Thomas Jefferson’s Crème Brûlée: How a Founding Father and His Slave James Hemings Introduced French Cuisine to America

To get a spirited idea of what people ate in America and France just before the French Revolution, Craughwell (Stealing Lincoln’s Body) tracks the gastronomical pursuits of Thomas Jefferson and his 19-year-old Monticello slave in France. As America’s commerce commissioner in France from 1784 to 1789, Jefferson, a man of many talents and ample means, was determined to use his time in Europe to collect information on foods, utensils, and cooking methods that would help improve the “rude, rough-hewn” American kitchen, table, and palate. He brought his favored slave, James Hemings (half-brother to his beloved, recently deceased wife, Martha), to apprentice to the restaurateur Combeaux. Hemings learned the art of French cuisine and, once back as chef of Monticello, earned his freedom by imparting that knowledge to his younger brother. In France Jefferson assiduously traveled and collected seeds, foodstuffs, equipment, and wines, utilizing Hemings’s newly acquired skills to stage grand dinner parties at his Hotel de Langeac on the Champs-Elysees. Craughwell includes a few of Hemings’s recipes—such as the “mac and cheese” dish that would delight guests back in America—but the former slave’s slide into drinking and his shocking suicide at age 36 in 1801 opens up a host of questions left unanswered in this otherwise pleasant history lesson. (Sept.)