African American chefs and cooks are at the center of that story.
By 1793, Jefferson was paying duty on imported macaroni, according to his Memorandum books.
After James Hemings left Monticello, Peter Hemings was the head cook.
Jerrelle Guy
Jefferson continued to purchase macaroni and the cheese to go with it.
But that was only the beginning.
In 1806 Edith Hern Fossett was joined in her kitchen apprenticeship by her sister-in-law Frances Gillette Hern.
That is a great deal of macaroni indeed.
Get Leni Sorensen’s recipe forMonticello’s Macaroni.
In the custom of the day, cooks taught scullions recipes and culinary techniques.
Those scullions went on to become cooks in other plantation kitchens.
Macaroni and cheese appears in the 1911 cookbook by African American pullman porter and chef Rufus Estes.
His recipe was simple, requiring only the layering of cooked macaroni, cheese, butter and milk.
Over the years I’ve gone back to the original 1820s layered recipe.
My guests at the history dinners I host rave about it.
She farmed for eight years in South Dakota and earned her M.A.
and Ph.D. from William & Mary.
