Reviews

Thomas Jefferson's Creme Brulee: How a Founding Father and His Slave James Hemings Introduced French Cuisine to America by Thomas J. Craughwell

lnkc's review against another edition

3.0

This book contained much more general history that I thought it would. However, the sections that focused solely on food were interesting.

speljamr's review

3.0

I bought this book because it looked like it might be a light, fun foodie read embedded in a little history. It turned out to not be quite the foodie extravaganza I thought it would, though it was a short, fast read with more non-food related history than I thought it would. Now mind you, I love the history, but it's not how the cover of the book sells itself which may be deceptive to others who pick it up. In general the book just meanders off on sidetracks from food on a regular basis and I wasn't feeling like it was always relevant to the subject of the book.

The book opens with some background on Jefferson, his fellow revolutionaries, and the culture and times surrounding the development of French Cuisine. There is also a short bit about how the French dealt with slavery, especially slaves brought from other countries. France did not allow slavery and did have laws that would allow any slave brought to the country to demand their freedom. This may be what caused Jefferson to make the bargain with James Hemmings for his freedom if he taught what he learned of French cooking to another slave when they returned home.

The book proceeds to describe some of Jefferson's wanderings through the French country side and the North of Italy, again, some of it food related, some of it not. The most interesting part was regarding the eventual smuggling of bags of Lombardy rice back to the US by Mr Jefferson himself, a crime that would have meant the death penalty if caught. From there it jumps in some of the coming revolution in France and the politics behind it, much of which had nothing to do with food.

All in all, I was a bit disappointed that there was not more description of the French Cuisine at the time and specifically some of the dishes James Hemmings may have learned; there were a few mentions of what he may have served at the dining table of Mr. Jefferson, but not as much as you'd think for the title of this book. Probably worth a read in any case as it will not take much time to get through it, and there are a few tidbits worth learning about.

xuwriter's review against another edition

4.0

While I found this book generally enjoyable, the title seemed to promise more verve than was actually delivered. This audiobook is shorter than most - a hair over 5 cds. That is probably because the source material is more geared toward an interesting anecdote than an entire book. Most interesting to me was the descriptions of French society in the 1700s. To be fair, the author was somewhat handicapped by the lack of source material from James Hemings himself, which made him appear to be a shadowy, indistinct character. I would have liked more investigation into the slave culture and history in order to understand him a little more.

Overall, a good book, but not terribly memorable.

bookwormmichelle's review against another edition

4.0

This was an interesting enough little book, but not as indepth as I was hoping. Not a lot about actual cooking techniques, only a few recipes mentioned, and despite the subtitle, almost nothing about either creme brulee or James Hemings. I know there probably weren't many sources on a slave of the period, but then don't put him in the subtitle. There was actually more in the book on the French Revolution than there was either actual cooking information or information on Hemings. So it was a little disappointing there.