CYNTHIA D. BERTELSEN

The following menu, served at the inaugural ball of President Benjamin Harrison (in office 1889-1895), omits the news that 5,000 live terrapins waited in the wings to star in the show and game birds packed in lard did the same. Since 1200 people ate at this event, the number of turtles and birds loomed large. Held in the Federal Pension office, Harrison’s inaugural ball followed his inaugural speech delivered in driving rain. Fortunately, he kept it short. His grandfather, William Henry Harrison, gave the longest inaugural speech (10,000 words) of any president, caught a cold, and died a month later …

But not everybody felt happy about the new president. Mrs. Cleveland, the wife of the outgoing president, said to her staff as she left for the formal inauguration ceremony,  “I want to find everything just as it is now when we come back again. We are coming back four years from today.” She was right — four years later to the day, after Grover Cleveland won back the presidency, she walked back into the White House. Now whether or not it was the same as when she left, who knows?

Like many late nineteenth-century inaugural balls, Harrison’s resembled “Roman feasts with tables spread in an opulence of foods buffet style,” according to former White House chef François Rysavy, who cooked for the Eisenhowers and wrote A Treasury of White House Cooking.

The Harrisons began their White House food life with a Madame Petronard as chef, an unusual arrangement in that women rarely reached that level in a professional kitchen. Madame cooked previously for the British legation. Due to some displeasure on the part of President and Mrs. Harrison, who grew to dislike the “rich sauces” spilling forth from the pans of Madame Petronard, a new cook soon arrived. Dolly Johnson, an African-American cook who’d worked for the Harrison family in Indianapolis. Miss Dolly made all the American foods that President Harrison preferred.

Madame Petronard’s European tastes weighed heavily, it seems, on the inaugural ball menu. Obviously.

Inaugural Ball Reception Menu for President Benjamin Harrison

March 4, 1889

Bluepoints in Ice

HOT

Bouillon in Cups

Steamed Oysters   Oysters à la Poulette

Chicken Croquettes     Sweetbread Paté à la Reine

Terrapin, Philadelphia Style

COLD

Assorted Roll Sandwiches

Mayonnaise of Chicken  Lobster Salad

Cold Tongue on Bellevue   Cold Ham à la Montmorency

Boned Turkey à l’Americaine

Breast Quail à la Ciceron

Paté de Foie Gras à la Harrison

Terrine of Game à la Morton

SWEETS

Assorted Ice Creams

Orange Water Ice

Roman Punch

Pyramid of Nougat Renaissance

Beehive of Bon-Bons Republican

Pavilion Rustic

Assorted Fancy Cakes

Fruits    Desserts

Coffee

Notice that oysters played an important in both Harrison’s inaugural menu, as well as Abraham Lincoln’s. Apparently Harrison loved to eat oysters, too.

© 2008 C. Bertelsen