THE CLASS OF 2019
JOHN DABNEY
ca. 1824-1900
Young John Dabney began his life enslaved and because of his small stature his owner initially had him trained as race horse jockey. Once Dabney grew too large to compete on the track he became first a waiter then a bartender and after more training a chef known for his signature dishes; mint julep, terrapin stew, and canvasback duck. In the decade of the 1850s Dabney dedicated his energies and earnings to buying the freedom of his wife and was on the way to purchasing his own when the Civil War erupted. After the end of the War he fulfilled what he saw as an obligation by completing the full payment for his freedom to his former owner. His reputation for both honesty and creativity as a bartender made him a well-known Richmond figure. He continued as a prominent restaurant owner and summer season chef at the best of the Virginia mountain resorts. Despite his hard earned reputation as being a polite, good humored man, he was well aware of the realities of being a successful black man in a white Southern city, telling his son, “Never to let a white man know how much you really do know about anything except hard work."
For our Mint Julep recipes, which use both Virginia spirits, email Patrick@VirginiaEatsAndDrinks.com with “Mint Julep Recipes” as the subject
Essay by Leni Sorensen, PhD, Culinary Historian
ROWENA FULLINWIDER
1939-2013
Rowena Fullinwider was already known for her rich pound cakes she baked and donated to charities for fundraiser when, in 1983, she decided to open Rowena’s Gourmet Foods in Norfolk. There were the pound cakes, with almond being the signature flavor, then came jam, jellies, and other spreads such as her carrot jam and lemon curd. Fullinwider also penned books, such as Celebrate Virginia! The Hospitality, History and Heritage of Virginia. For a while, she operated a widely-popular tea room at the store. In 1987 Rowena’s became the first specialty food processor in the Commonwealth to carry the Virginia’s Finest trademark. In 2015, she was inducted posthumously. into the inaugural class of the Specialty Food Association Hall of Fame at the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco along with other luminaries such as Chuck Williams from Williams-Sonoma and David and Eunice Bigelow from Bigelow Tea.
For more information on Rowenas, visit www.Rowenas.com
Essay by Patrick Evans-Hylton, Publisher, Culinary Historian
JAMES HEMMINGS
1765-1801
When only 19 years old the enslaved valet James Hemings was chosen by his owner Thomas Jefferson to learn the art of French cookery when Jefferson resided in France from 1784-1789. Hemings studied cooking and was apprenticed in noble French household kitchens ultimately becoming chef de cuisine in Jefferson’s household on the Champs-Elysees in Paris. Once returned to America Hemings continued to cook for Jefferson in New York City, Philadelphia, and Monticello. In 1793 Hemings returned to Monticello to teach French cookery to his younger brother Peter in exchange for a document of legal freedom. Several recipes in the Monticello archives are attributed to Hemings and in 1796 he left a detailed kitchen inventory written in his own hand. Jefferson offered Hemings the position of White House chef but Hemings refused and after a final brief visit to Monticello he went out on his own to cook in Baltimore. His death at age 36 in 1801 was ascribed to suicide.
Essay by Leni Sorensen, PhD, Culinary Historian
JOE HOGGARD
1943-present
What fine dining there was in the state as Virginia moved into the second half of the 20th century was often relegated to stuffy restaurants in hotels in downtown cities, many times with stuffy cuisine served by stuffy servers. Outside the state, restaurants began experimenting with elevating their own regional cuisine, using their own regional ingredients. By 1966 when Joe Hoggard opened Ship’s Cabin in the then run-down part of Ocean View in Norfolk, the region was ready to ride that wave. By the early 1970s, Hoggard’s Ship’s Cabin had gained a national reputation and one of the first AAA four-diamond ratings in the state. Hoggard was not only a visionary in the location of his eatery but also in sourcing foods locally, something that was not as common four decades ago. “Fresh, fresh,” he said. “Everything has to be straight from the deep blue and used immediately.” Hoggard loved to travel and bring back notes from his adventures to share with his kitchen staff to create experiences for his loyal patrons, too. Noted chefs working for Hoggard included Bobby Huber and Chuck Sass. The rambling building, hugging dunes on the shores of the Chesapeake. Bay, was divided into several dining rooms, decorated in simple, tasteful nautical themes. Ships Cabin closed in 2000. Hoggard was briefly involved in other restaurants, including Cafe Rosso, also in Norfolk.
