Random Best Recipes From US Presidents And First Ladies (14 items)

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  (#1) Lyndon B. Johnson

  • Dec. at 65 (1908-1973)

  Lyndon Baines Johnson inherited a fraught presidency after John F. Kennedy's passing. Johnson had to define himself and his own style of governance against the "high-style culture" of the Kennedys.

  To do that, Truman turned to barbecue. As Texans, LBJ and his wife Lady Bird appreciated the power of barbecue as a community-building activity. Johnson even used so-called "barbecue diplomacy" to host world leaders for informal discussions at his ranch.

  The Daily Beast shared this recipe for Lady Bird Johnson's barbecue sauce. 

  Lyndon B. and Lady Bird Johnson's Barbecue Sauce

  ¼ cup butter
  ¼ cup vinegar
  ¼ cup ketchup
  ¼ cup lemon juice
  ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
  Salt to taste
  Red pepper to taste
  Tabasco sauce to taste
  1 clove garlic, minced

  Melt butter in sauce pan. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. 
• 

  (#2) Bill Clinton

  • 73

  As a candidate and president, Bill Clinton was known for his love of meat and relished making campaign stops at McDonald's. His favorite chicken enchiladas recipe - shared by The Guardian - is fit for a meat-lover like Clinton.

  Ironically, Clinton isn't likely to enjoy this dish in the future because his meat-eating days are over: he became a vegan after undergoing a quadruple bypass in 2004. These days he enjoys a nearly vegan diet. 

  Bill Clinton's Chicken Enchiladas

  2 (4-ounce) cans green chiles, drained and chopped
  1 garlic clove, minced
  Cooking oil
  1 (28-ounce) can tomatoes
  2 cups onions, chopped
  2 teaspoons salt, divided
  1 teaspoon oregano
  3 cups cooked chicken, shredded
  2 cups sour cream
  2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
  1 cup cooking oil
  15 tortillas, corn or flour

  In a large skillet over medium-high heat, sauté the chiles and garlic in a small amount of cooking oil. Drain the tomatoes, reserving a cup of liquid. Break up tomatoes and add to skillet. Add the onion, 1 teaspoon salt, oregano, and reserved liquid. Simmer, uncovered, until thick (about 30 minutes). Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl, and set aside.

  In a large bowl, combine the chicken, sour cream, cheese, and remaining 1 teaspoon salt. In the same skillet over medium-high heat, heat 1 cup cooking oil. Dip the tortillas in the oil until they become limp and drain well on paper towels. Fill the tortillas with the chicken mixture; roll up and arrange side by side, seam side down, in a 9x13x12-inch baking dish. Pour the tomato mixture over the enchiladas. Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes or until heated thoroughly.
• 

  (#3) Theodore Roosevelt

  • Dec. at 61 (1858-1919)

  Theodore Roosevelt embraced life. As the man lived, so he ate - and Roosevelt had a sweet tooth. As first lady, Edith Roosevelt upheld her role as a supportive spouse and managed virtually all aspects of family life in the White House. She also collected and published favorite recipes.

  This recipe - as it appears in Mrs. Wilson's New Cook Book - for her spiced cake does not include instructions on how to prepare the ingredients.

  Theodore and Edith Roosevelt's Spiced Cake

  1 cup butter
  2 cups sugar
  1 cup milk
  1 teaspoon cinnamon
  4 eggs
  4 cups flour
  4 teaspoons baking powder
  ½ teaspoon nutmeg

  Bake in loaf or two layers.
• 

  (#4) Harry S. Truman

  • Dec. at 88 (1884-1972)

  Harry and Bess Truman became president and first lady of the United States in 1945 after Frederick D. Roosevelt passed. Truman, tasked with leading the United States - and much of the world - out of the rubble of WWII, remained a Missourian at heart. Ozark pudding - a bready dessert - was one way he and Bess maintained their Midwestern identity in Washington.

  Ozark pudding had a cameo in a crucial moment of 20th-century history. The Trumans actually included it on the menu when they hosted Winston Churchill in Missouri, where he delivered his famous "Iron Curtain" speech in 1946.

  Here is the original recipe, as shared by the Loveless Cafe.

