FROM THE FOUNDING TABLE TO YOUR KITCHEN
POTUSPLATETHE PRESIDENTIAL TABLEHISTORY IS SERVED.
Presidents/The founding table

PRESIDENT 4 · 1809–1817

At the table with
James Madison.

A central figure in the making of the Constitution and the fourth president.

Choose a dish ↓
Broiled ham with buttered toast — a painted table

THE HISTORICAL TABLE

Ham, toast and a serious pot of coffee

Family or White House tradition

Accounts of James and Dolley Madison’s household describe breakfast around nine: ham or salt fish, bread and butter, and coffee or tea. Their coffee habit continued in the White House. It is a useful reminder that a famous hostess’s table also had a daily working rhythm.

A browned ham steak and buttered toast make that breakfast readily cookable today. Gingerbread brings in the sweeter side of Dolley’s culinary tradition. Together they show two scales of hospitality: the everyday plate and the cake that can be shared.

Behind this story

Madison household breakfast accounts and Dolley Madison culinary tradition.