Portions of this essay come from Patrick Evans-Hylton’s book, Classic Restaurants of Coastal Virginia. Autographed copies are for sale in the Marketplace on the Virginia Eats + Drinks website. [LINK]
For our take on Joe Hoggard’s famous Oysters Bingo recipe, made famous at Ship’s Cabin, email Patrick@VirginiaEatsAndDrinks.com with “Oysters Bingo Recipe” as the subject
Essay by Patrick Evans-Hylton, Publisher, Culinary Historian
EDNA LEWIS
1765-1801
When The Taste of Country Cooking celebrated its 30th anniversary edition in 2012 its author, the late Chef Edna Lewis, had become nationally recognized for having reintroduced fine Virginia cookery and farm to table excellence to new generations of diners and cooks. Born in Freetown, Orange County, Virginia she was the granddaughter of emancipated slaves who bought land and taught their descendants the arts of the farm and kitchen. Lewis’s long and eclectic career first took her to New York City where she worked as a seamstress, as the chef in a popular restaurant Café Nicholson, as an activist for Civil Rights, and as a docent in the Hall of African Peoples in the American Museum of Natural History along with raising pheasants and teaching cooking. For many years Lewis worked in restaurants at historic houses in the south and large restaurants in the New York area before writing of her childhood memories of farm food in The Taste of County Cooking, published in 1976. Lewis said: "As a child in Virginia, I thought all food tasted delicious. After growing up, I didn't think food tasted the same, so it has been my lifelong effort to try and recapture those good flavors of the past." Her legacy has been to promote the excellence of fresh food, Southern food, and well cooked food. She was awarded the first James Beard Living Legend Award, was named Grande Dame by Les Dames d’Escoffier, and in 2014 was honored by a United States postal stamp with her image.
Essay by Leni Sorensen, PhD, Culinary Historian
AMEDEO OBICI
1877-1947
Peanuts can grow in many places, but not just any place can grow a Virginia peanut. In a thin crescent of sandy, loamy soil stretching from around Petersburg, southward through Western Tidewater, and just into northeast North Carolina, the conditions are just right for farmers to harvest a legume with a very large, buttery kernel. Like Spanish and Valencia peanuts, the Virginia peanut is its own style. This nut has a rich, gourmet flavor. Amedeo Obici, an Italian immigrant with a Horatio Alger story of his own, recognized this peanut's quality, and in 1913, he moved the manufacturing side of his business, Planters Nut and Chocolate Company, from Scranton, Pennsylvania, to Suffolk. Yes, that Planters. When Obici needed a mascot, he found one in Mr. Peanut, when a local schoolboy who entered a logo contest drew a peanut with arms and legs in 1916. A commercial artist scrawled on a top hat, monocle and cane; in 2004 Mr. Peanut was honored with a spot on Madison Avenue’s Advertising Walk of Fame. Although peanut's relationship with Virginia long preceded Obici, it was he that brought perhaps the most fame to the state for the simple snack; he made the words “Virginia” and “peanut” go hand-in-hand. He and his wife Louise were active in the Suffolk community, donating to many causes, and often hosting events at their farm at Sleepy Hole. Suffolk today honors their heritage with Peanut Fest each autumn. Planters has changed ownership several times throughout the years and is today owned by Kraft.
For our homemade peanut butter recipe, which use both Virginia peanuts, email Patrick@VirginiaEatsAndDrinks.com with “Peanut Butter Recipe” as the subject
Essay by Patrick Evans-Hylton, Publisher, Culinary Historian
PATRICK O’CONNELL
1945-present
The Inn at Little Washington is a country inn and Michelin 3-Star restaurant in the town of Washington in Virginia's Rappahannock County. Its noted self-taught chef and owner Patrick O’Connell built the restaurant from its beginnings in an abandoned gas station in 1978 into a world famous destination for gourmet dining. Along the way, O’Connell has earned multiple national and international awards for the ways his concepts of food and dining have enriched the national dialogue on cuisine. Among those, top recognitions from AAA, the James Beard Foundation, Mobil Travel Guide, and Zagat. The chef was one of the original inductees into “Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America” and is the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate Degree in the Culinary Arts from Johnson & Wales University. He is also the author of The Inn at Little Washington: A Magnificent Obsession and,Patrick O’Connell’s Refined American Cuisine.