  Harry and Bess Truman's Ozark Pudding

  1 egg
  ¾ cup granulated sugar
  2 tablespoons flour
  1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
  ⅛ teaspoon salt
  ½ cup chopped nuts, pecans preferred
  ½ cup raw Granny Smith apples, finely chopped
  1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  Preheat oven to 350 F. Beat egg and sugar until very smooth. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt, and stir into the sugar-egg mixture. Add apple pices, nuts, and vanilla. Bake in a buttered pie pan for at least 35 minutes. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream. 
• 

  (#5) Ulysses S. Grant

  • Dec. at 63 (1822-1885)

  Ulysses S. Grant was a military general before he became president in 1869, and his time in the military shaped his eating habits. Perhaps because he witnessed what happened to men in the heat of conflict, he could not stomach rare meat.

  In contrast to his more culinarily adventurous wife Julia, Grant's tastes were simple. One of his favorite dishes was this rice pudding recipe - reprinted from the Courier-Journal - that featured a lemony punch of flavor.

  Ulysses S. Grant's Rice Pudding

  1 tablespoon butter
  3 cups hot cooked rice
  4 eggs, separated
  2 cups half-and-half
  2 cups milk
  ½ cup sugar
  1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
  1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  ⅛ teaspoon salt

  Preheat oven to 350 F. Stir butter into rice. Beat yolks and add half-and-half, milk, sugar, lemon peel, vanilla, and salt. Beat egg whites until stiff and fold into rice mixture. Turn into a buttered, shallow 2-quart baking dish. Set in pan of hot water. Bake in oven for 1 hour or until inserted knife comes out clean. Serve warm.
• 

  (#6) Abraham Lincoln

  • Dec. at 56 (1809-1865)

  Abraham Lincoln apparently didn't have a big appetite and was pragmatic about food. In an era that prescribed men should be the breadwinners while women should be the bread-makers, Lincoln actually helped cook in his family kitchen in Springfield, IL.

  His tastes were also simple. During his childhood, Lincoln ate corn dodgers every day except Sunday. This recipe - which comes from Abraham Lincoln in the Kitchen - yields hearty and filling corn dodgers.

  Abraham Lincoln's Corn Dodgers

  2 cups coarse, stone-ground cornmeal
  ½ teaspoon salt
  1 tablespoon melted butter or bacon drippings, plus more for cooking dodgers
  1 ½ cups boiling water
  ⅓ cup regular cornmeal (optional)

  Mix the coarse cornmeal and salt in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the butter or bacon drippings. Pour the boiling water over the butter or drippings and stir carefully and thoroughly. Set aside for 20 to 30 minutes to cool. Form the loose dough into shapes like ears of corn ("dodgers") by hand, adding regular cornmeal as needed; dodgers should be around 2 inches long and 1 inch thick.

  Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet until melted. Place 6 dodgers in the skillet. Lower the heat and cook until the dodgers' bottoms are brown and tops are dry, about 8 to 10 minutes. Turn them over and brown the other side, about 5 to 7 minutes. Repeat with remaining dodgers. 

   
• 

  (#7) Thomas Jefferson

  • Dec. at 83 (1743-1826)

  Thomas Jefferson was apparently a major foodie - more than any other Founding Father, his culinary tastes were bold and daring. His time abroad as ambassador to France exposed him to continental tastes, which he brought back to America. Among the French sweet treats he helped popularize in America was ice cream. This recipe for almond macaroons - as it appears in Baking Recipes of Our Founding Fathers - reflects his love of French cuisine.

  As an owner of enslaved people, Jefferson relied on enslaved men and women to run his kitchen. One who accompanied him to Paris was James Hemings, who learned about French cuisine and eventually secured his own freedom. 

  Thomas Jefferson's Almond Macaroons

  1 pound almonds
  Boiling water
  ¾ pound powdered sugar
  3 eggs, whites only

  Put almonds in a small kettle and pour boiling water over them. Stir well and remove skins. Wash the almonds thoroughly with cold water, then dry with a clean towel. Place almonds in a food chopper and grind to a fine consistency. Transfer the almond mixture to a large wooden mixing bowl and gradually beat in powdered sugar with a wooden mixing spoon. Beat in egg whites, one at a time, until it forms a smooth paste. With a teaspoon, drop small, nut-size balls of paste on parchment paper. Bake at 275 F for 15 to 20 minutes or until done. Set aside to cool.
• 

  (#8) John Adams

  • Dec. at 91 (1735-1826)

  America's second president embodied the New England value of simplicity. Consequently, John Adams generally passed over elaborate dishes in favor of simple meals.

