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Thomas Jefferson's Creme Brulee: How a Founding Father and His Slave James Hemings Introduced French Cuisine to America
This culinary biography recounts the 1784 deal that Thomas Jefferson struck with his slaves, James Hemings. The founding father was traveling to Paris and wanted to bring James along “for a particular purpose”— to master the art of French cooking. In exchange for James’s cooperation, Jefferson would grant his freedom.
Thus began one of the strangest partnerships in Unite...more
Thus began one of the strangest partnerships in Unite...more
Hardcover, 256 pages
Published
September 18th 2012
by Quirk Books
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Betcha didn't know that Thomas Jefferson and his slave James Hemings were responsible for bringing champagne, French fries, and yes, creme brulee to the American palate. This was a fun adventure by the publisher who brought you MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDEREN.
This book seemed to pull together lots of what I already knew about Jefferson's love of food and its science, having taken the tour at Monticello and brought home both a video & cookbook related to the subject. At the same time, it added facts I'd either forgotten or never knew. I liked that the author puts Jefferson's foodie interests within the context of history, including the French Revolution. Well worth reading but can sometimes be a little dry in parts. Especially interesting for thos...more
This combines two of my favorite topics- American history and food. In 1784 Thomas Jefferson makes a deal with his slave, James Hemings. James will travel with him to France and be trained in the fine art of French cooking, and will then bring this knowledge back home to train the slaves at Monticello. After this service is completed, James is to be granted his freedom. Much of the story involves the events that are going on in France at the time, the revolution against the monarchy of Louis XVI...more
3 1/2*. I liked it fine, I knew little about Jefferson except from a visit to Monticello a few years ago, so this was interesting background. I was under the impression there was a lot about James Hemings, the son of his father in law and a slave. There was some, but it was stretched. There was much more about Jefferson and his time in Paris (against the backdrop of the impending French Revolution).
My main criticism is that this read like a PhD thesis - masses of footnotes (which I didn't bothe...more
My main criticism is that this read like a PhD thesis - masses of footnotes (which I didn't bothe...more
I read a lot of food history, and many of the books rhapsodize about Jefferson bringing French technique and food to America. This is the first to come out and really emphasize that Tom was not in the kitchen making the food and that there is more to the story than Jefferson's wine receipts and the commentary of his dinner guests. Craughwell looks into the tragic, difficult life of James Hemings, and finds in French records fuller commentary on Jefferson's decision to have one of his slaves trai...more
I had high hopes for this book, but I was disappointed - I think it may have had a lot to do with the title. James Hemings got less than a chapter's worth of discussion in total, and much of that was conjecture. I understand the difficulty of constructing a narrative for a slave in this time period, but that's what I expected to read based on the title, the back cover, and the book jacket. If the title had been, say, "Jefferson's Palate: How a Founding Father's Appetites Introduced French Cuisin...more
While an interesting conceit, Craughwell manages to do very little here that we don't already know. Here's the gist: Jefferson, as we all know, was our epicurean, polymathic Founding Father, and he had a love for the French--their land, their plants, their people, their culture. We also know that Jefferson owned slaves, and that one particular slave family, the Hemmingses, were kin to him by marriage and quite special to him.
But did we know that Jefferson took James Hemmings to France with him d...more
But did we know that Jefferson took James Hemmings to France with him d...more
This book is a delightful look at Thomas Jefferson and his love of food. The author’s writing style makes it a quick and easy read. Readers looking for a more “serious” historical record should look elsewhere -he gives a thumbnail sketch of the man, his life in politics, and acknowledges the controversy surrounding his personal life but concentrates on food. The pictures of actual recipes in Jefferson’s and Hemings’ handwriting were wonderful, I just wish there had been more transcribed so that...more
A mix of french food and history, with some of my favorite founding fathers and other famous notaries, how can it miss? I loved reading about Jefferson, his amazing gardens, Franklin and his famous inventions and his down at the heel personae he presented to the French and made them fall in love with him. John Adams who was so afraid he would not be remembered and would be overshadowed in history. But, these were all things I had read before, what was new was Jefferson taking his slave Henning w...more
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The fact that Thomas Jefferson introduced macaroni and cheese to America is relatively well-known -- maybe it's just the nerdy circles I travel in, but it's one of those pieces of trivia that seems to be tossed around with some regularity. But did you know that Jefferson tried to smuggle rice out of Italy, or that he tried to establish olive-growing in South Carolina?
