The Weekly Feast – Cookbook Musings

Some of you may have guessed that I like to collect cookbooks, in addition to writing them. I have, for a very long time, been interested in historical cookbooks. In particular, I like original recipes, even if the physical book I have is a reprint. One of the cookbooks I treasure most in my collection is The Original White House Cookbook. The first edition came out in 1887, but there have been several editions since then. You can buy many of the new volumes, but it’s hard to find originals (ie printed in 1887) of that first one. I have a reprint of the original edition, printed in the early 1900s, and I love it.

I’m preparing myself for going to the Fort again this weekend. I’m hosting a “show and tell” event over the Labor Day weekend, and I want to have some yummy recipes. As I was cooking breakfast this morning, I was thinking about what I’d like to make. My eyes strayed over to the cookbook shelf (actually a whole bookcase, but whatever), and I noticed that the White House one was on its side and out of its usual place. Likely one of the kids had it out and didn’t put it back right. When I had a moment, I went to straighten it, and then stopped, because an incredibly profound thought hit me.

That cookbook, that original one from 1887, was written for the American people. We were, at that time, barely a hundred years old as a country. We were essentially a toddler, in the grand scheme of things. And here we were, offering our entire people the opportunity to cook like the leaders of that country.

Our people were (and are) eating the same food, prepared in much the same way, as our leaders.

Do you get how very insane that sounds? To have a populace who eats what the elite are eating? In 1887, Queen Victoria was munching on oranges, locally sourced salmon, and an early version of the turducken (12 Tomatoes). Kaiser Wilhelm II was eating ice cream and “Fresh goose-liver medallions that have been seared and cooled before being coated with chaud-froid sauce, garnishes, and then sealed in a layer of Port jelly. (Royal Menus)” Napoleon wasn’t eating a lot of rich foods, but only because he suffered from gastritis and insisted on plain and even bland foods. The rich of Europe were eating well, and the poor and middle class citizenry were eating simple foods, and sometimes not much of them.

Our earliest recipes (not cookbooks, because those don’t start showing up until 1390 CE) come from Mesopotamia and were written on clay tablets in 1700 BCE. We have lots of individual recipes, some more readable than others, in between those Mesopotamian ones and The Forme of Cury, but they’re largely written for the cooks responsible for feeding royalty. Even into the late 1600s, cookbooks were written for the feeding of the elite. They were designed for people who could afford the absurd items within.

The first American cookbook was written by Amelia Simmons in 1796, and aptly titled The First American Cookbook. American cookbooks were different from the ones in Europe and the British Empire, because they had recipes for the common man. Admittedly, some of them were written in a condescending manner (cookbooks for the poor, and the like), but at least someone was trying.

That brings me back to the White House Cookbook. In 1887, Fanny Lamira Gillette (a cook at the White House at that time) and Hugo Ziemann (the White House steward and caterer) sat down and wrote the book. From the back jacket: “Initially published in 1887, The Original White House Cook Book is a cooking compendium penned by F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann. The book is comprised of recipes, cooking techniques, etiquette instruction, household care, and cleanliness tips used in the White House. This historic book includes recipes by the first ladies Martha Washington, Mary Todd Lincoln, and many others, as well as historic menus for special occasions like Grant’s Birthday and Washington’s Wedding. The book was compiled using the knowledge gained by Gillette in her years of cooking, as well as Ziemann’s term as a White House steward and caterer. It rapidly became a bestseller after its publication and an essential cookbook in kitchens across America.”

This is a cookbook that was written by the people who worked for and cooked for our American elite. The recipes were ones made and enjoyed by the Washingtons, the Lincolns, and others. The cookbook wasn’t for that elite, though. The cookbook was for us, for We The People. In 1887, Gillette and Ziemann were of the opinion that the average American household would be able to read, understand, and recreate the recipes being shared in the cookbook. They knew the average American household would be able to afford the ingredients used, and would know what they were and where to get them.

The Original White House Cookbook was designed for We the People, and we bought it and used it. It was incredibly popular, a best seller, we’re told. Even more amazing, it is still a best seller today, some 137 years later.

In America, it was known (not assumed, not considered, but known) that the citizens of the country would be interested in trying out recipes that their presidents and wives had enjoyed. Unlike Britain, France, Germany, or any of the other large world powers, our citizenry had access to the same things that the leaders did. And they knew that barely a hundred years after the founding of the country.

I’ll leave you with a recipe from the White House cookbook, one that I love and have made several times: Chicken and Macaroni.

CHICKEN AND MACARONI.

Boil a chicken until very tender, take out all the bones, and pick up the meat quite fine. Boil half a pound of macaroni until tender, first breaking it up to pieces an inch long. Butter a deep pudding dish, put on the bottom a layer of the cooked macaroni, then a layer of the minced chicken, bits of butter, pepper and salt, then some of the chicken liquor, over this put another layer of macaroni, and so on, until, the dish is filled. Pour a cup of cream over the whole, and bake half an hour. Serve on a platter.

It should be noted that “macaroni” was the name for all things pasta at the time. You can do this with any type of pasta, though I find it works best with either modern macaroni, or something with bulk, like a fusillini or radiatori.