FROM THE FOUNDING TABLE TO YOUR KITCHEN
POTUSPLATETHE PRESIDENTIAL TABLEHISTORY IS SERVED.
Presidents/A bigger American table

PRESIDENT 31 · 1929–1933

At the table with
Herbert Hoover.

The thirty-first president had an international engineering career before politics.

Choose a dish ↓
Broiled ham with buttered toast — the black-and-white years

THE HISTORICAL TABLE

A ham dinner behind the formal table

Family or White House tradition

White House staff memories associate Hoover with broiled ham, salted nuts, black cherries and chocolate marshmallows. His memoirs also mention Virginia ham as a dependable reserve for a domestic dinner. The contrast with the image of a strictly formal presidential table is part of the interest.

We begin with the ham. A fully cooked steak needs only brief heat and a little browning; toast catches the savoury juices. Add vegetables if you want a fuller supper. The recipe keeps the household’s practical spirit without requiring a whole cured ham.

Behind this story

White House Historical Association discussion of staff recollections; Hoover memoir reference.