The Original White House Cookbook was given to me as a Christmas Gift last year. Originally published in 1887, it was reprinted in 2003 in a royal blue hardback cover with gold embossed titling and gilt-edged pages, that feels appropriate.

On the inside, the book is dedicated:

“To the wives of our Presidents, those noble women who have graced the White House, and whose name and memories are dear to all Americans, this volume is affectionately dedicated.” From the author, F.L. Gillette

The book is technically a cookbook but I enjoy it more as a readable history, and as an experimental or just for fun cooking book. It’s delightful to read through all of the cooking techniques that we still do the same way today, over a hundred years later, and also to scratch my head and wonder what she’s talking about in other instances. I also often find myself very grateful for all of my modern conveniences every time she mentions “brisk fire” and places like “root cellar”.

Originally meant to be all-encompassing, it is, with the contents covering almost everything in the kitchen: proper carving techniques, management of state dinners at the White House, “Facts Worth Knowing”, French words in cooking, articles required for cooking, table etiquette, and, of course, recipes.

Recipes are written in a much different style than we are used to, however. Instead of a list of ingredients followed by numbered instructions, they are written out in paragraph form, rarely taking more than a paragraph or two total. Mrs. Gillette assumes you know your way around the kitchen before you ever open her book. This is fine if you live in 1887 and already know your way around her kind of kitchen but to us some of the instructions are a little vague. For examples, selecting knuckles of veal, cracking bones, brisk fires, measurements labeled simply as “spoonful”, or my favorite: “after the rabbit has been cleaned and washed…” But, of course. That comes naturally to me every day.

Having made fun though, I thoroughly enjoy the book and there are some recipes I have made that I’d heard of but never seen before. Potato croquettes is a good example. I’d seen them listed on old fashioned menus before but never seen an actual recipe. They’re basically a version of what we grew up calling potato pancakes, only shaped into balls. The recipe for pound cake literally calls for one pound each of butter, flour, currants, sugar, and nine eggs. I don’t think there’s any question where its name came from. The book also gives detailed instructions on how to make things like butter, cottage cheese, and cream cheese. There is a section on bread and cake baking tips, candy making, canning, jelly making, and one of my favorite sections is twelve weeks’ worth of White House menus for that year and lists the page in the book where the recipes are found.

The White House Cookbook is a fascinating peek into culinary history. It’s not a cookbook I use on a daily basis but it is one I pick up on a rainy day to thumb through for fun. I enjoy imagining what life was like in the White House kitchen and dining room at the turn of two centuries ago and it’s one of my favorite gifts I’ve received.

Glenna Anderson Muse