Which 1796 cookbook first mentioned cranberry sauce as a companion to turkey?

The 1796 cookbook that first mentioned cranberry sauce as a companion to turkey was *American Cookery*.

Written by Amelia Simmons and published in Hartford, Connecticut, *American Cookery* is regarded as the first known cookbook written by an American. It brought together British cooking techniques with ingredients and dishes associated with the young United States, including turkey, corn-based foods, pumpkin preparations, and cranberries.

The book did not establish the modern Thanksgiving menu by itself, and cranberry sauce was not documented as part of the 1621 harvest feast. The familiar turkey-and-cranberry pairing developed over time. Cranberries were naturally available in New England, but sugar was scarce in the colonial period, making a sweet cranberry sauce less likely at the earliest Thanksgiving.

The cookbook is also notable for popularizing the word “cookie,” derived from a Hudson River Valley Dutch term, and for describing pearlash, an early chemical leavener. Commercial cranberry sauce came much later: Marcus Urann began selling it in 1912, while canned versions reached the market in 1941.