
George Washington
Washington’s winter table
Roast chicken, buttered cabbage and potatoes, and baked apples. A manageable dinner drawn from a very crowded eighteenth-century table.
Table for 4Cook the menu
TEN PRESIDENTS. TEN DINNERS.
Pick a president. Take the list to Costco. Cook dinner. These ten menus turn a bit of history into a meal you can make at home, with the shopping and timing worked out.
Each dinner starts with a documented meal or recipe. We explain what the records say, what we’ve changed for a home kitchen, and how to get the food ready together.

George Washington
Roast chicken, buttered cabbage and potatoes, and baked apples. A manageable dinner drawn from a very crowded eighteenth-century table.

Thomas Jefferson
Baked macaroni, green peas and vanilla ice cream. The pasta puzzled one dinner guest in 1802. Your guests have a head start.

Abraham Lincoln
Roast turkey with stuffing, a crisp salad, and vanilla ice cream with grapes. The banquet had dozens of dishes. This version fits on your table.

Franklin D. Roosevelt
Hot dogs, green salad and strawberry shortcake. A dinner you can make without staff, silver service or an invitation from the king.

Harry S. Truman
Warm ham, buttered potatoes and peas, and angel food cake. A Missouri welcome turned into a Sunday dinner.

Dwight D. Eisenhower
Beef stew, almond green beans and small drop scones with jam. Two well-documented food connections, one very practical dinner.

John F. Kennedy
New England fish chowder, a crisp green salad and chocolate brownies. A small White House exchange gives this supper its starting point.

Lyndon B. Johnson
Sticky ribs, warm German-style potato salad and crisp slaw. A documented diplomatic meal with a very useful lesson: feed people properly.

Gerald Ford
Roast veal, new potatoes and green beans, followed by peaches, raspberries and ice cream. The royal dinner, with the workload brought down to earth.

Barack Obama
Cheeseburgers, crisp potato wedges and cold lemonade. A photographed presidential lunch becomes an uncomplicated dinner for four.