Dining with the Washingtons: Historic Recipes, Entertaining, and Hospitality from Mount Vernon - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0807835269 ISBN 13: 9780807835265

Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press, 2011

Synopsis

Combining vivid photography with engaging essays, Dining with the Washingtons explores the menus, diet, and styles of entertaining that characterized the beloved home of the nation's principal founding father.

Compelling accounts, historic artwork, and images of gardens, table settings, prepared food, and objects from the Mount Vernon collection blend to shed fresh light on the daily lives of George and Martha Washington, on their ceaseless stream of household guests and those who served them, and on the ways food and drink reflected the culture of eighteenth-century America. Featuring a foreword by former White House executive chef Walter Scheib and more than 90 historic recipes adapted for today's kitchens by renowned culinary historian Nancy Carter Crump, this book is ideal for veteran and novice cooks alike as well as for those wishing to learn about both formal and everyday dining at Mount Vernon. Drawing from a wide range of sources, including memoirs, diaries, plantation documents, archaeological research, and the personal correspondence of the Washington family and their visitors, this charming volume brings the household of America's first president and his wife vividly to life for modern-day readers.

The contributors are:
Steven T. Bashore, Manager of Historic Trades, Mount Vernon
Carol Borchert Cadou, Robert H. Smith Senior Curator and Vice President for Collections, Mount Vernon
Nancy Carter Crump, author and founder, Culinary Historians of Virginia
J. Dean Norton, Director of Horticulture, Mount Vernon
Dennis J. Pogue, Vice President of Preservation, Mount Vernon
Walter Scheib, former executive chef, The White House
Mary V. Thompson, Research Historian, Mount Vernon
Esther White, Director of Archaeology, Mount Vernon

About this title

Book Description

" Dining with the Washingtons is a lushly illustrated and well-researched compendium of historical essays and recipes--just the sort of definitive work I expect from the safe-keepers of Mount Vernon. What I didn't expect, as I turned the pages, was that these images and words would accrue to yield such an intimate portrait of 18th century life. Herein I learned that George Washington preferred breakfasts of Indian hoecakes smeared with butter and honey, and that Martha Washington loved artichokes to distraction. By telling stories about how and what the Washington family cooked, and how they entertained, Stephen McLeod and his colleagues have sketched a compelling portrait of nascent American culinary identity."--John T. Edge, editor of The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Volume 7: Foodways

From the Inside Flap

Combining vivid photography with engaging essays, Dining with the Washingtons explores the menus, diet, and styles of entertaining that characterized the beloved home of the nation's principal founding father. This book is ideal for veteran and novice cooks alike as well as for those wishing to learn about both formal and everyday dining at Mount Vernon. Features include more than 90 historic recipes adapted for today's kitchens and 230 color illustrations.

Edition details

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0807835269
• ISBN 13: 9780807835265
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224
• Editor: McLeod Stephen A.