What did our Founding Fathers eat to celebrate July 4, 1776?

Philadelphia’s City Tavern was “the” place where the signers of the Declaration of Independence would gather to dine. The tavern was constructed in 1773 and became the unofficial meeting place for the First Continental Congress, beginning in late summer 1774; they also celebrated the first anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1777, there.

Unfortunately, neither that bill of fare nor any bills of fare from 1776 were preserved in Tavern’s records. Didn’t the owner realize there was history in the making?

Philadelphia’s City Tavern: You can dine where the Founding Fathers ate.

The good news is that the tavern is still in business, looking as it looked back in 1776 (plus modern amenities such as electricity and plumbing). You’ll dine on reproduction china, flatware, pewter and glassware, starting with cornmeal-fried oysters, smoked salmon and trout, and salmagundi (an 18th century classic that preceded our “chef’s salad”—fresh garden greens, ham, smoked turkey, smoked chicken, salami, Cheddar cheese, hard-boiled egg, olives and dressing). EntrĂ©es include beef, chicken or lobster pot pie, braised rabbit, roast duckling, pork schnitzel, crab cakes, bratwurst, port chops and venison medallions. Even the bread basket delivers the culinary experience of the 18th century: Sally Lunn bread, Anadama loaves and sweet potato and pecan biscuits (Thomas Jefferson’s favorite). Enjoy the cuisine with period-style ales. Find out more at www.citytavern.com.

• Find more recipes with flavored Stoli vodka at Stoli.com.
• See THE NIBBLE’s cocktail recipes.

• Find more dessert recipes.

Freedom ice cream from Sheer Bliss is red, white and blue: vanilla ice cream with red and blue swirls of pomegranate and blueberry. It’s the perfect flavor for an Independence Day celebration (it’s all natural and certified kosher, too).

Sheer Bliss is available at fine food stores nationwide; you can find a store locator on the website, SheerBlissIceCream.com. If you live near a Publix store in the Southeast, there’s a two-for-one special beginning July 2, in honor of AmVets, the veterans service organization.

Celebrate Independence Day with Freedom ice cream from Sheer Bliss.

Red, white and blue ingredients create
the perfect July Fourth dessert. Photo
courtesy Dove Chocolate Discoveries.

Not only are berries, such as strawberries and blueberries, in season during the Fourth of July, but they also come in patriotic colors, making them great ingredients in recipes you can make for your Independence Day celebrations, such as this White Chocolate Covered Strawberries recipe, courtesy of Dove Chocolate Discoveries.

INGREDIENTS

PREPARATION

1. Wash and completely dry strawberries.

2. For optimum results, temper chocolate in a chocolate tempering machine. If you don’t own one, simply melt the chocolate in a microwave oven or double boiler.
3. Holding a strawberry by the stem, dip about half of it in chocolate. Give it a quick twist, shake off excess and point it at the ceiling for a second to be sure the chocolate adheres.
4. Before chocolate dries, dip tip of strawberry into blue-colored sugar (available in the cake-decorating aisle of grocery store, or online). Place on parchment paper to set up and cool. If set up seems slow, place in refrigerator for 3 to 5 minutes.

Note: chocolate-covered strawberries are best enjoyed the day they are made.

Check out more of our special July Fourth recipes:

- Best Barbecue Sauces (we taste so many each year—these have sass and class)

- Grandville’s Barbecue Sauce (a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week, so good we eat it from the jar)

- Chocolate Barbecue Sauce Recipe (savory, made with Scharffenberger chocolate, and something guests will talk about for years)

- Barbecue Chicken Pizza Recipe (kids love it)

- Barbecue Cookbook Reviews

Celebrate Barbecue Month!

Enjoy the holiday weekend!

-Recipes: The Grilling Hall of Fame.
-Master the basics of barbecue with our comprehensive BBQ Guide.

*A superfruit is one that has a high antioxidant level as well as nutritional density. Others include açaí, blueberry, cranberry, grape, guarana, mangosteen, noni and pomegranate.