All the Presidents' Picks

About author / Lauren Braun Costello

The competent cook; food stylist; cooking instructor; graduate French Culinary Institute. To die for dish? Maple glazed bacon wrapped roast turkey. Yep, bacon wrapped.

The third Monday in February, known as Presidents' Day, is the official birthday celebration of George Washington (February 22nd) and Abraham Lincoln (February 12th).  Intended now to honor all U.S. presidents, it is mostly considered a day off school or that time deep in winter when a long weekend is permitted.  Today we can think of it as a time to tap into our collective culinary past through the lives of our two greatest presidents.

The First President's Farm and His Favorite Food
George and Martha Washington's home, Mount Vernon, was not only the site of state dinners and colonial diplomacy.  It was a self-sufficient supplier of livestock, produce and grain grown in five farms spanning more than eight thousand acres.  As I wrote in "George Washington's Egg Nog," our first president built one of the largest rye distilleries in Colonial America.  It is no wonder, then, that he referred to his own house as a "well-resorted tavern."  His egg nog recipe lives on today along with his artisanal legacy.

More than egg nog was prepared at Mount Vernon.  Just by examining its grounds, one can imagine the feasts served to the many visitors and diplomats who graced the table at Mount Vernon.  Set along the Potomac River, Mount Vernon boasts a salthouse.  Each spring shad and herring were farmed in the river and then salted and stored in barrels for both household use and public sale.  Washington shipped his fish to markets all along the East Coast and even as far away as the West Indies.

A smokehouse was also an important part of food preparation at Mount Vernon.  It was said to be Martha Washington herself who oversaw the curing and smoking of ham and bacon.  In fact, George Washington once wrote to the Marquis de Lafayette that "Virginia Ladies value themselves on the goodness of their bacon."  Once the hogs were slaughtered and butchered, they were brought to the smokehouse to be preserved for storage and consumption in the coming year.   A greenhouse was also established on the property so that coffee, orange, lemon and lime could be enjoyed extravagantly during winter months.

Three meals a day were served at Mount Vernon, most notably breakfast served promptly at 7 o'clock.  George Washington's favorite meal was a plate of hoecakes, made of a kind of corn meal.  His step-granddaughter, Nelly Custis Lewis, who was raised at Mount Vernon, described his breakfast ritual: "He rose before sunrise, always wrote or read until seven in summer or half past seven in winter. His breakfast was then ready--he ate three small mush cakes (Indian meal) swimming in butter and honey, drank three cups of tea without cream. . . ."  Visit www.mountvernon.org for a modern adaptation of this historical recipe.

Abraham Lincoln Was Thin for a Reason
Unlike our nation's first leader, our sixteenth president simply did not think much of food.  He was considered the type of person who would not remember to eat unless reminded to do so by hunger or suggestion.  Much like his personality, his eating habits were odd and irregular.  Not prone to eating breakfast everyday, Lincoln ate an egg and biscuit only occasionally.  Lunch was often forgotten unless his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, forced a tray of food on him.  Elizabeth Edwards, his sister-in-law, said, "he loved nothing and ate mechanically. I have seen him sit down at the table and never unless recalled to his senses, would he think of food."

Honest Abe believed in the old adage "an apple a day keeps the doctor a day."  He preferred apples above all fruits, proclaiming how much they agreed with him.  He did not support the habit of overindulging in food and drink as it negatively affected one's health.  Lincoln drank mostly water even though guests at the White House dinner table usually enjoyed something stronger.  He did, however, enjoy apple pie as an occasional dessert.

Mary Todd Lincoln wanted her husband to eat more and follow a regular meal schedule.  She always had fruit handy, since he found that particular whole food most appealing.  She hired domestic Alice Johnstone after learning that Alice knew how to cook fricasseed chicken with biscuits and gravy, a Lincoln favorite.  The Lincolns' youngest son, Thomas "Tad" Lincoln reported, "Oh, Alice, he ate three helps and more gravy than you and me and mother could."

Sometimes I wish I had Lincoln's easily satiated constitution.  But then I think of Mount Vernon and really wish I had a greenhouse like Washington where I could grow my own oranges. . . .

Visit CDKitchen's Presidents' Day Recipes for more presidential favorites.