By Stacey Flores Chandler, Reference Archivist

Looking for meal ideas and recipes for your winter holiday feasts? Draw some culinary inspiration from the archives and dig into these historical foods and drinks in the latest selection of Staff Picks from the Archives! Stop by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum to see these records on temporary display, or check them out virtually here.

Cook Margaret Ambrose stands at the stove in the kitchen of the Kennedy family home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, basting a cooked turkey; a kettle and a tin of muffins sit on the stovetop at left. The back of this print has a handwritten note: “Margaret basting a 15-pound turkey.”

John F. Kennedy’s mother, Rose Kennedy, described the classic Boston cream pie as her family’s favorite dessert, and remembered bringing it on longer trips and picnic lunches with her children because it “survived jostling and never ended in a chocolate mess” like other cakes often did.

Fun fact: like the original Boston cream pie recipe (created at Boston’s Parker House Hotel in 1856), Rose Kennedy’s recipe does not include the now-iconic chocolate glaze on top, calling for a simple dusting of powdered sugar instead.

Donated to John F. Kennedy’s 1961 Inaugural Ball by the American Bakery and Confectionary Workers’ Union, the Inaugural Ball cake was a three-tiered pyramid and featured a three-foot long replica of the White House, complete with a working fountain (and 500 pounds of butter)! The recipe was kept as part of the records of the U.S. Inaugural Committee.

John F. Kennedy’s aides remembered him eating the same breakfast many times throughout his Presidential campaign – and why mess with success? On his first day in office, the President started out with his standard orange juice, two boiled eggs, toast, coffee (with cream and one lump of sugar), and bacon.

This recipe for Ernest Hemingway’s favorite hamburger includes the unusual addition of capers! The original recipe (with handwritten notes by his wife, Mary) is stored at Hemingway’s Cuban home, the Finca Vigía, which now operates as a museum and archives. As a major repository for Hemingway’s archives, the JFK Library also hosts facsimiles of the Finca Vigía’s documents, including this one, to help researchers easily access them.

White House Social Secretary Letitia Baldrige advised the President and First Lady on all aspects of entertainment at the White House, including the menus. In this memo, she strongly encourages serving both a red and white wine at a luncheon, despite the President’s preference to offer guests just one wine. Spoiler alert: the President won this one, and the final menu featured only a white wine – a pinot blanc from California’s Almaden winery.

Ethel Kennedy sent this recipe to educator and family friend, Susan Wilson, whose papers were opened for research by our archivists in 2024. Ethel Kennedy later told a magazine that this chocolate roll was her favorite dessert – especially when filled with ice cream and topped with whipped cream and chocolate sauce.

Throughout his career, John F. Kennedy received requests from the public for his favorite recipe. The staff in his Senate office, and later the White House, usually responded with this recipe for waffles, which made it into many cookbooks – both famous and local – around the country!

Civil rights leader and Director of the National Congress of American Indians Robert Burnette (Rosebud Sioux) sent this telegram to President Kennedy in recognition of Thanksgiving 1961. Burnette lists several foods important to native communities, all of which have become Thanksgiving staples, as “part of the legacy to our fellow citizens from our forefathers, who are the oldest Americans.”