This thin volume touches on a number of different topics. Far from simply being a culinary history, it covers a lot of ground: Jef...more
This thin volume touches on a number of different topics. Far from simply being a culinary history, it covers a lot of ground: Jef...more
Thomas Jefferson was a super-foodie. His garden books and personal journals reveal a guy devoted to good eats. His favorite vegetable seems to have been sweet peas, he becomes positively rhapsodic over his delectable peaches and he favored game birds such as canvasback ducks. (All good choices IMOH.)So it was just natural that when he was appointed Ambassador to France, he would take his clever and intelligent slave James Hemmings along with him to learn the art of French Cuisine. This involved...more
Who would know that Julia Child isn't solely responsible for French cooking in America! One learns that is dates back to the early president's house( now the White House). In addition how important good food, wine and conversation came together to form this country. The importance of quality ,fresh grown vegetables nothing new. Astounding to learn the Mac and Cheese is really a french! Perhaps if Marie Antoinette said let them eat Mac and Cheese instead of Cake- she would have kept her heard!
His...more
This book is largely a recount of Thomas Jefferson's time in France in the late 1780s, with a large helping concerning the training of his slave, James Hemings, towards becoming a French chef.
Concerning the compromise that led to the creation of Washington, DC, and the assumption of the states' Revolutionary War debt by the Federal government, Wikipedia reports:
Concerning the compromise that led to the creation of Washington, DC, and the assumption of the states' Revolutionary War debt by the Federal government, Wikipedia reports:
When Jefferson ran into [Alexander] Hamilton at President Washington's residence in New York City in late June 1790, Jefferson offered t...more
Short and sweet! Craughwell tried very hard to stay within the culinary aspects of Jeffeson and to speak minimally on his political life or private life. Discussion of culinary training for James Hemings, complete with his tools and recipes learned and shared upon return to America, copies of 8 in James' handwriting still in existence today. Jefferson took a three month trip through the French countryside to discover wines, types of grapes, fruits, vegetables, how they were grown, to gather seed...more
Mar 26, 2013
Xina Marie Uhl
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
audiobooks,
u-s-history
While I found this book generally enjoyable, the title seemed to promise more verve than was actually delivered. This audiobook is shorter than most - a hair over 5 cds. That is probably because the source material is more geared toward an interesting anecdote than an entire book. Most interesting to me was the descriptions of French society in the 1700s. To be fair, the author was somewhat handicapped by the lack of source material from James Hemings himself, which made him appear to be a shado...more
Mar 09, 2013
Barbara VA
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Shelves:
cooking,
france,
history,
non-fiction,
virginia,
barbara-va-s-2013-challenge,
books-read-2013
I am a reader of cookbooks! I also live in Virginia, love studying history and have lived in Europe and am a foodie, so this was a great book to read. I have known of the Hemings for years, though Sally has been the primary focus of my readings. It was interesting to see them from a totally different pint of view. Jefferson was a complicated and somewhat conflicted man, this seriously comes through here in his dealings with James.
I enjoyed reading of the wine experiments, and the imported pasta...more
I enjoyed reading of the wine experiments, and the imported pasta...more
I took a gamble on this book; part of me thought the title sounded intriguing and part of me thought it was going to be far too much detail on an esoteric side of the life of one of our Founding Fathers.
I was glad to realize that the former thought was accurate, and the latter was not so. Yes, this talked about Jefferson's time in France and his interest in the cuisine. However, it also provided a glimpse into:
- Jefferson's approach to democracy,
- His viewpoints on the early days of the French R...more
I was glad to realize that the former thought was accurate, and the latter was not so. Yes, this talked about Jefferson's time in France and his interest in the cuisine. However, it also provided a glimpse into:
- Jefferson's approach to democracy,
- His viewpoints on the early days of the French R...more
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, not just for the Jefferson family history, but for a glimpse of the lifestyle during that period in America. The kitchen practices and customs of the time are a fascination to me, and I feel we are so lucky to have had a variation in cuisine introduced to what was clearly a limited variety and lifestyle (to our way of living currently).
