Thomas Jefferson's Crème Brûlée

Thomas Jefferson's Crème Brûlée is a must have book for lovers of history, food, and France.  I think personally would have liked this man as Thomas Jefferson quoted wine as a ‘necessary drink for life’ .......Yes I agree with that!

 However, he also considered many other things a necessity; books, salad oil, salt and hair powder.  Now I’ll go along with the lot but hair powder?!

On with the book:
This book tells the amazing story of how in 1784, Thomas Jefferson made a deal with one of his slaves, 19-year-old James Hemings who was of mixed race.  The Founding Father was traveling to Paris to serve as ambassador to France.   Jefferson wanted to bring James along for a particular purpose - to master the art of French cooking.  If James was willing to go along with the plan, Jefferson would grant his freedom.

But why did Jefferson want to do this?  

Because the American diet circa 1784 was appalling.  All meat was boiled and spices were very limited.  Vegetables were overcooked to the point of mush and even the bread was stale.  Although Thomas Jefferson had never sampled French cuisine, he had read about it, and he wanted to bring its secrets back to the United States so the two men went off to Paris......

James Hemings was apprenticed under several Master French chefs for 3 years before taking over as Chef de Cuisine in Jefferson's house on Paris' Champs d'Elysees.  James prepared extravagant meals for Jefferson's many guests.

Paris changed his life too; for the first time, he lived and felt like a free man.  Back home in Virginia all Virginians assumed that any black person they encountered was a slave.  However, slavery was unknown in France and more to the point it was illegal.  Parisians who saw black men or woman walking down through their city may have thought them exotic, but never as slaves.  But still he looked forward to the day he would return to America and become truly free.
When the men returned home in 1789, they brought Americans the gifts of: Champagne, Pasta and even a pasta machine!
French Fries as we know them today and even Mac and Cheese, Creme Brulee; and a host of other innovations.

All in all:
A great book and well worth buying especially as I said before, if you have an interest in History, Food and France this is for you.  There's even a few of Thomas Jefferson's favorite recipes included some written in his handwriting which is sometimes a mixture of French and English, so a little tricky to understand!  His recipe for Crème Brûlée is on the back cover and looks good.

Published by Quirk Books - thank you to Mat at PGUK Publishers Group UK for sending me a copy.