Who Eats, Who Dines, Who Tells Your Story – Review

The Hamilton Cookbook: Cooking, Eating, & Entertaining in Hamilton’s World by Laura Kumin

The Hamilton Cookbook

At the time of this writing, I have failed to win the ticket lottery to the Washington, DC production of Hamilton for about a week now.  This book may be the closest I, and so many others, will ever get to the room where it happens.  Still, for a historic food aficionado, it must suffice.

It’s hard to write a book about Alexander Hamilton’s eating habits.  Laura Kumin reveals that there is no direct historic evidence of any particular interest in food by the great man, including what he actually ate and drank, apart from some documented menus of dinners given by George Washington which Hamilton attended.  It took some sleuthing work to infer what his wife would have eaten as a girl in upstate New York, with her family’s Dutch heritage, which she might have instructed her cooks to prepare for her husband and children.  Ms. Kumin might also have found some recipes from Hamilton’s upbringing in the West Indies, adding a little spice to the otherwise rather stogy mid-Atlantic Coast diet of the time.

But only one “Dutch-style” recipe is included in the collection of 22, and one from the West Indies.  All are culled from British or North American sources, most from Hannah Glasse’s Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, and Amelia Simmons’ American Cookery.  One exceptional gem reproduces Thomas Jefferson’s handwritten recipe for vanilla ice cream.  Ms. Kumin has interpreted these recipes for the modern reader, and reproduced photocopied pages from the source material on facing pages.

None of the recipes would scare off even the most timid of modern cooks.  Indeed, one need not be worried that any exotic ingredients or equipment is needed; Ms. Kumin goes so far as to rename old recipes with reference to modern appliances (“Toaster Oven English Rabbit,” “Slow Cooker Corned Beef.”)  There is one recipe which may have been prepared in Eliza Hamilton’s household, based on her family background: “Dutch-Style Red Cabbage,” from Glasse.

But, on the whole, she has done an admirable job rendering the recipes fit for modern palates.  For “Baked Whole Whitefish,” adapted from Glasse’s “To bake a Turbot,” for instance, she wisely reduces the whole large grated nutmeg called for to ¼ teaspoon.

Although sometimes she goes too far.  I cooked the Lamb Stew, adapted from Glasse’s “A Harrico of Mutton.”  It was delicious, and the modern recipe was very easy to follow.  A touch of mace gave it an exotic, unfamiliar but pleasing flavor.  My only quibble was that Ms. Kumin adapted the “Bundle of Sweet Herbs” in the original to 1 tablespoon of fresh thyme leaves or 1 teaspoon dried; and one bay leaf.  Surely we moderns can stand a little more herbal seasoning than that for three pounds of lamb!

Lamb Stew

All the recipes are simple enough to be contained on a single page, so no Dreaded Overleaf problem.  Cook them, and you may be young and scrappy, but you won’t be hungry.

The Hamilton Cookbook: Cooking, Eating, & Entertaining in Hamilton’s World by Laura Kumin, Post Hill Press, New York, 2017.