In an effort to remember recipes, women of the past had creative ways to jog their memories. Many examples of recipes in rhyme are distributed throughout community cookbooks. Sometimes they are lyrical, sometimes they are amusing, but they are always meant to be an oral record of their activities in the kitchen. (1) One of the most infamous recipes in rhyme is Scripture Cake, a recipe that uses bible verse to highlight the ingredients. At the Old Cookbook Shop, a Taste for Nostalgia gives a breakdown of the recipe. To find out if the recipes is delicious, you'll have to try it for yourself!
(1) Longone, Jan. 2002. The mince pie that launched the Declaration of Independence, and other recipes in rhyme. Gastonomica 2 (40): 86-89.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign