Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 11, 1990 TAG: 9007110197
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Beth Macy
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Long
Sitting in his garden pavilion, he'd leaf through the magazines, marveling at recipes like duckling pate with foie gras and pistachios. He'd make special note of the kitchen equipment mentioned, double-checking his own inventory against the most state-of-the-art.
And he might just be amused - and pleased - by the fact that today's haute cuisine is just as haughty as it was back when he was planting more than 30 varieties of peas at Monticello.
Make your own pasta? Jefferson was doing it centuries before we were born. In the late 1700s, he made macaroni history, being the first to introduce the pasta maker to the United States.
Tarragon vinegar? Olive oil? Jefferson went to pains to make sure his Monticello kitchen was equipped with imported foodstuffs like those and more.
He was, to be sure, gourmet long before gourmet was hip, or even much of a mainstream possibility.
"When it came to cuisine, he was very cosmopolitan for his time," Susan Stein says.
Curator of the third president's estate, Stein sees to it that all the details of Monticello - from its 1,000-foot-long vegetable and herb garden, to its wine cellars and kitchen - are kept according to the meticulous logs and journals that Jefferson left when he died in 1826.
A recent tour of Monticello proved that intellectually, socially and gastronomically, Jefferson was way ahead of his times.
Growing today in his restored garden are many foods that you'd be hard-placed to find in your neighborhood grocery: succory, endive, savoy, artichokes, eggplant and nasturtium (the flowers of which he ate). He experimented with 250 varieties of fruits and vegetables - none too exotic, none too mundane.
And peas. Jefferson could definitely wax about the dozens of different peas he grew.
Every year, he'd compete with the neighboring farmers to see who could produce the earliest peas. The winner - usually Jefferson, so the story goes - had to serve up a dinner that featured peas for all the other neighbors.
"You can't help but get tired of reading Jefferson's ecstasies on peas," says Blacksburg's George Shackleford. A recently retired Virginia Tech history professor, Shackleford has both professional and personal reasons for being a Jefferson buff: He's his great-great-great-grandson and even has his own future resting spot on the Monticello burial grounds.
And he's working on a book, called "Jefferson's Notes on Europe," that includes some insights on why Jefferson was such a bon vivant.
American minister to France from 1784 to 1789, Jefferson returned to the United States with new ideas on both diplomacy and food. He cultivated the ultimate combination of Virginian and French cooking, spawning such novelties as French fries and vanilla ice cream served inside of hot pastries.
In fact, Jefferson came home from France so Frenchified, Patrick Henry once complained "that he abjured his native victuals."
He also came home with a vast knowledge of European wines and with cuttings from some of the finest vineyards. But unfortunately, Virginia's soil and climate turned much of his winemaking efforts into sour grapes. (Jefferson would be pleased to note that grapes are currently being grown at Monticello and sent to area wineries for winemaking.)
In 1790, when serving as secretary of state under George Washington, Jefferson ordered 65 dozen bottles of wine for the president. And as late as 1818, all but six lines of the congratulatory letter he wrote the new President James Monroe were devoted to a disquisition on the best wines of the time for official entertaining.
During Jefferson's own presidency, the President's house was famous for both its cuisine and its cellar. As the ever-frugal John Adams once remarked, "I dined a large company once or twice a week. Jefferson dined a dozen every day. I held levees once a week. Jefferson's whole eight years was a levee."
At Monticello, remnants of Jefferson's exacting standards remain. Its surprisingly small kitchen, along with separate rooms for cool storage of food and wines, lie among the dependencies along the unseen, all-weather passage connected to the main house. His cookware included several copper-bottomed pans that he brought back from France and many other implements considered sophisticated for the time.
Jefferson had an aversion to the presence of servants during his 4 p.m. dinner, so he stole from the French the idea of the dumbwaiter, a stand with shelves that contained plates of food. Guests usually served themselves from the dumbwaiter, although it is said that Jefferson himself would sometimes do the honors.
Slaves would bring the food up from the kitchen dependency into the main house. They would enter the serving room, adjacent to the dining room, and place the plates on a set of circular shelves, or rota, that rotated the food into the next room without communication or even sight.
In the end, Jefferson had literally eaten himself out of house and home. Enormously in debt when he died, he owed much of his insolvency to his lavish entertaining habits.
The tradition of fine cooking was carried on at Monticello and inherited by Jefferson's grandchildren. Each of the six granddaughters carefully copied the favorite "rules" and "receipts" of the household - just as Jefferson had done in Europe - preserving them and passing them down generations.
Marie Kimball's 1976 book, "Thomas Jefferson's Cook Book," adapted many of these recipes for modern use (substituting cup measurements for weights, a food chopper for mortar and pestle, and ingredients such as gelatin for calves' hooves).
Here are a few of the book's more typical recipes. (Cholesterol-watchers, beware.)
Biscuit de Savoye
Biscuit de Savoye
Separate 6 eggs. Beat the yolks until lemon colored and light. Add 6 tablespoonfuls of sugar and the grated rind of one orange. Beat well; add 6 tablespoons of sifted flour mixed with [ teaspoon of salt. Beat the egg whites until stiff and dry. Fold into the first mixture. Butter a cake mould and dust with sugar. Turn the mixture into this and set in a slow oven. Bake from 30 to 40 minutes, or until cake shrinks from edge of pan.
\ Blanc Mange
\ Blanch and remove skins from 1/4 pound almonds, along with 5 or 6 bitter almonds. Put through food chopper, using finest grinder. Add gradually, stirring constantly, 2 cups thin cream. Stir in 3 tablespoons of sugar, and a few grains of salt. Soak 1 scant tablespoonful of gelatin in 2 tablespoons cold water for 5 minutes. Dissolve in 1/4 cup of boiling water. Add to almond mixture, stirring well together. Strain through a fine sieve, pour into moulds, "and it is done."
\ A French Soup Maigre
\ Take a large lump of butter and a tablespoonful of flour. Brown them in the saucepan in which the soup is to be made. Chop until fine 6 carrots, 2 onions, 4 stalks of celery, 2 potatoes, and some sorrel. Mix them together, put them into the saucepan, add pepper and salt to taste, and pour on boiling water until generously covered. Let them stew for three or four hours. They can hardly simmer too long. A little thyme, parsley, cress and mint are a great improvement, added to the above ingredients.
\ Chicken Pie
\ Boil 2 young chickens in salted water barely to cover them for one-half hour. Have a sprig of parsley, a few celery leaves and 2 whole cloves in the water. Cut them in small pieces, removing all skin. Have a deep dish lined with pastry, already baked. Put in a layer of chicken, sprinkle with flour, salt, pepper, a little mace and some of the chopped hearts and livers. Continue until dish is full. Pour in as much of the liquor in which the chickens were cooked as the dish will hold. Wet the edges of the pastry with water, lay on the top crust, close the edges carefully, prick well, and bake until the top crust is done. The crust for a chicken pie should be thicker than for a fruit pie.
\ Fish with Potatoes
\ Boil and shred your fish. Have ready some mashed potatoes. Mix them, in equal quantities, with 2 tablespoonfuls of butter, 1/4 teaspoonful of grated nutmeg, 1/8 teaspoonful of pepper, 1/2 teaspoonful of salt and 2 tablespoonfuls of brandy. Beat well. If too stiff add more cream or milk. Turn into a dish lined with piecrust and bake until set.
\ Sweet Potato Pudding
\ Boil 1 pound of sweet potatoes until tender. Rub them through a sieve. Add 5 well-beaten eggs, 1 1/2 cups of sugar, 1 cup of butter, the grated rind of 1 lemon, a dash of nutmeg, and a wineglass of brandy. Line a baking dish with pastry and pour in the mixture. Sprinkle with sugar and bits of citron and bake in a slow oven until set.
When you visit . . .
Monticello is on State Route 53, 3 miles southeast of Charlottesville. It is open daily except Christmas. Summer hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; winter hours 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission is $7 for adults, $6 for senior citizens, $2 for children 6 to 11; group rates are available. Telephone (804) 295-8181.
The\ Thomas Jefferson Visitors Center, nearby at State Route 20 and I-64, has an exhibit on "Thomas Jefferson at Monticello" as well as detailed information on Charlottesville-area tourist sites. Open daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. Telephone (804) 295-8181.
The\ Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants offers plants for sale from April to October at its shop near the Monticello shuttle station. You can also obtain a seed list beginning in January 1991 by sending a self-addressed, stamped, business-size envelope to the Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants, Monticello, Box 316, Charlottesville, Va. 22902.
The\ University of Virginia in Charlottesville was founded by Jefferson and built according to his plans. For guided tours, telephone (804) 924-1019.
\ Ash Lawn-Highland, the home of James Monroe, is open to the public daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tours of the house, the grounds and crafts demonstrations are featured. Cost is $6 for 12 and over, $1.50 for children. This year, a summer music festival featuring opera, jazz and gospel music is being held through mid-August. Ash Lawn is 2.5 miles beyond Monticello on State Route 795. For more information, call (804) 293-9539.
\ The Historic Michie Tavern, a half-mile from Monticello on State Route 53, dates back to pre-Revolutionary War days. The restaurant portion offers Southern-style buffet, and a general store and gristmill are available for touring free. Admission fee for tours of the tavern section are $5 for adults ages 12 through 59, $4.50 for senior citizens and $1 for children 6 to 11. Telephone (804) 977-1234.
\ The Discovery Museum, a hands-on children's museum, is located on the east end of the Downtown Mall in Charlottesville's Historic District. Charge is $3 for adults, $2 for children 1 to 13, and $2 for senior citizens. Telephone (804) 293-5528.
by CNB