The role of the Hemings family, and all of the slaves in Jefferson's household, was complex- this book did much to enlighten that...more
The role of the Hemings family, and all of the slaves in Jefferson's household, was complex- this book did much to enlighten that...more
this was a well-written read, but the subject matter is decidedly lacking. It's a very interesting look at Jefferson's time in France, specifically about the culinary traditions that he discovered and brought back, but there's simply very little there there. James Hemmings gets short shrift, due to the paucity of information about him, and in the end, the author admits that Jefferson's love of French cuisine and modes of gastronomic pleasure didn't impress itself in America until the twentieth c...more
"Thomas Jefferson’s Creme Brulee is a charming book that will appeal to both foodies and lay readers. Die-hard history buffs, however, might be disappointed that it doesn’t tackle the more famous connection between Jefferson and the Hemings family—namely, his relationship with Sally Hemings. Through its anecdotes of Jefferson’s social life and James’s study of French cuisine, the book winds up providing a fascinating history of an unusual sort." --Oline Eaton
ForeWord Reviews reviewed this book o...more
ForeWord Reviews reviewed this book o...more
Certainly not an in-depth study of Jefferson, by any means, but a decent reflection on his time spent at his home (and gardens) of Monticello as well as the time he spent in Paris, where he took one of his house slaves (and also a family member of his wife) to learn French cuisine at the hands of a master...this when most of Colonial America was eating very simply...plain food. He tried and failed to establish a vineyard in Virgina during his time. Now many award-winning vineyards flourish. Some...more
I enjoyed this little slice of history, but I think it will probably be most interesting to foodies. I was entertained by the details about cuisine in Paris and the early US but finally I came away with an impression of Jefferson as someone who could be inspired and brilliant in some ways, but was incredibly myopic and self-centered when it came to the treatment of his slaves. Be sure to read the final section, which tells about the ultimate fate of many of the people in the book. A lot of trage...more
Historically interesting, especially about the relationship between Jefferson and James Hemmings from the culinary perspective? I had always believed that their relationship was contentious as Jefferson did not immediately release James as promised from slavery upon his return to the US and Jefferson's relationship with Sally Hemmings. I would have enjoyed more talk about his culinary experiences and copies of the recipes that were more legible. My last comment is that the novel is too short, 15...more
I received this book through the GoodReads First-Reads program.
To start off, the title of this book is misleading. In an effort to remain objective and factual, the narrative doesn't contain much information about the time James Hemings spent in France, or elsewhere, likely because there is little to no record of it. It's disappointing but understandable from a storytelling perspective. However, when your secondary protagonist shows up only occasionally and then only from a distance, perhaps the...more
To start off, the title of this book is misleading. In an effort to remain objective and factual, the narrative doesn't contain much information about the time James Hemings spent in France, or elsewhere, likely because there is little to no record of it. It's disappointing but understandable from a storytelling perspective. However, when your secondary protagonist shows up only occasionally and then only from a distance, perhaps the...more
This was an interesting enough little book, but not as indepth as I was hoping. Not a lot about actual cooking techniques, only a few recipes mentioned, and despite the subtitle, almost nothing about either creme brulee or James Hemings. I know there probably weren't many sources on a slave of the period, but then don't put him in the subtitle. There was actually more in the book on the French Revolution than there was either actual cooking information or information on Hemings. So it was a litt...more
As an almost exclusively fiction reader, I was hesitant to pick up this book. My book club decided to read it this month and I figured even though I no longer live in the same town, or can attend this month's meeting via Skype, that I should at least read it. It turned out to be much more engaging as a novel than I expected! I was pleasantly surprised. I did find some of the chapters redundant, but still, all in all, it was an enjoyable read.
I don't claim to know much of anything about founding...more
I don't claim to know much of anything about founding...more
Since I had an ARC, the recipes that are supposed to be in here were missing, so my rating for this is lower than it may have been. As for the book itself, it is almost as much a history of the French Revolution as it is of Jefferson's stay in France as an ambassador. The beginning focus seems to be on James Hemmings and his education in French cookery, but the book wanders away from that quickly in favor of the French history. Easy read and not too stuffy,foodies and Jefferson historians will l...more
A quick, interesting read for Jefferson fans and foodies alike. How his years in Paris and traveling in France and northern Italy influenced both the man and the national cuisine. The dealings with James Hemings, Jefferson's slave and legally-unrecognized brother-in-law also fascinate. Don't look for much of sister Sally here, though.
If you enjoy this, you might also like The Hemingses of Monticello and The Women Jefferson Loved.
If you enjoy this, you might also like The Hemingses of Monticello and The Women Jefferson Loved.
This book had some interesting facts in it, like how restaurants got started. Jefferson was a fascinating man, accomplished a lot, had many interests, was involved in a lot of farming which he loved, etc. However, I still think his decision to have an affair with Sally Hemings when he was middle-aged and she just a young defenseless teenager was not worthy of his character. It makes him seem just short of a pedophile.
Nov 17, 2012
Rebecca Huston
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Shelves:
18th-century,
america,
cookbooks,
non-fiction,
france,
virginia,
2012-around-the-us-in-52-books
While this was interesting for the food history about French and American styles during the late eighteenth century, and Thomas Jefferson's time in France and Italy, this book was only mediocre for me. I was hoping that there would be more about people were eating, and what they were eating. But instead, it only touched on those topics lightly, and did not provide any redactions or recipes within the books. Pity. While you can go to the author's website to find them, it would have been much more...more
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