Volume 2, Issue 2
“Cooking Ex-Libris” is a CasaFestiva.com series exploring new recipes from my own cookbooks. Enjoy!

By Katy Budge

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that not many people will have copies of The Congressional Club Cook Book on their shelves. I have two: the 6^th edition published in 1961, and the 8^th from 1970.

Fourteen editions of these cookbooks have been sporadically published throughout the years by The Congressional Club, a non-profit organization chartered by Congress in 1908. According to the eighth edition of the book (1970), the purpose of the club was “to establish a non-political group that would promote friendship and cordiality among the wives and of the Senate and house members without the formality of social calls.” Indeed, it’s interesting to note that no party affiliation is ever mentioned in the books.

Because my father was a representative from Idaho from 1951 to 1961, my mother, Jeanne, was one of those aforementioned wives. As such, both of my cookbooks have recipes submitted by “Mrs. Hamer Budge, Wife of former Representative (Idaho).” That format runs throughout the books – hardly any first names of the women unless they themselves were the elected official, or a daughter. One notable exception was “Ruby Eakins (From the Kitchen of the Congressional Club)”, who landed six recipes in the 6^th edition!

This rather archaic approach seems to have held up through the latest 14^th edition, which – according to The Congressional Club website — was “Championed by Co-Chairs Mrs. Trent Lott, Mississippi and Mrs. Martin Sabo, Minnesota (and) published in 2005.”

Circa The CCC

For this “Cooking Ex-Libris” entry, I chose to focus on the 6^th edition of The Congressional Club Cook Book, admittedly in part because of its whimsical illustrations featuring an elephant and a donkey happily reaching across the aisles in their culinary efforts.

Like many cookbooks, this 1961 publication reads like a time capsule of its era. There’s a calorie chart, and a lengthy nine-page discussion of official protocol that Julian Fellowes could use in the next season of The Gilded Age!

In keeping with circa-1960s culinary trends, a sizable number of entries call for canned soup (especially mushroom), while others bring Hydrox cookies, canned fruit cocktail, and Ritz crackers into the mix. There are also recipes galore for various molded gelatinous creations, including an “Avocado Salad” with avocados, hard boiled eggs, cream cheese, stuffed olives, and your choice of tuna, chicken, shrimp, or crab. (Insert emoji of your choice here.)

Another nod to the time are the advertisements at the back of the book. Because the Club didn’t receive any operating money from Congress, The Congressional Club Cook Book was a fundraiser. And, since the sales price was a whopping $3.95 plus .25 shipping, I’m guessing the ads brought in the lion’s share of the profits. Among those supporters were Hot Shoppes, Coca-Cola, the American Meat Institute, Central Airlines, Reynolds Wrap, Tabasco, Crisco, Johnson Wax, and the American Trucking Industry.

There’s even a color ad from Liberal, Kansas, U.S.A., which touted itself as “The Pancake Hub of the Universe” and “World Famous for the International Pancake Day Race between the housewives of Liberal and Olney, England.” And yes, Pancake Day is still happening annually on the Tuesday before Lent!

A lot of regional tastes are represented in The Congressional Club Cook Book as well, such as a pheasant recipe from Montana, a gumbo from Mississippi, and “Noches Specials” – quartered tortilla chips, fried and topped with cheese and jalapeños submitted by Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson. LBJ himself even offers up a recipe for Pedernales River Chili in the “Men Only” chapter, and the international dishes of several Ambassadors’ wives are included in the “Embassy Cooking” chapter.

The Recipes

One of my mother’s three recipes in the 6^th Edition was Coconut Cookies — really more like bars and one of my favorite childhood treats. The other two were Chicken Breasts in Cream, which I don’t recall eating, and another recipe on page 293 that remains a bit of a mystery. Much like my discovery in my Cooking Ex-Libris piece about Mastering the Art of French Cooking, this edition of The Congressional Club Cook Book had a printing error.

In the 6^th edition, what should have been the “Vegetables” chapter of the book is a repeat of the “Desserts” chapter. According to the index, page 293 should have contained three recipes for potatoes: Baked Potatoes with Herbs, Idaho Potatoes, and Creamed Potatoes. I’m gonna go out on yet another limb and guess that my mom’s was the second!

So, for the recipe I chose to make, I went with one for Blueberry Muffins from “Margaret Chase Smith, Senator (Maine).” They were okay, but I’d add a little more sugar next time — and this coming from someone who does not have a sweet tooth. However, the generous blueberry ratio was fabulous.

Why Senator Smith’s recipe and not one of my mother’s? Well, I’d had enough experience making the cookies, the chicken recipe wasn’t clucking to me, and I already know my way around a potato. So, I decided to go with an entry from a woman who was an elected official in her own right.

Smith’s three decades of Congressional service started with her winning an election to fill her husband’s seat in the House of Representatives. She would go on to win three more Congressional elections, and wage four successful Senate campaigns – making her the first woman to become a Senator without being a widow or appointee. In 1964, Smith, a Republican, also became the first woman to have her name put in for nomination for the presidency by a major political party.

Among her many achievements was also this, as noted on the U.S. House of Representatives website …

Margaret Chase Smith’s defining moment in the U.S. Senate came on June 1, 1950, when she took the Senate Floor to denounce the investigatory tactics of the redbaiting Wisconsin Senator Joseph Raymond McCarthy. In a speech she later called a “Declaration of Conscience,” Smith charged that her Republican colleague had “debased” Senate deliberations “through the selfish political exploitation of fear, bigotry, ignorance and intolerance.”

Brava! Maybe those blueberry muffins have just enough sugar after all.