Abraham Lincoln in the Kitchen: A Culinary View of Lincoln's Life and Times

Abraham Lincoln in the Kitchen: A Culinary View of Lincoln's Life and Times

by Rae Katherine Eighmey
Abraham Lincoln in the Kitchen: A Culinary View of Lincoln's Life and Times

Abraham Lincoln in the Kitchen: A Culinary View of Lincoln's Life and Times

by Rae Katherine Eighmey

Paperback(Reprint)

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Overview

Abraham Lincoln in the Kitchen is a culinary biography unlike any before. The very assertion of the title—that Abraham Lincoln cooked—is fascinating and true. It's an insight into the everyday life of one of our nation's favorite and most esteemed presidents and a way to experience flavors and textures of the past. Eighmey solves riddles such as what type of barbecue could be served to thousands at political rallies when paper plates and napkins didn't exist, and what gingerbread recipe could have been Lincoln's childhood favorite when few families owned cookie cutters and he could carry the cookies in his pocket. Through Eighmey's eyes and culinary research and experiments—including sleuthing for Lincoln's grocery bills in Springfield ledgers and turning a backyard grill into a cast-iron stove—the foods that Lincoln enjoyed, cooked, or served are translated into modern recipes so that authentic meals and foods of 1820-1865 are possible for home cooks. Feel free to pull up a chair to Lincoln's table.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781588346186
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution Press
Publication date: 09/12/2017
Edition description: Reprint
Pages: 280
Product dimensions: 5.96(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

RAE KATHERINE EIGHMEY, an award-winning author and cook, dynamically interconnects food and history. She is the author of seven books including Soda Shop Salvation, Food Will Win the War, and A Prairie Kitchen. Eighmey's work and research brings the textures and flavors of the past to life and provides a fresh perspective on history. Her blog, What Lincoln Enjoyed Eating, and website, Rae'sKitchen.net, explore both the historic and contemporary culinary worlds. Eighmey has also won blue ribbons in the Minnesota and Iowa State Fair food competitions.

Read an Excerpt

From the Introduction:

The best parts of these journeys through time are the fabulous flavors I’ve rediscovered. Even though ingredients and mixing and cooking methods may be essentially the same, the flavors are not. Wonderful, unexpected tastes and textures from the recipes of the past—molasses lemon cake, apple ketchup, beef à la mode, and so many more—have surprised me time and time again. I am delighted with the dishes I’ve found from this adventure in the land of Lincoln: corn dodgers, almond cake, pumpkin butter, slow-cooked barbecue, and many more.

So, please, pull up a chair at my kitchen table. Its old round oak top is littered with notes; photocopies from agricultural journals, newspapers, grocery account ledgers; and stacks of old cookbooks. Herndon’s Informants and biographies of Lincoln are here, too, along with my ring binder filled with pages of once neatly typed recipes now covered with penciled corrections and spatters of batter, the results of sampling and experimentation. Although this is a culinary exploration of Lincoln’s life, not a cookbook, I’ve adapted the period techniques and recipes for cooking in today’s kitchens and noted the sources. There is value in seeing the original recipes as historic documents, but I believe that value is outweighed by the enjoyment of preparing and eating foods that come as close to these culinary-heritage dishes as our stores and stoves can bring us. A biscuit made with soured milk and baking soda is a world of difference from one that pops out of a refrigerated tube. It profoundly changes the perception of what a biscuit can be.

I want readers to enjoy these foods. I’ve spent years figuring out how to make them from the scanty descriptions, incomplete measurements, and nonexistent instructions. In some cases, I’ve had to develop the recipe from just a description: you’ll see “Re-created from period sources” under the titles of those dishes. For the recipes described as “Adapted from period sources,” I’ve simply standardized the measurements to those used in today’s kitchens, clarified the ingredients and put them in proper order, and written the method for preparation.

This book is organized generally as a biography following Abraham Lincoln’s life from his childhood through his presidency. In some of the chapters, I describe my process for unraveling the historical clues to get to the flavors and textures. In others, I delve more deeply into Lincoln’s biography and show how food brings new considerations to an understanding of his life, marriage, and time as president. All of the chapters have recipes at the end so you can undertake these explorations in your own kitchen. I promise these dishes are unlike anything we eat today. Delicious, evocative, and well worth the small efforts to prepare.

Come along. We’ll see what directions food can take us as we travel to capture the flavor of Lincoln’s times.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Chapter 1 - Abraham and Mary Lincoln
Chapter 2 - Lincoln's Gingerbread Men
Chapter 3 - Life on the Indiana Frontier
Chapter 4 - Journeys of Discovery
Chapter 5 - Bacon and Black Hawk
Chapter 6 - Courtship and Cake
Chapter 7 - Eating Up Illinois Politics
Chapter 8 - "Salt for Ice Cream"
Chapter 9 - Piccalilli: Of Fruits and Vegetables
Chapter 10 - Talking Turkey
Chapter 11 - At the Crossroads of Progress
Chapter 12 - Inaugural Journey Banquets
Chapter 13 - Summer Cottage, Soldier's Bread
Chapter 14 - Cakes in Abraham Lincoln's Name
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index

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