Jefferson's Pasta Machine
Thomas Jefferson
["Maccaroni" machine with
instructions for making pasta]
Holograph drawing and text, 1787
Manuscript Division
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Thomas Jefferson noted these plans for a macaroni or pasta machine
while touring northern Italy in 1787. When Jefferson prepared these
plans, macaroni was a highly fashionable food in Paris, where he
was stationed as minister to France. He later commissioned his secretary
William Short to purchase a macaroni machine in Italy, but the machine
was not very durable. In later years Jefferson served macaroni or
spaghetti made by cutting rolled dough into strips, which were then
rolled by hand into noodles.
While in France, Jefferson became enamored with French cuisine
bourgeoise and not only had his slave James Heming trained as a
cook, but he later brought his French butler, Adrien Petit, to the
United States. Jefferson acquired a stock of standard French recipes
for French fries, sauces, fruit tarts, desserts, blood sausages,
pigs' feet, rabbits, and pigeons, which he served to his guests
at Monticello.
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