===Modern cookbooks===

[[File:ActonFish.jpg|thumb|from ''Modern Cookery for Private Families'' by Eliza Acton (London: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, 1871. p.48.)]]
With the advent of the [[printing press]] in the 16th and 17th centuries, numerous books were written on how to manage households and prepare food. In Holland<ref>{{cite book | last = Sieben | first = Ria Jansen | title = Een notable boecxtken van cokeryen | year = 1588}}</ref> and England<ref>{{cite book | last = anon | title = The good Huswifes handmaid for Cookerie | year = 1588 }}</ref> competition grew between the noble families as to who could prepare the most lavish banquet. By the 1660s, cookery had progressed to an art form and good cooks were in demand. Many of them published their own books detailing their recipes in competition with their rivals.<ref>{{cite book | last = May | first = Robert | title = The accomplifht Cook |  year = 1685}}</ref> Many of these books have now been translated and are available online.<ref>{{cite web | title = Medieval Cookbooks | author = Judy Gerjuoy | accessdate = 2007-06-15 | url = http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/articles/food_bibliography.html}}</ref>

By the 19th century, the Victorian preoccupation for domestic respectability brought about the emergence of cookery writing in its modern form. Although eclipsed in fame and regard by [[Isabella Beeton]], the first modern cookery writer and compiler of recipes for the home was
[[Eliza Acton]]. Her pioneering cookbook, ''Modern Cookery for Private Families'' published in 1845, was aimed at the domestic reader rather than the professional cook or chef. This was an immensely influential book, and it established the format for modern writing about cookery.

The publication introduced the now-universal practice of listing the ingredients and suggested cooking times with each recipe. It included the first recipe for [[Brussels sprouts]].<ref>Pearce, ''Food For Thought: Extraordinary Little Chronicles of the World'', (2004) pg 144</ref> Contemporary chef [[Delia Smith]] is quoted as having called Acton "the best writer of recipes in the English language."<ref>[http://www.hub-uk.com/interesting/delia-british-library.htm Interview].</ref> ''Modern Cookery'' long survived her, remaining in print until 1914 and available more recently in facsimile reprint.

[[File:Isabella Beeton - Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management - title page.jpg|thumb|left|270x270px|Titlepage of ''Beeton's Book of Household Management'']]
Acton's work was an important influence on [[Isabella Beeton]],<ref name=Acton>{{cite web|title=Acton, Eliza (1799–1859)|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-2591300080.html|work=[[Women in World History|Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia]]|publisher=Gale Research Inc.|accessdate=8 January 2013}}{{subscription}}</ref> who published ''[[Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management]]'' in 24 monthly parts between 1857 and 1861.

The book was a guide to running a [[Victorian era|Victorian]] household, with advice on fashion, [[child care]], [[animal husbandry]], [[poison]]s, the management of [[Domestic worker|servants]], science, religion, and industrialism.<ref>[http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/b/beeton/isabella/household/chapter16.html:''General Observations on the Common Hog'']</ref><ref>[http://www.tracingpaper.org.uk/2007/04/21/food-in-season-in-1861/''Food in season in April 1861'']</ref>

Of the 1,112 pages, over 900 contained recipes, such that another popular name for the volume is ''Mrs Beeton's Cookbook''. Most of the recipes were illustrated with coloured engravings, and it was the first book to show recipes in a format that is still used today. It is said that many of the recipes were actually plagiarised from earlier writers (including [[Eliza Acton]]), but the Beetons never claimed that the book's contents were original.

It was intended as a guide of reliable information for the aspirant middle classes. Mrs Beeton is perhaps described better as its compiler and editor than as its author, many of the passages clearly being not her own words.

The American cook [[Fannie Farmer]] (1857–1915) published in 1896 her famous work ''The Boston Cooking School Cookbook'' which contained some 1,849 recipes.<ref>{{cite book | last = Cunningham | first = Marion | title = The Fannie Farmer Cookbook (revised) | publisher = Bantam Books, New York | year = 1979 | isbn = 0-553-56881-7}}</ref>