Ulysses S. Grant's Favorite Rice Pudding Recipe Featured A Bright Lemon Twist

Although the president runs an entire country, deep down they are still just regular people. Each and every president has their own food favorites, from dinner and dessert to drinks. President Ulysses S. Grant was especially known to have several unusual and unique preferences, including eating pickles and coffee for breakfast and drinking a specific brand of bourbon by the glassful.

Grant's tastes did not end at just breakfast or bourbon. The former president had a favorite dessert, which was rice pudding. Supposedly Grant loved the simple dessert so much that it was often served in the White House at the end of extravagant dinners of more than 29 courses. Despite the efforts of his wife, Julia, who tried to bring luxury to meals at the White House, Grant would still insist on having his rice pudding.

A rice pudding recipe is typically quite plain, with only a few ingredients required to make the dessert. However, Grant had an additional ingredient up his sleeve for the perfect presidential pudding: Lemon zest. The addition of citrus was appreciated not just by the former president but also by White House dinner guests, including journalist Emily Edson Briggs who praised the dessert, writing, "[S]uch a pudding as would make our grandmothers clap their hands with joy".

Although Grant's rice pudding was kept within the White House walls during his presidency, the former president's love affair with the dessert was discussed in "The Presidents' Cookbook," written and published by Poppy Cannon and Patricia Brooks in 1968. An actual recipe was later shared with the world in 1982 when it was published in the Courier-Journal, although it is not confirmed if this recipe is officially from the White House or just the closest approximation currently existing of Grant's beloved rice pudding.

Regardless, recreating Grant's zesty rice pudding is quite simple. It all starts with the standard dish, typically consisting of rice, eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt, and 1 tablespoon of grated lemon peel. Simply add the lemon zest to the rice pudding recipe to make homemade presidential rice pudding.

Many home cooks have since expanded on the former president's recipe. Some have taken to adding brown sugar, cinnamon, and raisins for more flavor and texture. Another common variation is the addition of lemon sauce to further add to Grant's unique preference for lemon zest rice pudding. Despite the amount of time that has passed since Grant's presidency, it seems that his favorite dessert is still well-loved by many to this day.