Lettice Bryan

Lettice Pierce Bryan (1805–1877) was an American writer, who wrote The Kentucky Housewife, a cookbook originally published in 1839.

When Bryan was writing her cookbook, she lived in Monticello, Kentucky; her husband was studying at the Medical College of Ohio and the couple had nine young children.

She compared it in style to Mary Randolph's 1824 The Virginia Housewife[9] but noted differences in their versions of pumpkin pie.

While both included brandy, Randolph used butter and a lattice top, with Bryan's pie having a dusting of grated sugar.

[11] Food historian Stephen Schmidt described in a 2001 Yankee Magazine article a traditional election cake weighing as much as 90 pounds (41 kg), noting that Bryan and her contemporaries Lydia Maria Child and Eliza Leslie offered recipes for 5–7-pound (2.3–3.2 kg) versions.