Abraham Lincoln in the Kitchen (37 page)

PEAS À LA FRANÇAISE

 

This easy
French-inspired dish is the essence of spring. Of course, the original recipe used fresh peas and new green onions pulled from the garden. You could use them as well; the initial cooking time will be longer and you may need to add a bit of water along with the butter so that they don't stick to the pan
.

2 ½ pounds fresh peas, shelled, or 14 ounces frozen peas

2 tablespoons butter

1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced including about half of the green stem

2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

½ cup water

1 tablespoon butter, at room temperature, plus more to thicken sauce

1 tablespoon flour

For fresh peas, cook in boiling salted water until just tender, about 2 to 10 minutes; drain. For frozen peas, thaw slightly. Over medium heat, melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the peas, onions, and parsley. Stir from time to time, until the peas are warmed through and the onions begin to look soft. Add the water and stir to blend. While the water is coming up to a boil, mash the butter into the flour. Then drop bits of it into the simmering liquid. You may only need about half of this flour mixture. Stir until the mixture thickens slightly into a thin sauce.

Makes 4 to 6 servings

ADAPTED FROM “PEAS à LA FRANÇAISE,” CHARLES ELMé FRANCATELLI,
THE COOK'S GUIDE, AND HOUSEKEEPER'S & BUTLER'S ASSISTANT
, 1857.

CRANBERRY PIE

 

This is a wonderful pie. Refreshing, tangy, and rich, a small slice is all you need
.

2 cups fresh
cranberries

2 cups sugar

¼ cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon water

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Double-Crust Pie Dough

Whipped cream or ice cream, to serve

Chop the cranberries in a food processor until about ¼-inch dice. Put into a saucepan and add the sugar and flour. Stir well, then add 1 tablespoon water. Begin cooking over low heat, stirring constantly until the sugar and flour are dissolved into the released cranberry juices. Continue cooking until the mixture is very thick, about 15 minutes. Cool and stir in the vanilla.

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Roll out one circle of pie dough and line an 8-inch pie plate. Roll the second circle of dough and cut into ¾-inch strips to weave into a lattice. Pour cooled cranberry filling into the lined pie plate. Top with the second lattice crust. Bake for 15 minutes. Lower the heat to 350°F and continue baking until the juices bubble up and the crust is light brown, about another 30 minutes. Cut into thin pieces and serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

Makes one 8-inch pie, to serve 12

ADAPTED FROM PERIOD SOURCES.

SUMMER COTTAGE, SOLDIER'S BREAD

W
ashington was at its steamy, miasmal best as I sat in the back seat of the taxi taking me three miles from the Mall and toward the city's northern boundary to the “Lincoln Cottage.” I was headed to President Lincoln's summer retreat on the grounds of what was known during his time as the
Soldiers' Home, a hospital and residence for about 150
retired soldiers who didn't have the means to care for themselves. Many were veterans of the
War of 1812. In addition to the dormitory building, there were three three-story homes on the grounds that provided housing for the senior administrators and chief physician. Abraham Lincoln's immediate predecessor,
James Buchanan, was the
first president to spend time in one of those houses and doubtless recommended it to the Lincolns. The Lincoln family spent the summers of 1862, '63, and '64 at the Soldiers' Home, arriving sometime in early to mid-June and leaving in late October or November each year.

In the summer of 1862, the Lincoln family, especially Mary Lincoln, needed “quiet” and a measure of privacy. In February the seeming war normalcy was shattered. On February 5 the couple hosted an extraordinary reception. Mary Lincoln decided to break with tradition and have a very large, formal, and invitation-only event with a midnight supper instead of the usual season-long series of open-door levees and small state dinners. This event would have the best of both, and it also enabled her to celebrate the just-completed restoration and redecoration of the
White House public rooms. The event began at nine o'clock in the evening.
The Marine Band played as the
Washington elite gathered wearing their finest attire, and the
Lincolns received their guests in the East Room. The doors to the dining room opened at midnight and five hundred guests feasted upon “mounds of turkey, duck, ham, terrapin and pheasant” served with excellent champagne and other
wines until three o'clock in the morning.

The reception was a huge success, but it was overshadowed by the illness of the Lincolns' middle son, Willie. When he had become sick a week or so earlier, doctors thought he would recover. But his illness worsened. All during the party the Lincolns slipped upstairs to check on their fevered boy. Only days later Tad was also seriously ill with what scholars think was most probably typhoid fever. Willie died on February 20. Tad remained ill for weeks but slowly recovered.

The
family moved out to the
cottage in June. Mary wrote, “In the loss of our idolized boy, we naturally have suffered such intense grief, that a removal from the scene of our misery was found to be very necessary.” She took comfort in the place. “We are truly delighted with this retreat, the drives & walks around here are delightful, & each day brings its visitors.”

The
National Trust for Historic Preservation has carefully restored the cottage where the Lincolns stayed. It opened as a historic site for the first time in 2008.

Holding my 1861 edition of
Bohn's Hand-Book of Washington
securely in my hand, I carefully opened the back cover, gently unfolded the attached map, and traced the taxi's journey up Georgia Avenue toward Rock Creek Church Road in Northwest Washington, D.C. In 1862 this was the Seventh Street Turnpike, the route Lincoln took morning and evening to and from the White House. Written before the war,
Bohn
describes “the drives leading to this retreat” as “among the most agreeable in the District.”

The heat-trapping sprawl of Washington accompanied me on my ride. It wasn't until we turned off onto Upshur Street that I could sense the peaceful possibilities. Seven short blocks later, we passed through the Eagle Gate and quickly into another world. After spending four hours on these quiet grounds, I considered that this place might, in fact, be the best spot to experience the Washington of the 1860s. The
Soldiers'
Home continues to provide service to today's veterans, although it is now known as the Armed Forces Retirement Home, but the open spaces, cooling breezes, and sweeping views of
Lincoln's time are still there. As with the Lincoln Boyhood Home in Indiana, the cottage and surroundings are just enough removed from traffic to allow visitors to travel back in time. Sitting on the steps, or under one of the mature trees, I could almost completely shut out the modern world and reflect on the images and stories of Lincoln that soldiers and others wrote for us to consider.

Even at its tourist-swamped worst, the
Washington, D.C., we visit is refreshing compared to the summer city during the
Civil War years. The Washington Monument stood unfinished like a broken, ancient Roman ruin. The old and small Capitol dome was being replaced with the larger, soaring dome. The great Mall between the two was an empty lawn, save for the newly constructed redbrick Smithsonian Institution, which housed “the various curiosities and collections brought home by the Exploring Expeditions.” Soldiers were camped everywhere.

Twenty hospitals were scattered about the city for the battle wounded, and reporter
Noah Brooks likened the atmosphere throughout Washington to an “insidious enemy.” “This ill-drained, badly governed, ill-kept, and dirty city built upon a marsh and bordered by a stinking canal which is but an open sewer, will certainly be the scene of a deadly pestilence during the coming summer … [reeking] with garbage, offal and filth, heaps of which accumulate in back streets, lanes, door yards, and vacant lots.” He
described the canal as filled to the top with debris and “offal from the sewers.” I thought about all the horses kicking up fetid, manure-contaminated dust with every stride and my eyes began to water.

The cottage was a good place for the president to escape the heat and disease-riddled air and to gain perspective among a small group of friends and callers. Yes, there were visitors—military, political, and social (both invited and surprise guests)—but Lincoln could sit out on the porch and play a game of checkers with Tad and then ask a soldier if “he would like a game.”