President Kennedy’s Waffles

Posted by chowhound

March 14, 2007

I’ve always loved making President Kennedy’s waffles. First and foremost JFK knew a good waffle when he ate one, it’s a really good recipe. And secondly if you messed them up and anyone complained . . .

‘I didn’t realize JFK liked his waffles ‘blackened’.

you always had the perfect out . . .

‘Shut your pie hole, if they were good enough for President Kennedy, they’re good enough for you’.

To be fair I doubt President Kennedy’s chef had to use the same waffle iron my Dad gave me as a gift in the 70’s, an odd square affair that doubled as a sandwich press (at least by description). It had 3 settings, Off, Too Hot, and Scalding. The basic design survives to this day (hopefully it works a little better, but I wouldn’t count on it). Nowadays I have this little Cuisinartthat does a great job for me, although I’d have something that made more than one waffle at a time if I cooked for more than a few people.

I originally got Kennedy’s recipe from one of my first cookbooks, ‘Kings In The Kitchen’ by Gertrude Booth (1961), a Christmas gift in the mid-70’s from a friend who knew of my love for food and history.

One thing to mention is that the recipe requires beaten egg whites (which I expect will be made much easier with our new mixer). It is VERY important to fold them in to the batter a little at a time and very gently with the goal being to keep as much air in the batter as possible. There’s a nice little ‘tutorial’ here about midway down the page. Its also important to wait until right before you’re ready to start cooking before folding them in.

Air beaten in = fluffy egg whites = fluffy waffles. That’s how that goes. Its a little more work but well worth it.

Simple and classic, here is Kennedy’s waffle recipe.

JFK’s Waffles
Kings In The Kitchen’ by Gertrude Booth (1961)

1/2 cup butter
1 Tbsp sugar
2 egg yolks
7/8th cup milk
1 cup + 1 Tbsp all purpose flour
pinch salt
2 beaten egg whites
4 tsp baking powder

Cream sugar, butter and add the yolks

Add flour and milk

When you’re ready to bake fold in the egg whites and baking powder.

Wikipedia on Waffles

Related posts:

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.