Thomas Jefferson's Creme Brulee by Thomas Craughwell

I'm usually more into fiction than nonfiction but members of one of the area book groups were saying how much they loved this book so I decided to give it a whirl. And it was a fascinating story. Thomas Jefferson had long been interested in food and wine. And when he is offered a position as a government minister for the United States based in Paris, he looked upon it as an unparalleled opportunity. Jefferson took along his slave James so that James could learn French cooking--with the proviso that once James learned it and taught it to someone else on the Monticello staff, James would be freed.Ironically, during their time in France, James became much more fluent in French than Jefferson ever did. And after some prodding, he was eventually freed and used his cooking skills to support himself.

Jefferson spent his time in Europe learning as much as he could about everything--viniculture, pasta-making machines, rice-cleaning machines. No detail was too small to miss his attention. He also spent considerable time studying the lives of the poor around France and was pleased when the Revolution began--not realizing how violent and bloody it would become.

Thomas Jefferson's Creme Brulee is a fascinating look at the lives of a Founding Father and his talented slave who became a master French chef. The book concludes with some of James's actual recipes.