Random Best Recipes From US Presidents And First Ladies (14 items)

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  (#7) Thomas Jefferson

  • Dec. at 83 (1743-1826)

  Thomas Jefferson was apparently a major foodie - more than any other Founding Father, his culinary tastes were bold and daring. His time abroad as ambassador to France exposed him to continental tastes, which he brought back to America. Among the French sweet treats he helped popularize in America was ice cream. This recipe for almond macaroons - as it appears in Baking Recipes of Our Founding Fathers - reflects his love of French cuisine.

  As an owner of enslaved people, Jefferson relied on enslaved men and women to run his kitchen. One who accompanied him to Paris was James Hemings, who learned about French cuisine and eventually secured his own freedom. 

  Thomas Jefferson's Almond Macaroons

  1 pound almonds
  Boiling water
  ¾ pound powdered sugar
  3 eggs, whites only

  Put almonds in a small kettle and pour boiling water over them. Stir well and remove skins. Wash the almonds thoroughly with cold water, then dry with a clean towel. Place almonds in a food chopper and grind to a fine consistency. Transfer the almond mixture to a large wooden mixing bowl and gradually beat in powdered sugar with a wooden mixing spoon. Beat in egg whites, one at a time, until it forms a smooth paste. With a teaspoon, drop small, nut-size balls of paste on parchment paper. Bake at 275 F for 15 to 20 minutes or until done. Set aside to cool.
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  (#13) John F. Kennedy

  • Dec. at 46 (1917-1963)

  A son of Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy had New England in his bones. So it's little wonder that one of Kennedy's favorite recipes was seafood chowder. Chowder represents the maritime spirit of the northeastern United States because it's easy for anglers, sailors, and whalers to source and cook the ingredients.

  Though chowder comes in many varieties, from clam-based to lobster-based, Kennedy's recipe, as shared by Town & Country magazine, uses haddock in a milky broth.

  John F. Kennedy's Fish Chowder

  2 pounds haddock
  2 ounces salt pork, diced
  2 onions, sliced
  4 large potatoes, diced
  1 cup celery, chopped
  1 bay leaf, crumbled
  1 teaspoon salt
  Freshly ground black pepper
  1 quart milk
  2 tablespoons butter

  Place the haddock in a soup pot with 2 cups water and simmer for 15 minutes. Drain, reserving the broth. Remove any bones from the fish and set fish aside.

  Sauté the salt pork in the soup pot until crisp. With a slotted spoon, remove the pork and set aside. Sauté the onions in the pork fat until golden brown. Add the fish, potatoes, celery, bay leaf, salt, and pepper to taste.

  Pour in the reserved fish broth plus enough boiling water to make 3 cups liquid. Simmer for 30 minutes. Add the milk and butter and simmer for 5 minutes. Serve the chowder sprinkled with diced pork.
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  (#10) Barack Obama

  • 58

  When the Obamas moved into the White House, they made it a point to promote healthy living. First lady Michelle Obama did this most explicitly with her Let's Move campaign and the establishment of a White House vegetable garden.

  Barack Obama himself eats a relatively healthy diet - he eats lots of vegetables and tries to snack a lot to control hunger - and stays active. So it's no surprise that one of his favorite dishes is turkey chili, a lean twist on a comfort-food classic.  

  PBS shared the recipe:

  Barack Obama's Turkey Chili

  1 tablespoon olive oil
  1 large onion, chopped
  1 green bell pepper, chopped
  5 cloves of garlic, chopped
  1 pound ground turkey
  ½ teaspoon ground cumin
  ½ teaspoon ground oregano
  ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
  ½ teaspoon ground basil
  1 tablespoon chili powder
  3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  1 28-ounce can peeled tomatoes
  1 29-ounce can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

  Prepared white or brown rice (optional)

  Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan on medium-high heat. Add the onions and green pepper and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the meat to the pan. Once the meat has browned, add the spices. Stir in the red wine vinegar and tomatoes. Using a potato masher, mash the tomatoes. Stir in the kidney beans. Cook the chili covered for 15 minutes on medium-low heat. Serve over white or brown rice, if desired.
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  (#6) Abraham Lincoln

  • Dec. at 56 (1809-1865)

  Abraham Lincoln apparently didn't have a big appetite and was pragmatic about food. In an era that prescribed men should be the breadwinners while women should be the bread-makers, Lincoln actually helped cook in his family kitchen in Springfield, IL.

  His tastes were also simple. During his childhood, Lincoln ate corn dodgers every day except Sunday. This recipe - which comes from Abraham Lincoln in the Kitchen - yields hearty and filling corn dodgers.

  Abraham Lincoln's Corn Dodgers

  2 cups coarse, stone-ground cornmeal
  ½ teaspoon salt
  1 tablespoon melted butter or bacon drippings, plus more for cooking dodgers
  1 ½ cups boiling water
  ⅓ cup regular cornmeal (optional)

  Mix the coarse cornmeal and salt in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the butter or bacon drippings. Pour the boiling water over the butter or drippings and stir carefully and thoroughly. Set aside for 20 to 30 minutes to cool. Form the loose dough into shapes like ears of corn ("dodgers") by hand, adding regular cornmeal as needed; dodgers should be around 2 inches long and 1 inch thick.

  Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet until melted. Place 6 dodgers in the skillet. Lower the heat and cook until the dodgers' bottoms are brown and tops are dry, about 8 to 10 minutes. Turn them over and brown the other side, about 5 to 7 minutes. Repeat with remaining dodgers. 

   
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  (#4) Harry S. Truman

  • Dec. at 88 (1884-1972)

  Harry and Bess Truman became president and first lady of the United States in 1945 after Frederick D. Roosevelt passed. Truman, tasked with leading the United States - and much of the world - out of the rubble of WWII, remained a Missourian at heart. Ozark pudding - a bready dessert - was one way he and Bess maintained their Midwestern identity in Washington.

  Ozark pudding had a cameo in a crucial moment of 20th-century history. The Trumans actually included it on the menu when they hosted Winston Churchill in Missouri, where he delivered his famous "Iron Curtain" speech in 1946.

  Here is the original recipe, as shared by the Loveless Cafe.

  Harry and Bess Truman's Ozark Pudding

  1 egg
  ¾ cup granulated sugar
  2 tablespoons flour
  1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
  ⅛ teaspoon salt
  ½ cup chopped nuts, pecans preferred
  ½ cup raw Granny Smith apples, finely chopped
  1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  Preheat oven to 350 F. Beat egg and sugar until very smooth. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt, and stir into the sugar-egg mixture. Add apple pices, nuts, and vanilla. Bake in a buttered pie pan for at least 35 minutes. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream. 
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  (#1) Lyndon B. Johnson

  • Dec. at 65 (1908-1973)

  Lyndon Baines Johnson inherited a fraught presidency after John F. Kennedy's passing. Johnson had to define himself and his own style of governance against the "high-style culture" of the Kennedys.

  To do that, Truman turned to barbecue. As Texans, LBJ and his wife Lady Bird appreciated the power of barbecue as a community-building activity. Johnson even used so-called "barbecue diplomacy" to host world leaders for informal discussions at his ranch.

  The Daily Beast shared this recipe for Lady Bird Johnson's barbecue sauce. 

  Lyndon B. and Lady Bird Johnson's Barbecue Sauce

  ¼ cup butter
  ¼ cup vinegar
  ¼ cup ketchup
  ¼ cup lemon juice
  ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
  Salt to taste
  Red pepper to taste
  Tabasco sauce to taste
  1 clove garlic, minced

  Melt butter in sauce pan. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. 

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