  As manager of the household, Abigail Adams oversaw the planning of menus and preparation of foods for the family. Her molasses cookie recipe, as published in Baking Recipes of Our Founding Fathers, uses only five ingredients. 

  John and Abigail Adams' Molasses Cookies

  1 cup butter
  2 cups molasses
  1 teaspoon cloves
  1 tablespoon ginger
  Flour to suit

  In a large wooden mixing bowl, blend all ingredients. Use enough flour to make stiff batter, not dough. Mold batter into small cookies. Place cookies on a shallow buttered cookie sheet. Bake in a moderately quick oven (350 F to 375 F) for about 12 minutes or until done. Watch cookies carefully as they tend to burn easily. 
• 

  (#9) Jimmy Carter

  • 95

  Jimmy Carter was a son of Georgia who brought his culinary tastes to the White House. Chief among his favorite foods was grits - a dish that successfully underlined Carter's down-home, man-of-the-people ethos. The family's love of the breakfast meal ran so deep they even named their dog "Grits." 

  This Carter family recipe - as published by The Daily Beast - is for baked cheese grits.

  Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's Cheesy Grits

  1 small Vidalia onion, chopped
  3 slices thick-cut bacon chopped
  4 cups chicken bouillon
  1 cup enriched white hominy grits
  1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  ½ cup butter
  2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese, divided
  Sprinkle of cayenne
  4 egg yolks
  ¼ to ½ cup cold milk
  4 egg whites, room temperature

  Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease the inside of a 2-quart casserole dish. In a small frypan, fry onions and bacon until lightly brown, set aside.

  Bring the bouillon to a boil in a 2-quart saucepan; add grits gradually, stirring with a wire whisk. Reduce heat and continue cooking, stirring vigorously, until mixture thickens. Cover and cook for 15 minutes, stirring often.

  Remove from heat and add Worcestershire sauce, butter, and 1½ cups of cheese, stirring until well blended. In a small bowl, blend egg yolks with ¼ cup milk. Pour into grits and mix thoroughly; add more milk if necessary, thinning to consistency of cream of wheat.

  In a clean, dry bowl, beat egg whites until stiff. Fold into grits. Fold in bacon and onions. Pour into prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining ½ cup of cheese.

  Bake on middle shelf of preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until fluffy and brown. Serve at once.
• 

  (#10) Barack Obama

  • 58

  When the Obamas moved into the White House, they made it a point to promote healthy living. First lady Michelle Obama did this most explicitly with her Let's Move campaign and the establishment of a White House vegetable garden.

  Barack Obama himself eats a relatively healthy diet - he eats lots of vegetables and tries to snack a lot to control hunger - and stays active. So it's no surprise that one of his favorite dishes is turkey chili, a lean twist on a comfort-food classic.  

  PBS shared the recipe:

  Barack Obama's Turkey Chili

  1 tablespoon olive oil
  1 large onion, chopped
  1 green bell pepper, chopped
  5 cloves of garlic, chopped
  1 pound ground turkey
  ½ teaspoon ground cumin
  ½ teaspoon ground oregano
  ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
  ½ teaspoon ground basil
  1 tablespoon chili powder
  3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  1 28-ounce can peeled tomatoes
  1 29-ounce can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

  Prepared white or brown rice (optional)

  Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan on medium-high heat. Add the onions and green pepper and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the meat to the pan. Once the meat has browned, add the spices. Stir in the red wine vinegar and tomatoes. Using a potato masher, mash the tomatoes. Stir in the kidney beans. Cook the chili covered for 15 minutes on medium-low heat. Serve over white or brown rice, if desired.
• 

  (#11) Dwight D. Eisenhower

  • Dec. at 79 (1890-1969)

  After being a leading player in the American offensive against Germany in WWII, Dwight D. Eisenhower was a popular figure who handily won the presidency in 1952.

  In many ways, Eisenhower's military-culled, simple tastes were in line with mid-century America's obsession with food convenience. His unflashy and meat-heavy vegetable soup recipe was as humble as the man himself.

