Frozen treats on the Fourth

Food played a critical role in the American Revolution.

Tomorrow, the Fourth of July, food is as important as fireworks. And why not? After all, the American Revolution had deep culinary connections. Moreover, the chief author of the document we commemorate tomorrow would think Independence Day victuals no trivial matter.

As James Comer notes, along with American political independence came independence in cookery as Yankee cookbooks replaced old English ones. Though Root and de Rochemont argue persuasively that Americans willfully ignored the opportunity to achieve complete independence from one of the least admired institutions of the British Isles -- its cuisine -- it is nonetheless true that the Revolutionary War prompted significant changes on America's tables.

For example, many people, as a sign of national loyalty, began to drink coffee instead of tea. Indeed, just a couple of years before declaring independence, the colonists had dumped loads of English tea into Boston Harbor. As Nathan Schachner declares, "It was tea -- the fragrant brew associated with fragile cups, crooked fingers and cozy gossip -- that finally sent the ball rolling on the road to revolution."

Similarly, whiskey became more popular than rum, another beverage which figured in its share of tense relations with the mother country. As Root and de Rochemont suggest, "If the Revolution had not been sparked by tea, it might have been by rum ... ." They note, too, that the institution of moonshine whiskey had its roots in the Revolution. Even George Washington and Thomas Jefferson operated distilleries on their estates. It also spawned a brand of whiskey, "Old 1776," claiming on its label to have been "Born with the Republic."

From the Marquis de Lafayette (who fittingly became enamored of the American cause over a grand lunch with the Duke of Gloucester) we learn how pivotal a role hunger assumed in the outcome of the Revolutionary War. Ultimately, Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown because he and his men, in contrast to the better-fed troops commanded by Washington, were starved into submission.

Finally, emphasizing the culinary underpinnings of America's fight for independence, Root and de Rochemont, noting that the firebrand Samuel Adams suffered from ulcers, speculate that America's road to independence might have been less tortuous had every colonial leader been well-fed and blessed with agreeable digestion like Thomas Jefferson.

Maybe so. But even with healthy stomachs none of the Founding Fathers could rival Jefferson when it came to gastronomy, because in addition to being a statesman, a philosopher, a diplomat, a legislator, a man of letters, an architect, an inventor, a lawyer, and a citizen of the world, the author of the Declaration of Independence was also America's first gourmet.

As Root and de Rochemont put it, Jefferson was "a pushover for the seductiveness of food." An avid collector of recipes, his interest in the delights of the table was so great that Lucy Barajikian maintains he counted his introduction of certain crops to the South nearly as important as his writing of the Declaration.

Marie Kimball says Jefferson was among the greatest epicures of his day. His passion for good cooking was so great that he took one of his slaves to Paris with him for culinary training and only freed him later on the condition that he would in turn train another to take his place. That slave was James Hemings, brother of Sally, for whom Jefferson is alleged to have also had a passion.

As Margaret Brown Klapthor of the Smithsonian notes, every detail of gracious living merited Jefferson's personal attention and he was equally at home whether coordinating the social life of the capital or overseeing the destiny of the country. According to Kimball he gave as much thought to selecting a chef as he did to choosing a minister plenipotentiary. He copied down recipes as solemnly as he signed a treaty. Even while president he found time to carefully monitor the wares at the Washington market and it was not uncommon for him to accompany his head steward on shopping excursions. No wonder that during Jefferson's administration, dinner at the White House, as Edythe Preet points out, "was a gustatory as well as a political tour de force."

But, as Kimball documents, Jefferson's reputation as a gourmet was secure long before he was elected president. Living in Paris as minister to the court of Louis XVI he became engrossed in French cooking. As he traveled around the rest of Europe he assiduously sampled indigenous foods. In Holland, after tasting waffles for the first time, he lost no time in acquiring a waffle iron. In Amsterdam, pleased with the taste of Hyson's tea, he took half a pound along with him. At Nancy he bought chocolate, in Nice he purchased Ortolans, at Rozzano he took painstaking notes on the making of Parmesan cheese, in southern France he undertook a comparative study of various oranges, out of Piedmont he smuggled a special strain of rice (in direct violation of Italian law).

Such curiosity made Jefferson a culinary trailblazer. He introduced macaroni to this country. He was the first to plant tomatoes in the United States. Because of him the potato finally got its due. By routinely serving his guests ice cream wrapped in warm pastry, he, in effect, invented baked Alaska nearly a century before it made its first appearance at New York's Delmonico's restaurant.

As Kimball notes, under Jefferson the executive mansion was as famous for its cellar as for its cuisine. Klapthor calls him the greatest wine connoisseur ever to live in the White House. Accepted among his contemporaries as the ultimate authority on the subject, he studied viniculture and was conversant with the finest wines of the world. Not surprisingly, all but six lines of his congratulatory letter to newly elected President Monroe is devoted to recommended wines for official entertaining.

Thomas Jefferson may have immortalized the words "all men are created equal," but his own culinary biography clearly demonstrates that not all palates are.

Thomas Jefferson's Recipe for Ice Cream

The first American recipe for ice cream is in Thomas Jefferson's own handwriting, copied by him and brought back from France. It was so intricately detailed that it involved 18 separate procedures. This updated version by Marie Kimball, editor of "Thomas Jefferson's Cook Book," streamlines the operations without sacrificing any of the richness and flavor of the original.

Ingredients:

6 egg yolks

1 cup sugar

pinch of salt

1 quart cream

2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions:

Beat yolks until thick and lemon colored. Gradually add sugar and salt. Bring cream to a boil and add slowly to egg mixture. Cook in the top of a double boiler until thickened. Strain mixture and let cool. Add vanilla and freeze in ice cream freezer according to manufacturer's directions.

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