The Cooking Manual: Of Practical Directions for Economical Everyday Cookery

Juliet Corson was born in Boston, attended the Raymond and Brooklyn Institutes, and was secretary of the New York Free Training School for Women 1872/3. Beginning 1872, she devoted herself to study and experiments on healthful and economical cookery, and dietetics. She founded the New York School of Cookery in 1876, and was its superintendent until 1883, when she was obliged to close it on account of failing health. This was New York City’s first successful cooking school. In 1877, to help the poor learn how to cook on tight budgets, she authored and distributed a 33-page booklet Fifteen Cent Dinners for Families of Six, which became quite popular. After 1883, she was actively engaged, in writing and in lecturing throughout the United States. In Philadelphia, Montreal, and Oakland, California, her efforts led to the teaching of cookery in the public schools.