Part cookbook, part culinary history, part family history, this volume offers an intimate glimpse into life in the household of a mid-19th-century Virginia family, that of the author's great-grandparents, Robert E. Lee and his wife, Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee. The collection of recipes, photographs, shopping lists and other domestic jottings act as a window on an earlier way of life. Filled with family stories and photographs, it features 70 recipes for breads, cakes, puddings, sweets, soups, main dishes, vegetables, drinks, and home remedies. Each historic recipes is accompanied by notes on ingredients and techinques and by tips for adapting the recipe in the modern kitchen.