William Kitchiner claimed to have a medical degree, but there is no evidence of his ever actually attending university. His eccentric, epicurean dinner parties are his primary claim to fame. He also invented a condiment he called Wow Wow Sauce, which became popular in the nineteenth century.
Kitchiner takes scientist’s approach to cooking in The Cook’s Oracle. He published specific instructions for cooking techniques, an explanation of the chemical processes of cooking, and a table of weights and measures.
Wow Wow Sauce for Stewed or Bouilli Beef
From The Cook’s Oracle
Chop some Parsley leaves very finely, quarter two or three pickled Cucumbers, or Walnuts, and divide them into small squares, and set them by ready; — put into a saucepan a bit of Butter as big as an egg; when it is melted, stir to it a tablespoonful of fine Flour, and about half a pint of the Broth in which the Beef was boiled ; add a tablespoonful of Vinegar, the like quantity of Mushroom Catsup, or Port Wine, or both, and a teaspoonful of made Mustard; let it simmer together till it is as thick as you wish it, put in the Parsley and Pickles to get warm, and pour it over the Beef, — or rather send it up in a Sauce-tureen.
Obs.—If you think the above not sufficiently piquante, add to it some Capers, or a minced Shallot, or one or two teaspoonsful of Shallot Wine (No. 402), — or Essence of Anchovy, — or Basil (No 397), — Elder, or Tarragon (No. 396), or Horseradish (No. 399), or Burnet Vinegar ; or strew over the meat, Carrots and Turnips cut into dice, — minced Capers, — Walnuts, — Red Cabbage, — pickled Cucumbers, — or French Beans, &c.
See the full text at the Hathi Trust
Don’t miss Food Sense, the 2012 Life Sciences and Society Symposium, March 16-18. SCARaB will be participating with an exhibition of books on science and nutrition.
Catharine Beecher (1800-1878), the sister of the abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe, was an early feminist and advocate of women’s education. Beecher was at the forefront of the home economics movement in the nineteenth century. She sought to increase the status of traditional women’s work such as cooking and childcare, arguing for its value to society and the need for female education to inform this work.
As the oldest girl in a family of twenty-one children, Isabella Mayson (1836–1865) had ample practice in the domestic arts by the time she married Samuel Beeton at the age of 20. Samuel was an innovative editor and publisher, and Isabella participated fully in his publishing business, putting her domestic skills to work as editor of the English Woman's Domestic Magazine. The year after her marriage, Isabella also began work on the monumental compendium of domestic science that is The Book of Household Management. The book was first published it in 1861, when Isabella was only 25, and it was an immediate success due to her attention to accuracy, economy, and taste.
In March,Special Collections, Archives and Rare Books will be participating in 
Jennifer Para is a freshman from Rogers, Arkansas, majoring in business. As part of 
Glancing through rare books at Ellis Library, a certain leather bound novel with a delicate design imprinted into the spine catches your eye. The marbled paper cover reminds you of exquisite stones with white and gold specks reflecting the bouncing sun, meshed together in a pond of blood. Touching the book, you are surprised at its smoothness, and you wonder why the book does not fall apart at your caress. On the book’s spine you notice gold lettering revealing the title of the book: Aeneidos. This epic poem is a 1583 copy of Phaer and Twyne’s translation of Virgil’s Aeneid.
teen you find the authors’ letter to their readers. Phaer and Twyne intended their translation of the Aeneid to be read by “maisters and students of universities,” who “will not bee too much offended,” by their raw translation, and “pray they will correct the errors escaped in the printing.”
you see calligraphy and make out words “Hugh Bateman”, “Thomas Payne”, “1767 London”, “Dronfield”. Partaking in more research, you find record of several Hugh Batemans at Dronfield.
SC: What advice would you give to faculty or instructors interested in using Special Collections in their courses?
exams. Of course, Special Collections is always ready to help. This week, we’re sharing a 280-year-old secret from the 
The words in brackets are the mnemonic devices, with the code at the end that represents the year in letters. If a student were called upon in an exam to produce an entire chronology of world events (as students often were in the eighteenth century), he could simply remember what Grey calls the “Memorial Line”: Diocleseko Mahomaudd Yezsid. Grey points out that the system is also adaptable to geography, astronomy, weights and measures, and the study of ancient coins.
readers, his work was hugely popular in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Memoria Technica remained in print for over 130 years, and was in fact the only pre-1800 book on memory to remain in use for so long.
In honor of Halloween, we're posting an excerpt from one of the horror stories in the rare book collection, 
This pamphlet purports to be "a romance, on which is founded the popular drama now performing with unbounded applause at Astley's Amphitheatre." Several plays were produced under this title in the early nineteenth century, featuring Fergus Campbell, his unfortunate aunt, and the rest of the characters in the romance. Indeed, the first of these plays was performed at Astley's Amphitheatre and ran in September and October 1820. The playbill for this production said "The Idea from which the Subject is arranged [is] taken from the Interesting Legend of St. Swithin's Chair, in Walter Scott's Popular Novel of Waverly."