Abraham Lincoln in the Kitchen (12 page)

Lincoln was always ready with a story or joke. And because he could read and write, neighbors called upon him to write up agreements or to witness legal documents. Among the people of New Salem Lincoln found an academy of learning. He borrowed their books, read their old newspapers—and as postmaster he knew which papers came into town and when—and he peppered them with questions. Lincoln took full advantage of these New Salem resources to study and achieve an
education in literature, poetry, grammar, mathematics, surveying, and the law. When business was slow in the Offutt store and then the market he owned in partnership with William F. Berry, Lincoln stretched out on the counter and poked his nose into a book. He discussed Robert Burns's poetry and William Shakespeare's plays as he cast
fishing lines with Jack Kelso; he was a character who was more at home in field and stream than any man, but who could “recite Shakespeare and Burns by the hour.” Justice of the Peace Bowling Green loaned law books and encouraged Abraham in his studies. When Lincoln was appointed
deputy county surveyor, schoolmaster Mentor Graham is said to have helped him work through the problems in Flint's
System of Geometry and Trigonometry Together with a Treatise on Surveying
as he mastered the skills essential for his new profession in just six weeks. He took part in the Debating Society organized by
James Rutledge.

Denton Offutt wasn't around New Salem much; it appears he spent his time chasing opportunities in Springfield and other towns. Always looking for a way to make more money, he hired the exclusive use of the
Cameron-Rutledge grinding
mill. Lincoln spent time overseeing the
operation of the mill as it ground corn and wheat. In the spring of 1832, Offutt gathered up what cash he could and, leaving his creditors in the lurch, simply disappeared. Lincoln managed the declining store until the stock was sold to pay off the debts, and then it “just petered out.”

In March 1832, Lincoln declared his candidacy for representative to the
Illinois General Assembly. In his
“Communication to the People of Sangamo County,” he addressed the need for “internal improvements”—roads, cleared waterways, and “rail roads.” He drew upon the year's experiences, making a comprehensive analysis of the situation. “I have given as particular attention to the state of the water in this river, as any other person in the country.” Lincoln, twenty-three years old, was poised for the possibility of loss. “Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition … I have no other so great as to be esteemed by my fellow men … I am young and unknown to many of you.… If the good people in their wisdom shall see fit to keep me in the background, I have been too familiar with disappointments to be very much chagrined.” Losing this election, he was elected for the next term in 1834.

A few years ago I happened on a lively little book printed in 1927.
Lincoln at New Salem
, commissioned by The Old Salem Lincoln League, is a collection of all the memories from New Salem residents and their descendants. One of the first pages is a charming hand-drawn bird's-eye view of New Salem. Two dozen houses or other features are illustrated, and they just hint at the complexity of life in the bustling community. Missing are the barns, smokehouses, and privies. It looks simple, but it's not.

You can't see the books in people's homes or the newspapers from
Springfield, Lexington, and St. Louis arriving at the postmaster's. Understanding life in New Salem, Lincoln's rapidly developing intellect, the world that opened up before him, and the experiences he sought requires some serious chewing.

Innovations, inventions, and information continued to follow the north-to-south river path that the young Lincoln took. By the 1840s the Springfield newspapers advertised the arrival of “barrels of fresh oranges and lemons.” “Internal improvements,” canals, and railroads pushed westward, and by the 1850s railroad tracks crossed the rivers.

The
saleratus
biscuit recipe that follows is the perfect edible metaphor for New Salem and Lincoln's dynamic change during the six years he lived
there. The recipe looks basic: flour, a bit of butter, some boiling water. Yet combined with the magic alchemy of baking saleratus (baking soda) and sour milk, these simple ingredients are transformed into a chewy, delicious biscuit. It is complex and unforgettable—kind of like Abraham Lincoln.

Oh, and one more thing. The
New Salem milldam incident with the flatboat remained in Lincoln's mind. In 1849, eighteen years after the incident, he received a U.S.
patent for his device for “buoying vessels over shoals.” Lincoln is the only U.S. president to receive a patent for an invention.

NEW ORLEANS CURRY POWDER

 

Before steamships, canals, and railroads, residents of coastal cities from New England to New Orleans enjoyed a complex variety of foods and seasonings unavailable in the developing center of the nation. There are scores of recipes for curry powder in period books and magazines. This curry powder is mild and goes well with chicken, lamb, or vegetables
.

