A collection of recipes using Cottolene, a brand of shortening made from beef tallow and cottonseed oil, that was manufactured by the N. K. Fairbank Company. Cottolene was produced from 1868 until the mid-20th century. Many cookbooks, such as this one, were written to promote its use. Advertisements for other products are interspersed throughout.

The work contains an image of Black Americans picking cotton in the Jim Crowe-era South, during which many formerly enslaved people struggled to gain equality due to segregation laws, racial violence, and the economic legacy of slavery.