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

this little book gives u a lot of tibbits about jefferson and his slave who learned how to do french cooking in france. the slave became a masterchef. it is a quick read and it holds your interest. a must read

A fun book focusing strictly on food, meals and cooking at Monticello and Paris. Interspersed is a bio of both Jefferson and James Hemings, along with many others in Virginia and Paris. In this day and age of super markets, microwave, restaurants, we have very little concept of growing our own foods, creating our own meals or hosting large important dinners. Everything back then was made from scratch, there were no boxes to buy. James joined Jefferson in Paris to learn French cooking. While in France, Jefferson paid James 50% more than the head chefs of other homes and they came to an agreement that when the two returned to America, James would train a new chef the fine art of French cooking and would gain his freedom. This happened 6 years after the return.Again, a fun book.A slice of Jefferson's life that cannot be dealt with in regular biographies.

An excellent read; it is about time that Jefferson's personal life and his treatment of his slaves is revealed for all the world to know.

I've only just read a few pages but it's very interesting and different, plus I love American history and Thomas Jefferson so I think it will become one of my favorite books.

While I enjoyed reading this rather brief book, I was also rather disappointed with it. Craughwell writes clearly and engagingly, but all he has done here is compile information and ideas from other sources - there's no new research included here. As a result, the book is a bit flimsy, and often strays from the story into little digressions, that often give the impression of simply trying to add another page or two to the book, to bulk it out into something publishable as a book rather than a magazine article. I was particularly disappointed in the lack of material on James Hemings and Craughwell's failure to add anything new to his story over and above Annette Gordon-Reed's "The Hemingses of Monticello" from 2008.As such, it's a nice and pleasingly-readable compilation of other people's research, but rather insubstantial too. And, as one other reviewer notes, the inclusion of some of Heming's recipes was one of the reasons I bought this, but they're reproduced from the originals in not overly clear scans - couldn't transcripts have been provided at the very least?

To call this food literature would be a bit of a stretch. It wasn't what I expected--and in fact it read like the author tried to stretch just a few facts about food into a whole book. Nevertheless, I found the book well written, and there was enough history in it to keep it interesting. I like early U.S. history so I wasn't disappointed. If you are looking for a book packed with information about food in the post-Revolutionary era, particular as it existed in the United States, you'll probably be disappointed. However, if you are interested in Thomas Jefferson and to a lesser extent, John Adams, you will find this an interesting take.

I read this book and loved it. It is a peek into Jefferson's life in Europe. You understand him better as a human being, an entrepreneur, a politician, and, ahah, as a rascal. I thoroughly enjoyed this book; I've gifted it many times to my friends who love him OR love gourmet food OR love to argue over politics. It is very giftable. All who have read it have raved about it. It can be read in several hours or in one long evening. I highly recommend it, esp if you are interested in knowing about Jefferson -- juicy tidbits or much more about his life and times.

A very interesting book. It shows the true roots of French cuisine here in America. It also gives you a glimpse into the differences in American and European society. The book also serves as a grim reminder of slavery in the U.S. I don't know that I'd trust any of the recipes though - they're hard to read and the techniques and tools (i.e., hot shovel) are outdated. I did find the recipes interesting from a historical perspective though.

Fascinating

Was very disappointed in this book, thought there would be more recipes in this book the one or two that are you can't read no clear at all. Its about a trip to Europe. not a cook book at all. The author wasted my time. Not at all what I was lead to believe

Let's say 3 1/2 stars. I wonder if this started as Craugwell's PhD thesis because that's how it reads. MASSES of footnotes, which I didn't bother with (although I normally would) because I was reading the Kindle version and just couldn't figure out how to do it efficiently. It's an interesting book about Jefferson; how many of us read anything about early America after we finish school? So the history was useful and Jefferson was interesting - clay feet and all - but as for this purporting to be the history of James Hemings, his inherited-from-his-father-in-law slave (and the father in law's bastard son), well, there was much more surmise than fact. Which, given that Hemings probably didn't keep a diary, nor did anyone think to write anything down about him, makes sense. But the title is somewhat misleading. I had actually thought to make some of the recipes, particularly the creme brulee, but again, given the Kindle version, I couldn't read the photocopies of anything. Worth a read, but only if expectations are managed.

A different perspective of Thomas Jefferson. It details his trip to Europe in the 18th Century with his black chef and the recipes they discovered and subsequently brought back to the US which influenced American cuisine. A gentle read, nothing startling.