White House recipes for outside the stomach
Regina Murphy
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
You may recall a few weeks back we took a look through Judy Patton’s copy of The White House Cook Book from 1897.
It’s so much fun to leaf through old things and get a peek at how people lived over a century ago.
There are several menus in the back of the book showing a general idea of what the First Family might eat in a given month. In January, one breakfast included porterhouse steaks, French griddle cakes, hominy and Saratoga chips.
George Washington’s birthday was celebrated with a dinner including oysters on the half shell, mock turtle soup, boiled turkey with oyster sauce and Washington cake. (No recipe for the cake, though)
Ulysses S. Grants’ birthday dinner menu is entirely in French. In nine courses. And six different wines were served.
Frances Folsom Cleveland’s wedding lunch consisted of consommé en tasse, soft shell crabs, coquilles de Ris de Vean, snipes on toast, lettuce and tomato salad and cake and ice cream (Served with Moet & Chandon, no less). Frances and Grover were married in his second year in office.
There are menus for four people up to 1,000 people. A chapter on etiquette for state dinners is available to those who might need it. There are seating charts and rules on which wife goes with which man to the table.
There are rules for the cutlery, the use of the butter, the order the dishes are served in, etc. It seemed important to the authors to be aware that “liquors, cordials, and cigars are served on a separate table after the ladies have retired to the parlor.” No cigars for the ladies!
There is a chapter on dishes suitable for those who are ill and recipes for medicines and poultices. If the president had sore feet, evidently his tootsies would be wrapped in steamed horseradish leaves.
If he managed to get a case of ringworm, yellow burdock and vinegar would be applied. If he was unfortunate enough to contract diphtheria, then a sulphur-water mixture would be gargled and sipped. It goes on from there, a fascinating collection of herb lore, that probably needs scientific scrutiny before you try it at home.
GRANDMOTHER'S
UNIVERSAL LINIMENT
“One pint of alcohol and as much camphor gum as can be dissolved in it, half an ounce of the oil of cedar, one-half ounce of the oil of sassafras, aqua ammonia half an ounce, and the same ounce of the tincture of morphine.
“Shake well together and apply by the fire; the liniment must not be heated or come in contact with fire, but the rubbing to be done by the warmth of the fire.
“These recipes of Grandmother’s are all old, tried medicines, and are more effectual than most of those that are advertised, as they have been thoroughly tried, and proved reliable.”
There are 16 different courses of action in the case of a poisoning in the White House. If the poison happens to be tobacco, then you administer an emetic, draughts of cold water, camphor and brandy.
If the illness has been caused by an overdose of opium (what were they doing back then?) you first give a strong emetic of mustard and water then very strong coffee and acid drinks. Continue by dashing cold water on the sick person’s head and keep them in motion.
There are several pages of helpful hints. “Strong coffee will eliminate the odor of onions from the breath,” “wind colic is promptly relieved by peppermint essence,” “if an artery is severed, tie a small cord or handkerchief above it.”
As steward of the household, Mr. Ziemann needed to be prepared for any contingency!
There are recipes for fabric detergents and fabric dyes — even for fabric flame retardants. For instance, to die a woolen garment orange, you take “muriate of tin, six tablespoonfuls; argal, four ounces; boil and dip one hour, and add again to the dye one teacupful of madder; dip again one half hour.”
The book has directions for fighting various households pests from bed bugs to rats, and how to properly clean the presidential china and silver. There are multiple recipes for household glue, one for leather polish, another to soften water and one to patch cracks in your cement floor.
There are even recipes for your own perfume, hair tonics and other toiletries. If you would like to freshen your appearance, perhaps a pomade might help. Do you think it would also work as a mosquito repellent?
OX-MARROW POMADE FOR THE HAIR
“One marrow bone, half a pint of oil, ten cent’s worth of citronella.
“Take the marrow out of the bone, place it in warm water, let it get almost to boiling point, then let it cool and pour the water away; repeat this three times until the marrow is thoroughly ‘fined.’
“Beat the marrow to a cream with a silver fork, stir the oil in, drop by drop, beating all the time; when quite cold, add the citronella, pour into jars and cover down.”
If you were worried about your freckles, you could bleach them with a mixture of sugar, lemon juice and borax. Pimples could be treated with rose water and carbolic acid. Dandruff required a combination of glycerin, tincture of cantharides, water and bay rum.
The “final word” from this cook book concerns late 19th century table etiquette. There are some really interesting items in that chapter!
It begins “Delicacy of manner at table stamps both man and woman, for one can, at a glance, discern whether a person has been trained to eat well...”
Some other gems include “Be careful to keep the mouth shut closely while masticating the food.” Especially when you’re on camera and talking to the Prime Minister of England.
“A cream-cake and anything of a similar nature should be eaten with knife and fork, never bitten.” I wonder what the Twinkie people think about that?
“Green corn should be eaten from the cob; but it must be held with a single hand.” Oops!
My coworkers and I got a good laugh out of the rules for exhibiting one’s teeth:
“One’s teeth are not to be picked at table; but if it is impossible to hinder it, it should be done behind the napkin.
“One may pick a bone at the table, but, as with corn, only one hand is allowed to touch it; yet one can usually get enough from it with knife and fork, which is certainly the more elegant way of doing; and to take her teeth to it gives a lady the look of caring a little too much for the pleasures of the table; one is, however, on no account to suck one’s finger after it.”
I hope the authors never had to witness a southern gal tucking in to a plate of ribs and corn on the cob. They would have died of apoplexy.
If you’d like to read more, you can download the entire cookbook at www.gutenberg.org/ebooks.
What fun! Many thanks to Judy for sharing her grandmother’s culinary treasures.
Next week we’'ll have the winners of today’s Murphy’s Menu Summer Cook-Off Salsa competition. Let’s get cooking!