I have a question about Thomas Jefferson and, uh, French fries.

According to the Monticello website, there are eight recipes written in TJ's own hand that survive. None of these is French fries.

However, the Internet and published research claim varying degrees of Jeffersonian responsibility--including "in his own hand"--for a recipe called "Pommes de terre frites à cru, en petites tranches" (raw potatoes fried, as small strips).

I'm going to believe the Monticello people--especially because the LOC has the "TJ wrote it himself" mss online. So my question is: where/who is this Jeffersonian fries recipe from? There are a whole bunch of cookbooks associated with the family.^1

Is it just Mary Randolph's (which she clearly stole from an enslaved woman) recipe labelled "To Fry Sliced Potatos [sic]"?

Peel large potatos, slice them about a quarter of an inch thick, or cut them in shavings round and round, as you would peel a lemon; dry them well in a clean cloth, and fry them in lard or dripping. Take care that your fat and frying-pan are quite clean; put it on a quick fire, watch it, and as soon as the lard boils and is still, put in the slices of potatos, and keep moving them till they are crisp; take them up, and lay them to drain on a sieve; send them up with very little salt sprinkled on them.

In the 1936 Thomas Jefferson Cook-Book compiled by top-notch TJ scholar and Monticello curator Marie Kimball, the Google Books preview turns up a recipe for French beefsteak that includes fries on the side. But Kimball directly credits this one to Annette, one of the women TJ enslaved. Maybe there are others in this book not visible online? The Monticello website notes:

There is also a document, described by Marie Kimball as "a list of suitable methods of cooking various viands and, often, of the proper sauces to accompany them." The manuscript is in French, in Jefferson's hand.

I'm working on getting a copy of the TJCB, but I thought someone here might know already. ;)

^1 Scroll down on the Monticello page I linked; it's kind of impressive.

Suckling a king’s nipples was a medieval gesture of submission that may have extended as far back as the Late Bronze Age

http://nautil.us/issue/27/dark-matter/the-curious-case-of-the-bog-bodies

​

Yikes - Where on earth is this recorded?

I am not usually one for commemoration. Speeches, handshakes, awards, self-congratulations...On March 1 the Onion posted a headline of " White History Year Resumes", which summarizes my basic complaint about such things. But Harper's Ferry Historical Park has been commemorating their 75th anniversary, and they have tried to bring in some good speakers. They have not forgotten that 200 years ago this year John Hall opened his innovative shop there that was the basis for what later would be called The American System of interchangeable parts manufacturing, and they've actually had Merritt Roe Smith speak once, and he and Park historian David Gilbert will be back on June 29th, talking in the tent at the foot of the hill at 4 PM. There are some brass bands and whatnot on the calendar as well, but it's good to see some efforts made to do more than hoopla.

Anyone interested, their schedule is here:

https://www.nps.gov/hafe/planyourvisit/harpersferry75.htm#Friday

I'm taking the occasion to re-read Smith's Harper's Ferry Armory and the New Technology. It's still good..

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Friday, June 07 - Thursday, June 13

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I missed the Thursday Reading & Research Thread, so I'll ask my question here:

Does any one have any suggestions for a good, long single-volume or multi-volume biography? The subject doesn't matter--I'm willing to read about anyone. I just want to be able to really sink into the book and spend a long time with the individual being written about. I love to read these types of books for my side reading.

To give some examples, similar biographies I've enjoyed are:

--Robert Caro's series on Lyndon Johnson

--William Manchester's series on Winston Churchill

--Stephen Kotkin's (unfinished) series on Stalin

--Philip Dwyer's 2 volume bio of Napoleon

--Edmund Morris' series on Teddy Roosevelt

This is a little too example-seeking for the regular sub, but I've always wondered...are there any deaths that have been attributed to crinolines?

I got a question on how the LAPD got so corrupted by the likes of Mickey Cohen and others? Or was it always just corrupt?

How can ancient sites like "earthhedge" and "woodwedge" be ancient when erosion and decomposition should have destroyed them?

I was going to post this in RnR, but I wasn't sure if it counted. Dara Horn's review of the Musealia Auschwitz exhibit was good. Has anyone here visited it?