This will be a shorter post than average, but it is probably one of the silliest that will appear on this blog. In Scandinavian countries, Waffle Day, or Vaffeldagen, falls on March 25. It has become a worldwide event, but I am guessing that most readers will be unaware of its existence as I was until recently.
Why waffles though? Harding does not have, as far as I am aware, a connection to the holiday of Vaffeldagen itself, but he was a strong appreciator of the waffle as a staple of a delicious breakfast. The Girl Scout History Project explains that, as part of a national "Back to Normalcy" campaign, First Lady Florence Harding published her waffle recipe; this recipe can be found in a few forms online, stemming from those original publications.
One version allegedly comes courtesy of the folks at the Harding Home Presidential Site:
Ingredients
2 eggs
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 heaping Tbsp. butter
1 pint of milk
1 pint of flour
2 heaping tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
Directions
Beat yolks of eggs, add sugar, milk and flour; next, add melted butter and just before ready to bake, add baking powder and beaten whites of eggs. Cook in hot waffle iron. Don’t eat them on a full stomach. Cover well with butter and then pour maple syrup over the plate.
Another version, which seems to be more common, comes from the Atlanta Woman's Club Cookbook (1921):
Serves Four
INGREDIENTS:
2 eggs.
2 tbls. sugar.
2 tbls. butter.
1 teaspoon salt.
1 pt. milk.
Flour to make thin batter. (I used about 2 cups flour)
2 large teaspoons baking powder
INSTRUCTIONS:
Separate the eggs
Beat yolks and add sugar and salt
Melt butter then add milk and flour and stir to combine.
Beat egg whites until stiff (but not dry) peaks form
Stir one spoonful of whites into the mixture to lighten and then fold remainder of egg whites and baking powder
Bake in a hot waffle iron.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine's wife Fran DeWine has, to my amusement, made multiple columns online about the niche topic of Florence Harding's waffles. She includes in one of them a recipe for Warren's more abnormal style of eating those waffles; the President would on occasion cover his dish with chipped beef gravy instead of syrup or fruits like most people. Here is the way to make that topping:
Creamed Dried Beef over Waffles
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups milk, more if needed
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 ounces dried beef, cut into pieces (can use canned beef in jar or Buddig in refrigerator section)
waffles or toast or biscuits
Melt butter in a cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Stir in flour and stir until bubbly. Add milk, whisking until flour mixture is completely incorporated. Stir constantly until the sauce has thickened. Add pepper and strips of dried beef to sauce mixture, stirring until pepper is incorporated and beef is evenly coated. Simmer 2 to 3 minutes. Check to see if it needs additional salt. Serve over waffles or toast or biscuits.
President Harding is said to have ordered the dish often when dining out, and he and the First Lady frequented Washington, D.C. establishments that served such breakfast classics. There is even a plaque with a quote (I could not figure out if it is attributed to Warren G. Harding or was just in jest) at the Harding Home which describes the man's enthusiastic opinion about waffles: “You eat the first fourteen waffles without syrup, but with lots of butter. Then you put syrup on the next nine, and the last half-dozen you eat simply swimming in syrup. Eaten that way, waffles never hurt anybody.”
I do not want to kill the fun, but this does in fact sound like something that would hurt somebody. In fact, if this kind of waffle binge did occur in the Harding household, it could partially explain the President's ultimately fatal heart condition.
Regardless, it is nice to connect to history in such a frivolous way as buttery, baked, breakfasty goodness. From my investigations it is clear that there were at least five annual "Harding Presidential Sites Waffle Breakfasts" in recent years. Hopefully this trend continues once the pandemic is under control a bit more so that I can go and report back about it someday!
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