The Virginia House-wife, written by Mary Randolph (1762 – 1828), was the first cookbook ever published in America. Now published in a facsimile form of the original 1824 work, The Virginia House-wife was the most influential cookbook in nineteenth-century America. Randolph's recipes exhibited a uniquely Virginian style, using Virginia produce for dishes influenced by African, Native American, and European foods. The book included recipes for Southern classics such as okra, sweet potatoes, biscuits, fried chicken, barbecue shote (young pig), and lemonade. Besides numerous recipes and household tips on such things as curing bacon, making lavender water, scented soap, and starch, the book also includes historical notes by culinary historian Karen Hess, a glossary of cooking terms and phrases of the time, and a vegetable chart from Thomas Jefferson's Garden Book, 1766-1824.