2 tablespoons ground turmeric

2 tablespoons ground coriander

2 tablespoons ground cumin

2 tablespoons ground ginger

2 tablespoons freshly grated or ground nutmeg

2 tablespoons ground mace

2 tablespoons ground cayenne pepper

Mix the spices together. Store in a sealed jar. Curry powder will keep in a cool, dark place for weeks. Use as you would any curry powder.

Makes 1 scant cup curry powder

ADAPTED FROM “CURRY POWDER,” MARY RANDOLPH,
THE VIRGINIA HOUSE-WIFE OR, METHODICAL COOK
, 1824.

NEW ORLEANS CHICKEN CURRY

 

3 tablespoons flour

1 to 3 teaspoons
Curry Powder

2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

2 tablespoons butter or olive oil

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken (breast and/or thigh meat), cut into 2-inch pieces

2 cloves garlic, minced

Juice from 1 lemon or orange

2 cups prepared rice, to serve

Put the flour and curry powder in a pint jar with a lid. Add 1 cup of the chicken broth, tighten lid, and shake well to blend. Set aside.

Heat the butter or oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the chicken pieces and cook until browned on one side, about 5 minutes. Turn the chicken pieces over and add garlic. Continue cooking until the chicken is browned and garlic is tender, about 5 minutes. Shake the jar of curry/broth blend once again and pour slowly into the frying pan. Add the remaining 1 cup chicken broth and stir until sauce is thickened. Cover and simmer about 10 minutes until meat is fork tender. Stir in lemon or orange juice. Serve over rice.

Makes 6 to 8 servings

ADAPTED FROM “TO MAKE A DISH OF CURRY AFTER THE EAST-INDIAN MANNER,” MARY RANDOLPH,
THE VIRGINIA HOUSE-WIFE OR, METHODICAL COOK
, 1824.

NEW SALEM SALERATUS BISCUITS

 

As pioneer settlements became villages and towns, farmers began planting more wheat. Wheat breads and biscuits took their place on tables where just a few years earlier cornmeal was the primary bread grain. Saleratus, an early form of baking soda, worked with the sour milk to make a light, chewy, and delicious biscuit
.

⅔ cup milk

2 teaspoons white vinegar

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

⅛ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon butter

¼ cup boiling water

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly grease a baking sheet. Combine milk and vinegar in a glass measuring cup and set aside to sour, about 5 minutes. Mix the flour, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the butter to the boiling water to melt and then stir into the flour mixture. Then stir in the sour milk. Stir with a fork and then knead briefly. You may need to add a bit more milk or flour to make a dough that is firm enough to work and not sticky. Break off pieces about 1 inch in diameter and place on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until browned, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Makes 16 biscuits

RE-CREATED FROM PERIOD SOURCES.

BACON AND BLACK HAWK

I
n April 1832, Abraham Lincoln was just twenty-three years old. After about nine months in
New Salem, Denton Offutt's
store was nearly out of business. Soon Lincoln would be out of a job. Frontier events provided an opportunity. Like every able-bodied man, Lincoln was required to drill in the militia twice a year or pay a fine of one dollar. So, on April 19, when word reached the folks in New Salem that Governor John
Reynolds called for volunteers to protect the citizens from a feared massacre at the hands of aggrieved Winnebago chief Black Hawk, Lincoln was ready to go.

Later, during his only term as a U.S. congressman, Abraham Lincoln used fighting words on the floor of the
U.S. House of Representatives to describe his
military career. In a July 27, 1848, speech he confronted General Lewis
Cass, the Democratic Party candidate in the presidential campaign, on the extension of slavery, the overuse of the presidential veto, and the waging of an unnecessary war, unleashing his strongest volleys on Cass's claimed military successes. The Lincoln-supported Whig candidate, General Zachary Taylor, had a proven army career; Cass apparently spent some of his time during the
War of 1812 foraging behind the lines. Using his skill at turning personal anecdote toward sharply honed argument, Lincoln compared his own service in the
Black Hawk War to Cass's battle experiences.

“If General Cass went in advance of me in picking huckleberries, I guess I surpassed him in charges upon the
wild onions. If he saw any live,
fighting Indians, it was more than I did, but I had a good many bloody struggles with the mosquitoes and although I never fainted from loss of blood, I can truly say I was often hungry.”