For more information on The Inn at Little Washington, visit www.The InnAtLittleWashington.com
Essay by Leni Sorensen, PhD, Culinary Historian
LUCA PASCHINA
1962-present
The wine industry was fledgling in Virginia when Italian vino visionary Gianni Zonin first planted wine grapes on the grounds of Barboursville, the 1822, neo-palladian, Thomas Jefferson-designed home of Gov. James Barbour. The year was 1976, and Zonin and vineyard manager Gabriele Rausse laid the groundwork for what would become one of Virginia’s premier wineries. Since 1990, Luca Paschina has been Barboursville’s resident winemaker. Paschina, learned winemaking at Istituto Umberto, Italy’s leading wine academy, and worked at wineries in Italy’s Piedmont region, and since his time in Virginia, he and his wines have gained attention in the Commonwealth and beyond. Vineyard and Winery Management magazine named Paschina as one of 20 Most Admired Winemakers in North America, he was awarded the Order of the Merit of the Italian Republic, and others. The wines, too, have received national and international awards, including multiple Governor’s Cup awards, a top honor in Virginia.
For our Top 10 Wine Tasting Tips sheet, email Patrick@VirginiaEatsAndDrinks.com with “Wine Tips Sheet” as the subject
For more information on Barboursville Vineyards, visit www.The BBVWine.com
For more information on Virginia wine, visit the Virginia Wine Marketing Office, www.VirginiaWine.org
Essay by Patrick Evans-Hylton, Publisher, Culinary Historian
GEORGE THORPE
1575-1622
A major investor in several New World organizations, including the Virginia Company of London and Berkeley Hundred (north of present-day Williamsburg), George Thorpe arrived in the New World and was appointed to the colony’s Council of State, which advised the governor and performed judiciary duties. Thorpe was also put in charge of land set aside for a college and school for Native Americans. But what he is most known for are 29 words that he penned in a Dec. 19, 1620 letter to John Smyth: “Wee have found a waie to make soe good drink of Indian corne I have divers times refused to drink good stronge English beare and chose to drinke that.” What Thorpe most likely created was white dog, a clear, un-aged, raw whiskey that, with a little time in barrels, would turn golden and have its edge taken off. If it followed a specific protocol according to the amount of corn in the mash, the type of barrel used for storage, and not having any other additions, it could be called bourbon. Of course, there are other names for the “corn beer” that Thorpe distilled in addition to white dog, among them white lightening. White whiskey. Moonshine. And hooch. So, while not exactly bourbon, it was a good start to crafting truly American whiskeys in the developing nation. Virginia fostered this corn whiskey, and many farmers found that they could make about three gallons from a bushel of corn, and that the price they could fetch on their distilled spirits surpassed that of the corn at market.
Portions of this essay come from Patrick Evans-Hylton’s book, Virginia Distilled: Four Hundred Years of Drinking in the Old Dominion, to be published in 2020. Autographed copies will be for sale in the Marketplace on the Virginia Eats + Drinks website once the book is released. Sign up for the Virginia Eats + Drinks newsletter, on the website, for updates. [LINK]
For our ‘Shinetini recipe, which uses both Virginia moonshine and Virginia bourbon, email Patrick@VirginiaEatsAndDrinks.com with "Shinetini Recipe” as the subject
For more information on Berkeley Plantation, visit www.BerkeleyPlantation.com
For more information on Virginia spirits, visit The Virginia Distillers Association, www.VirginiaSpirits.org
Essay by Patrick Evans-Hylton, Publisher, Culinary Historian
MALLORY TODD
1742-1817
Mallory Todd, son of John and Angelina Perot Todd, was born in Southampton Parish, Bermuda. According to family tradition, Todd ran away from home at an early age, became a mariner and ultimately owned vessels that traded with the American colonies and the West Indies. By 1767, he made his home in Smithfield. Todd is credited with founding the first ham curing and packing business in Smithfield and is known to have been in business in Smithfield as early as April 30, 1779. A receipt of that time shows that he exported ham to St. Eustatius in the West Indies.As a ship’s captain, he understood the value of cured meat in the tropical islands – it was easily transported and did not spoil. His home was located on Wharf Hill. On his lot in 1786, he added a smokehouse to grow his business. With the wharf just outside, the hams did not have far to travel from the production site to the ships moving them to their final destination.Following Todd’s death, his sons and grandsons continued to run and expand the business. The eldest son, John R. Todd, shipped hams in barrels to New York and Baltimore, and upon his death in 1862, his law-school-educated son Everard M. Todd expanded the business internationally. The Todd Company was one of the first cured ham companies to include care and cooking instructions with their product.
For our tips on cooking a Virginia country ham, including a recipe for red-eye gravy, email Patrick@VirginiaEatsAndDrinks.com with “Virginia Ham Tips” as the subject
Essay by J.L. England, Director, Isle of Wight County Museum