  Dwight D. Eisenhower's Vegetable Soup

  A few pounds of meat (soup meat, beef or mutton, or both)
  Beef or mutton bone for flavoring (split down the middle, marrow exposed)

  Uncooked backs, ribs, or the back of a chicken you have used for any previous meal (optional)

  Around 5 quarts water
  1 teaspoon salt
  Dash of black pepper
  Chopped garlic or onion

  ⅓ teacupful barley
  1 quart canned tomatoes
  ½ teacupful fresh peas
  2 potatoes, diced into half-inch cubes
  2 or 3 branches of celery
  1 onion, sliced
  3 carrots, diced into half-inch pieces
  1 turnip, diced into half-inch pieces
  ½ cup canned corn
  Handful of raw cabbage, cut into small pieces
  1 tablespoon gravy seasoning

  Place meat in a heavy kettle and top with water until covered. Add salt, pepper, and garlic or onion. Bring to boil and cook until meat falls off the bone (this may take all day). Add water throughout the day to keep meat submerged. Once cooked, pour through a strainer into another kettle and refrigerate overnight. Reserve meat.

  The next day, remove all or part of the jelly that formed on top of the stock; the more jelly left on top, the richer the soup will be. In a separate pan, boil the barley. Heat the kettle of stock until it bubbles, adding in the remaining vegetables gradually, cooking the heartier ones first so the more delicate ones don't get mushy. Keep the soup bubbling as it cooks, adding more water as needed to thin. When almost finished, add reserved meat, barley, and gravy seasoning. 
• 

  (#12) Franklin D. Roosevelt

  • Dec. at 63 (1882-1945)

  During his presidency, Franklin Delano Roosevelt liked to relieve the stress of leading the country through the Great Depression and WWII by observing a happy hour every day. Roosevelt loved mixing drinks for friends, colleagues, and political allies alike. During the Tehran Conference in 1943, he mixed a martini for Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, who described the boozy concoction this way: "All right, but it is cold on the stomach."

  The FDR Library shared a recipe for the "FDR Special" martini:

  Franklin D. Roosevelt's Martini

  2 parts gin
  1 part dry, light vermouth
  Olive or lemon peel for garnish
  Chipped ice

  In a container half filled with chipped ice, shake gin and vermouth. Pour into chilled martini glasses, straining out the ice. Add garnish.

   
• 

  (#13) John F. Kennedy

  • Dec. at 46 (1917-1963)

  A son of Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy had New England in his bones. So it's little wonder that one of Kennedy's favorite recipes was seafood chowder. Chowder represents the maritime spirit of the northeastern United States because it's easy for anglers, sailors, and whalers to source and cook the ingredients.

  Though chowder comes in many varieties, from clam-based to lobster-based, Kennedy's recipe, as shared by Town & Country magazine, uses haddock in a milky broth.

  John F. Kennedy's Fish Chowder

  2 pounds haddock
  2 ounces salt pork, diced
  2 onions, sliced
  4 large potatoes, diced
  1 cup celery, chopped
  1 bay leaf, crumbled
  1 teaspoon salt
  Freshly ground black pepper
  1 quart milk
  2 tablespoons butter

  Place the haddock in a soup pot with 2 cups water and simmer for 15 minutes. Drain, reserving the broth. Remove any bones from the fish and set fish aside.

  Sauté the salt pork in the soup pot until crisp. With a slotted spoon, remove the pork and set aside. Sauté the onions in the pork fat until golden brown. Add the fish, potatoes, celery, bay leaf, salt, and pepper to taste.

  Pour in the reserved fish broth plus enough boiling water to make 3 cups liquid. Simmer for 30 minutes. Add the milk and butter and simmer for 5 minutes. Serve the chowder sprinkled with diced pork.
• 

  (#14) George Washington

  • Dec. at 67 (1732-1799)

  Though the Washingtons were the first family of the new United States of America, their culinary tastes showed their roots as former British colonists. Many of Martha Washington's recipes were colonial iterations of British foodways. These instructions for her mincemeat pie filling are based on her original recipe.

  Although Martha Washington is credited with this recipe, every aspect of George and Martha Washington's household and estate depended on the labor of enslaved people. The principal chef at Mount Vernon was an enslaved man named Hercules, who eventually fled bondage.

  George and Martha Washington's Mincemeat Pie Filling

  4 pounds veal
  4 pounds beef suet
  2 pounds raisins
  3 pounds currants
  ½ pound sugar
  ¾ ounce cloves
  ¾ ounce mace
  ¾ ounce nutmeg
  ¾ ounce cinnamon
  6 apples, peeled and shredded
  Dash of rosewater
  ¼ pint muscadine (grapes)
  Candied oranges
  Lemon, minced

  Shred together the veal and suet until very fine. Mix together with remaining ingredients.  

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