Professed Cookery title page, 1760

Ann Cook (fl. c. 1725 – c. 1760) was an English cookery book writer and innkeeper. In 1754 she published Professed Cookery (pictured), which went on to two further editions in her lifetime. In 1739–1740 Cook and her husband John became embroiled in a feud with a well-connected local landowner, Sir Lancelot Allgood, following an argument over an invoice the Cooks had issued. Although they were later exonerated, Allgood continued his attack on them, forcing them to leave their inn. To earn money, Cook wrote The New System of Cookery in 1753, which was reissued as Professed Cookery in 1754. In the work, in addition to a range of recipes, she included a poem and an "Essay upon the Lady's Art of Cookery". This was an attack on Allgood's half-sister Hannah Glasse, who had published a best-selling cookery book, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, in 1747. The second and third editions of Professed Cookery include a critical analysis of Glasse's work, traditional English recipes and an essay on household management. (Full article...)