The White House cook book
Regina Murphy
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Earlier this year, Judy Patton came across a couple of cookbooks in her basement. She said she hadn’t looked at them for umpteen years and thought I might find them interesting. I certainly did!
Judy’s grandmother Ollie Patton had passed them along and, despite a bit of basement dampness, they still were in good shape. The one we’re looking at today is The White House Cook Book from 1897, “Containing cooking, toilet and household recipes...facts worth knowing...” and so forth.
Hugo Ziemann was steward of the White House during this period and, along with Mrs. F.L. Gillette, he wrote the housekeeping manual for the nation’s house. There is an inside cover photo of Ida Saxton McKinley and other First Ladies are sprinkled throughout.
Ziemann was a personal chef to Napoleon III’s heir, Napoleon Eugene Louis John Joseph, who was “killed while fighting the Zulus in Africa.” Ziemann had restaurants in New York and Chicago, where his catered lunch for the Republican Party convention was credited with having resolved all their disputes and united the party!
The cookbook begins with a lecture for carving meats. There are diagrams of various four-legged animals identifying their tasty bits, then more detailed drawings of each cut of meat and the direction for its carving.
There is a treatise on soup stocks and three different recipes for turtle soup (only one of which actually uses a turtle), and even a squirrel soup! I have plenty of resources in my yard if anyone needs to harvest meat for that recipe.
There is a bit on how to fry things — the authors note that the French prefer beef fat to American pork fat, saying it is more digestible and less likely to soak into the fried article. Then comes the fish chapter and this interesting recipe:
FRICASSEE SALMON
“This way of cooking fresh salmon is a pleasant change from the ordinary modes of cooking it: Cut one and one-half pounds of salmon into pieces one inch square; put the pieces in a stew pan with a half cupful of water, a little salt, a little white pepper, one clove, one blade of mace, three pieces of sugar, one shallot and a heaping teaspoonful of mustard mixed smoothly with half a teacupful of vinegar.
“Let this boil up once, and add 6 tomatoes peeled and cut up into tiny pieces, a few sprigs of parsley minced, and one wineglassful of sherry. Let all simmer gently for three-quarters of an hour. Serve very hot, and garnish with dry toast cut in triangular pieces. This dish is good, very cold, for luncheon or breakfast.”
The salmon recipes are followed by three more turtle recipes, which DO require the cooking of actual terrapin turtles. Well, if we eat alligator...but I keep envisioning that little guy in the Bugs Bunny cartoon who won the road race. It’s one thing to plunge a live lobster into a pot of boiling water, but a live turtle? Hmmm.
I’d eat a turtle before I ate a frog. Evidently the White House enjoyed its frogs in the late 19th century either fried or stewed with cream. The authors note that only the leg and hindquarters are worth pursuing.
Following these delicacies is a fat chapter on poultry and game, complete with directions on butchering, plucking and storing. There are several really good recipes here, but I thought this one was particularly interesting.
CHICKEN ROLY-POLY
“One quart of flour, two teaspoonfuls of cream tartar mixed with the flour, one teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a teacupful of milk; a teaspoonful of salt; do not use shortening of any kind, but roll out the mixture half an inch thick, and on it lay minced chicken, veal or mutton. The meat must be seasoned with pepper and salt, and be free from gristle. Roll the crust over and over, and put it on a buttered plate and place in a steamer for half an hour. Serve for breakfast or lunch, giving a slice to each person with gravy served with it.”
Sounds like a jelly roll Hot Pocket! The basic concept is sound and the filling could be augmented with cooked, chopped vegetables and even a little cheese. This chapter goes on to cover pigeons, snipe, quail, reed birds, snow birds and wood cocks. Oh, and squirrels, rabbits and deer.
The beef and pork chapter is great! Dozens and dozens of recipes, even for tongue, tripe, calf’s head and the ever-popular sweetbreads. Now this cook book has a recipe for calves brains, lightly fried in “butter or well-clarified dripping.” I wonder which visiting ambassador or head of state got to have that for dinner?
There are plenty of sauce recipes, dressings and a whole variety of catsups! Apple, cucumber, gooseberry, walnut, mushroom, regular tomato catsup and then this recipe:
GREEN TOMATO CATSUP
“One peck of green tomatoes, and two large onions, sliced. Place them in layers, sprinkling salt between; let them stand twenty-four hours and then drain them. Add a quarter of a pound of mustard seed, one ounce allspice, one ounce cloves, one ounce ground mustard, one ounce ground ginger, two tablespoonfuls black pepper, two teaspoonfuls celery seed, one quarter of a pound of brown sugar. Put all in preserving pan, cover with vinegar, and boil two hours; then strain through a sieve and bottle for use.”
A peck, eh? I am told that amounts to a quarter-bushel or eight quarts. I think I’d reduce the measurements a bit for my first batch.
Many vegetable dishes are found in this book. I noted a bit of poetry in one direction: “...strew a little fine salt upon [the vegetables] previous to sending them to the table.” There are directions for making your own butter and how to preserve eggs so you can keep “them fresh from August until Spring.” A good quarter of the book is made up of various dessert recipes from cakes and pies, to puddings and jellies. There are even directions on making your own food coloring! A little crushed cochineal and grain alcohol will put the red in your red velvet cake!
But enough of that. There are important things at hand. First is this weekend’s food competitions at the Lyon County Free Fair. There are about a bajillion categories (open class) to enter, so you ought to check it out. Call the Lyon County Extension office or look at the fair book on www.oznet.ksu.edu/lyon and see what piques your interest.
Of course the Murphy’s Menu Summer Cook-Off series resumes with the extremely popular Salsa competition. This one is Wednesday, Aug. 8, at the Emporia Farmer’s Market. Bring one pint of your best salsa, name and phone number on the lid, to the kiosk between 4:30 and 4:55 p.m.
I’ll have chips ready and shoppers at the market will taste the salsas from 5 p.m. to 6:15 or so, voting for their favorite. There are two categories: People who make a living selling their salsa (like last year’s winner Casa Ramos), or those who don’t (like last year’s winner Becky Conrade).
The winners will receive a nifty Gazette gift bag and be featured in the Aug. 15 Murphy’s Menu. If you have any questions, send me an e-mail at murphysmenu@yahoo.org or call 342-4800. Let’s get cooking!