Random Foods George Washington Ate On A Daily Basis As President (13 items)

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  (#9) Washington Needed Soft Foods Due To His Bad Teeth And Faulty Dentures

  Washington was somewhat limited in what he could eat due to his teeth. Washington had only one tooth of his own and went through several pairs of dentures during his presidency. Soft foods were ideal. As noted by observers, his daily hoecakes were sliced and covered in butter and honey for that very reason. 

  Washington's teeth affected his ability to speak publicly and caused him a lot of pain. His dentures altered his appearance and were adjusted again and again. Washington described his dental woes to his dentist John Greenwood in 1797:

  Not knowing whether you mean to make a new sett, or to repair the old, I must again caution you against adding any thing that will widen the bars on the sides, or extend them in front at bottom - They are already too wide, and too projecting for the parts they rest upon; which causes both upper, & under lip to bulge out, as if swelled - By filing these parts away (to remedy that evil) it has been one cause of the teeth giving way, having been weakened thereby. 

  It was this continued trouble that contributed to Washington's preference for soft foods like cheese and pickled tripe.

  Another one of Washington's dietary habits also affected his teeth: his love of wine. In 1790, Washington told his dentist Greenwood that his dentures were blackened. Greenwood told him that the discoloration was "occasioned either by your soaking them in port-wine, or drinking it... Port, being sour, takes off all the polish." He advised Washington to "either take them out after drinks and put them in clear water and put in another set, or to clean them with a brush and some chalk finely scraped." 
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  (#11) Washington Enjoyed Beer And Other Spirits

  Washington preferred Madeira wine but didn't drink wine alone. At Thursday evening Congressional dinners, "he had a silver pint cup or mug of beer, placed by his plate, which he drank while dining."

  Washington preferred domestic porters, especially those made by Philadelphia brewer Robert Hare, Jr. On one particularly festive Fourth of July in 1788, Washington asked merchant Clement Biddle to get him "a groce of Mr. Hairs best bottled Porter if the price of it is not much enhanced by the [copious] droughts you took of it at the late Procession." 

  Hare's brewery burned down soon after and Washington had to hoard what he could while branching out to other types of porter. He told his secretary "to lay in a pretty good stock of his, or some other porter" and even began growing barley himself.

  Historians believe Washington brewed his own beer, as well. In 1754, Washington made a note on the beer his family drank at Mount Vernon, listing the ingredients and brewing process:

  Take a large [Sifter] full of Bran Hops to your Taste. Boil these three hours then strain out 30 Gall[ons] into a cooler, put in 3 Gall[ons] Molasses while the Beer is Scalding hot, or rather draw the Melasses into the cooler & [strain] the Beer on it while boiling Hot. Let this stand till it is little more than Blood warm then put in a quart of [yeast] if the Weather is very Cold cover it with a [blanket] & let it work in the Cooler 24 hours then put it into the Cask - leave the bung open till it is almost [done] Working - Bottle it that day Week it was Brewed.
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  (#13) Walnuts May Have Been One Of Washington's Guilty Pleasures 

  Another one of Washington's favorite foods was walnuts. It's somewhat counterintuitive that the president enjoyed such a hard food given his bad teeth, but Washington imported walnuts from England and nuts were often present at meals. Whether or not Washington cracked walnuts with his bare hands remains unclear - or if, as John Adams claimed, Washington lost his teeth after cracking walnuts between them - but Martha Washington's family cookbook refers to pickled walnuts and walnut catsup.

  Pickled walnuts are fairly easy to make: 

  One hundred walnuts, salt, and water.

  To each quart of vinegar allow two ounces of whole black pepper, one ounce of allspice, one ounce of bruised ginger.

  Procure the walnuts while young; be careful they are not woody, and prick them well with a fork; prepare a strong brine of salt and water (four pounds of salt to each gallon of water), into which put the walnuts, letting them remain nine days, and changing the brine every third day; drain them off, put them on a dish, place it in the sun until they become perfectly black, which will be in two or three days; have ready dry jars, into which place the walnuts, and do not quite fill the jars.

  Boil sufficient vinegar to cover them, for 10 minutes, with spices in the above proportion, and pour it hot over the walnuts, which must be quite covered with the pickle; tie down with bladder, and keep in dry place. They will be fit for use in a month and will keep good two or three years.
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  (#4) Ice Cream Serving Spoons And Pots Were Common In The Washington Household

  A luxury food in the 18th century, ice cream was something only the wealthy class enjoyed. To make ice cream, one needed a cow (whose milk didn't need to be sold), ice (cut from a river and stored in an ice house), and imported products like salt and sugar. Putting time and effort into making ice cream was something few could afford to do. 

  Early recipes for ice cream, a food introduced to the United States by the French, call for "a pint of scalding cream," "six ounces of double-refined sugar" and “four handfuls of salt” placed in “a tub of ice broken small.” Peaches and other fruits were often mixed in. Once “the cream is all froze up... [and] put into the mould," it was served immediately.

  Washington had access to the goods and labor needed to make ice cream. Washington described "employing as many hands as I conveniently could in getting [ice] from the Maryland shore, carting and pounding it." Washington also documented the purchase of a "Cream Machine for Ice." Throughout his presidency, Washington bought ice cream serving spoons and ice pots. Washington had as many as 36 ice pots, which he used to hold the much runnier ice cream of the 18th century.

  The Washingtons served ice cream when hosting guests on Friday evenings. According to Abigail Adams, who attended several of the events, Martha Washington "entertaind with Ice creems and lemonade." When Senator William Maclay attended a dinner in 1789, he was also served ice cream, albeit in a "disagreeably warm" room. 
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  (#5) Washington Had An Affinity For Madeira Wine

  One of Washington's favorite things to imbibe was Madeira wine, a fortified wine named for the Madeira Islands off the coast of Africa. Washington was said to have sipped wine during and after dinner. 

  After the Portuguese established a colony in the Madeira Islands in the 15th century, demand for its goods spread quickly through Europe. By the mid-18th century, Washington was quite taken with the wine, writing to wine merchants, "I should be obliged to you for sending me a Butt (of about One hundred and fifty Gall'ns) of your choicest Madeira Wine." He requested "cuttings of the Madeira Grape," perhaps in hopes of growing the vines himself.  

  As president, he continued to import the wine, although he noted its expense. In 1794, Washington wrote:

  The duty upon Madeira wine makes it one of the most expensive liquors that is now used, while my stock of it is small, and old wine (of which that is) is not to be had upon any terms... I had rather you provide claret, or other wine on which the duty is not so high, than to use my Madeira, unless it be on very extraordinary occasions.
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  (#6) Washington Enjoyed Eating Fish Whenever He Had The Chance

  One of Washington's favorite foods was fish - something his steward, Samuel Fraunces, knew very well. Washington's stepgrandson, George Washington Parke Custis, said the president "ate heartily, but was not particular in his diet, with the exception of fish, of which he was excessively fond." 

  Luckily for Washington, fishing on the Potomac River afforded him access to herring, shad, and bass. One of Washington's enslaved persons, known as Father Jack, regularly fished the Potomac from a canoe to catch dinner for the president.

  Fish was served in a variety of ways in the Washington household. Roasted and boiled fish were common dinner foods. Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery and Booke of Sweetmeats, a cookbook attributed to the First Lady, includes recipes for roasted carp, boiled trout, fried sole, and carp pie. 

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