Abe lincoln: Favorite Foods

According to the questing feast President Lincoln did have two favorite foods. Chicken Fricasse with biscuits, Oyster Stew and of course the occasional piece of Apple Pie. Mr Lincoln seldom if ever drank, with water being his preference.

One day, after we had become fairly good friends, I told him of my early prejudice. "Mr. Lincoln," I said, "I had heard every mean thing about you except one. I never heard that you were too fond of the pleasures of life." Mr. Lincoln sat for a moment stroking his cheek thoughtfully, and then he drawled out in his peculiar Western voice:

"That reminds me of something a boy said to me when I was about ten years old. Once in a while my mother used to get some sorghum and some ginger and mix us up a batch of gingerbread. It wasn't often, and it was our biggest treat. One day I smelled it and came into the house to get my share while it was hot. I found she had baked me three gingerbread men, and I took them out under a hickory-tree to eat them.

"There was a family near us that was a little poorer than we were, and their boy came along as I sat down. 'Abe,' he said, edging close, 'gimme a man.' I gave him one. He crammed it into his mouth at two bites and looked at me while I bit the legs from my first one. 'Abe' he said, 'gimme that other'n.'

"I wanted it, but I gave it to him, and as it followed the first one I said: 'You seem to like gingerbread.'

"'Abe,' he said earnestly, 'I don't s'pose there's anybody on this earth likes gingerbread as well as I do,' and drawing a sigh that brought up crumbs, 'I don't s'pose there's anybody gets less of it.'"

Abraham Lincoln ate in moderation, as his frame foretold. 

Original Recipe:

Cut up two chickens, very neatly, put them in a saucepan with several slices of pork, with pepper and salt; let them boil until quite tender, then lay them out in a dish; take a table-spoonful of flour and a piece of butter as big as an egg, roll them together until they are well mingled; put it in the saucepan with the gravy, add a cup of cream, put the chicken back, and let it simmer together until it is done to a rich, light brown; lay some toasted crackers in a deep dish, and pour it on.

Source:

Collins, Anna Maria; The Great Western Cook Book, Table Receipts, Adapted to Western Housewifery. New York: A.S. Barnes & Company, 1857.