Abraham Lincoln in the Kitchen

[Donna McCreary]

As the author of Lincoln’s Table: A Culinary Journey from Cabin to Cosmopolitan, I purchased a copy of Abraham Lincoln in the Kitchen: A Culinary View of Lincoln’s Life and Times mainly to compare the two books. They are nothing alike. The author, Rae Katherine Eighmey, has entered examples of her cooking skills in two state fairs and won blue ribbons for her endeavors. Her focus is food – not Lincoln.
The author clearly wished to write about 19th century cooking, and used Lincoln’s stories as a way to weave the history of food into a palatable tale. There are 55 period recipes within the book. While it is within the realm of possibility that Lincoln may have eaten some of these, for many there is no documentation that he actually did. Most of the recipes included are simply examples of a variety of recipes from popular 19th century cookbooks. For example – since Lincoln traveled to New Orleans, the author included a recipe for New Orleans Chicken Curry and a recipe for making curry powder. We do know that Mary Lincoln mentioned Irish servants in a letter to her sister; therefore, the recipe for Irish Stew was included. To remember the German immigrants, Eighmey included a recipe for German Beef with Sour Cream. Eighmey also believed that a Portuguese servant in the home would have prepared “minced beef the Portuguese way.” The book’s focus is more about how American cuisine changed as more immigrants entered the country – not what Lincoln and his family actually enjoyed.
I also question some of the author’s conclusions regarding what the Lincoln family had available in Kentucky and Indiana. She claims they did not have wheat flour and their baked goods were made with corn meal. Personally, I believe Thomas Lincoln could have bartered or purchased wheat flour. Eighmey claims there are no menus from the White House years. I found several when researching material for Lincoln’s Table.
For those interested in how pioneers prepared and ate food, this book does have useful information. As a study of the Lincoln family’s dining habits, it is severely lacking.