing on ingredient and step descriptions.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book suitable for actually cooking from?

It can serve as a reference, but it is not advisable to follow it completely. It comes from an earlier period of English home recipes, and its measurements, utensils, and ingredient conditions differ considerably from today's; some steps are also written briefly. It is better for understanding the cooking habits of the time than as a modern kitchen manual.

What level of English is needed to read this book?

Basic English reading ability is enough; with a dictionary you can grasp the general meaning. The book contains old-fashioned expressions and cooking terms, and a few places may need verification. If you only want an overview, you can read excerpts first and then decide whether to read closely.

Why is this book worth reading?

Its value is historical and documentary: as a free public-domain e-book, it preserves the way early household cooking was recorded and helps readers observe how ingredients, seasoning, and kitchen life have changed. It is suitable for food-culture enthusiasts and collectors of materials.

Comments

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About the author

Nash, William H., Mrs. Author

Mrs. William H. Nash is an author about whom very little is known; her full name, nationality, and dates of birth and death have not been clearly recorded in the available public sources. Only one work by her is held in the collection, the Cloud City Cook-Book. The form of her name, which places her husband's name before her own, follows a convention common among married women in the English-speaking world in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, suggesting that the book was likely produced in that period. On the available evidence, this cookbook is the only written work of hers that survives, and its content presumably concerns everyday cooking and household meals, placing it in the category of regional or domestic practical cookbooks. Such works often record the ingredients, methods, and kitchen experience of a particular time and place, and thus offer some reference value for understanding the daily foodways of a specific region or community. Given the lack of further biographical material, it is difficult at present to assess her writing style and influence adequately.