I generally avoid any recipe that begins, “Take four calves feet and wash them without taking off the hoofs…” But because these were instructions for preparing “Wine Jellies,” one of Thomas Jefferson’s favorite dishes, I tried to pay attention. The setting was evocative: I was in the library at Keswick Hall, a luxurious inn a couple miles down the road from Thomas Jefferson’s home, Monticello, curled up in a comfy chair in front of a roaring fire leafing through various tomes about the great man’s dining habits. The third president of the United States (1801-1809, Jefferson was America’s first famous gastronome.
When my interest in calves’ hoofs waned, I turned to a book about Jefferson’s travels in France, where he served as America’s plenipotentiary to the court of Louis XVI. These were the years that transformed the future presidential palate. While he retained a lifelong fondness for the simple foods commonly served in his native Virginia — sweet potatoes and corn, for example, as well as black-eyed peas, Virginia ham, wild swan and wine made from native Scuppernong grapes — Jefferson embarked on a passionate exploration of all things French, most notably the country’s culinary achievements. He also traveled throughout France and Germany tasting wines, making detailed studies of local grape culture, and purchasing vine cuttings to ship back to America. He became such an expert on French wine, that his friends and colleagues back home relied on his advice for stocking their own cellars (in 1790, at George Washington’s request, Jefferson ordered 65 dozen bottles of wine for the presidential cellar).
Jefferson returned home an ardent Francophile, bringing with him to Washington when he was elected president not only knowledge of French cookery, but also a yearning for many of the foods he had discovered in Europe. He began importing some of the delicacies that were unavailable in America, olive oil being one of them — he once referred to the olive as “the richest gift from heaven.”
The enthusiastic epicure was on my mind again later that evening when I had dinner at Fossett’s, Keswick Hall’s handsome restaurant. The waiter set before me a small hillock of beef tartare garnished with a quail egg, pink peppercorns and a sprinkling of smoked salt. While he poured a glass of crisp and beautifully aromatic Viognier from Chrysalis Vineyards (one of Northern Virginia’s premiere modern wineries) my eyes gravitated to a large painting hanging on the restaurant wall depicting a young woman dressed in chef’s whites. The portrait is of Edith Fossett, Jefferson’s chef at Monticello, and the restaurant’s namesake.
Edith Fossett was a slave who was brought by President Jefferson from Monticello to Washington so that she could be instructed in the fine points of French cooking. Her teacher was Honore Julien, Jefferson’s chef at the presidential house. At the time, Edith was probably around 16 years old, and pregnant. She was married to Joseph Fossett, the blacksmith at Monticello.
Under Julien’s guidance, and with help also from Jefferson’s butler Etienne Lemaire, Edith Fossett learned to cook. She relied for ingredients on Lemaire’s shopping expeditions around Washington markets (we have a good idea of what he bought, for Jefferson kept detailed seasonal accounts of the available produce: broccoli, for example, he listed as being in season from April 7 to 20, endives from Sept. 27 until Feb. 29). The president’s table was soon renowned for its lavish feasts. A typical dinner might begin with soup, followed by several different meats (beef, mutton, veal, ham). The company might also be served rice and/or macaroni, both foods that Jefferson introduced to America.
As one guest wrote, there were always “plenty of wines and good.” Jefferson aspired to grow wine grapes at Monticello, but until the development of modern pesticides and fungicides, it was impossible to successfully cultivate European Vitis vinifera (the classic European wine species) in the eastern United States. If Jefferson came to dinner today, he would be thrilled to taste the world-class wines now being made in Virginia. I enjoyed one of them myself at Fossett’s, along with succulent roast lamb. It was a 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve produced by Barboursville, a winery located only a few miles from Keswick Hall. Barboursville was one of the earliest players in Virginia’s late 20th-century vinous renaissance. The winery is part of a lovely 830-acre estate (120 acres of vines) that also includes the picturesque ruins of a plantation house that once belonged to James Barbour. Barbour was governor of Virginia from 1812 to 1814, after which he served as secretary of state. Thomas Jefferson, his close friend, designed the house. Today, the ruins serve as a backdrop to the winery’s summer Shakespeare festivals.
In 1808, at the end of his second term, Jefferson retired to Monticello. Edith Fossett ruled the kitchen during this period, while Jefferson played the congenial host to a steady stream of visitors and family members. Breakfast was notoriously of the sturdy Virginia sort, featuring a variety of breads and meats, eggs, bacon, fried apples and a host of different cakes. Dinners tended to be a felicitous merger of French and Virginia fare, such as duck roasted with sage and corn pudding.
Unusual for the era, Jefferson ate relatively small amounts of meat, preferring instead fruits and vegetables, many of them grown in his beloved garden. Included in the profusion of vegetables planted at Monticello were several different kinds of beans, from haricots to kidney beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) and Scarlet Runners (Phaseolus coccineus). There were also tomatoes, artichokes and asparagus, plus a variety of different lettuces. Jefferson’s favorite herb was undoubtedly tarragon, which Edith Fossett used to enhance many foods, and also for flavoring vinegar. Most likely, his favorite vegetable was peas (19 different types of pea were planted at Monticello). Jefferson competed every spring with other gentlemen farmers to see who could harvest the first peas of the season, with the winner being obliged to host a dinner for the others; the menu would, of course, include peas. Jefferson’s dinners often ended with ice cream, which he introduced, along with vanilla, to America.
At Fossett’s, I ordered Tarte Tatin topped with vanilla bean ice-cream, reflecting on the fact that the first recipe for ice-cream in America was written in Jefferson’s handwriting. Jefferson was 65 years old when he retired to Monticello, and he lived another 18 years. A bittersweet footnote to Monticello’s kitchen legacy is that when he died, Jefferson’s estate was so heavily in debt that creditors immediately swooped down to grab what they could, and in January of 1827, the estate was sold at auction. Included in the sale were “130 valuable Negroes,” among them Edith Fossett and her seven children, sold to three different bidders, for a total of $1,350. Over the years, Joseph Fossett, who had been granted his freedom in Jefferson’s will, was able to buy back his wife and five of their children. He freed them all in 1837. The family moved to Cincinnati, where they established one of that city’s leading catering businesses.
As I sipped a glass of Barboursville Malavaxia, a rich and honeyed dessert wine, I studied the portrait of Edith Fossett more carefully. Her gaze is serene. Her chef’s toque is crisp and white. She balances a large bowl of apples on her lap, and in her left hand holds the knife she’ll use to peel them. What is she going to make with them? Applesauce to serve as a counterbalance to salty Virginia ham? Savory fried apples to accompany roast veal and wine jelly? Apple cake? I raised my glass and wished her a silent Bon Appetit.
Marguerite Thomas writes about wine, food, travel and personalities. She is the author of “Wineries of the Eastern States,” a travel guide to U.S. wineries.
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If you go
Barboursville Vineyards, 17655 Winery Road, Barboursville, Va. 22923, 540-832-3824, www.barboursvillewine.com.
Keswick Hall, 701 Club Drive, Keswick, Va., 434-979-3440 or 1-800-274-5391, www.keswick.com.
Monticello, 434-984-9800, www.monticello.org.
