Archives

Breaking: State Dinner Menu Released

November 24, 2009 by Cynthia Bertelsen

Potato and Eggplant Salad White House Arugula w/ Onion Seed Vinaigrette 2008 Savingnon Blanc, Modus Operandi, Napa Valley Red Lentil Soup w Fresh Cheese 2006 Riesling, Brooks “Ara”, Wilamette Valley Roast Potato Dumplings w Tomato Chutney Chick Peas and Okra or Green Curry Prawns w caramelized Salsify w smoke Collard Greens and coconut aged basmati 2007 Granache Beckman Vineyards, Santa Ynez, CA Pumpkin pie tart Pear tatin Whipped Cream and Caramel sauce Sparkling Chardonnay, Thibaut Janisson Brut, Monticello, VA Petits […]

Categories: American Cooking, Menus, United States, White House • Tags: Barack Obama, State Dinner, White House

Feasting in State: Obama’s First Real State Dinner

November 19, 2009 by Cynthia Bertelsen

In the next week, we will see real-time examples of a few of the different types of feasts common to American culture: Thanksgiving — essentially a harvest feast tinged with overtones of cultural identity — and President Barack Obama’s first true State Dinner, to be held on November 24, 2009 for India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh — a feast based on the display of power and good will. Both feasts carry with them great tradition and historical precedent. Having covered […]

Categories: China, Thanksgiving, United States, White House • Tags: Barack Obama, Manmohan Singh, marcus Samuelsson, State Dinner, State Dinners, Thanksgiving, White House

Diana Kennedy’s Menu for Charles, Prince of Wales

July 20, 2009 by Cynthia Bertelsen

In 2002, Diana Kennedy, well-known author of Mexican cookbooks, served the following menu to the man who would be king, Charles, Prince of Wales:* Cocktails & Appetizers Tequila Apéritifs Fresh Tortillas Small Pumpkin Seeds Toasted and Ground with Roasted Habanero Chilies Guacamole Enhanced with Grapes and Pomegranate Seeds Meal Cream-of-Squash-Flower Soup Pork Loin Baked in Banana Leaves Cactus and Fresh Young Peas in Green Chile Sauce Dessert Guavas Stuffed with Coconut Mango Sorbet Topped with Tequila-Soaked Strips of Mango Green […]

Categories: Menus, Mexico, Pumpkin, Recipes, Soup, White House • Tags: Cooks, Diana Kennedy, Menus, Mexican Cooking, Mexico, Prince of Wales, Pumpkin, Recipes, Squash, White House

Gardening at the White House

April 4, 2009 by Cynthia Bertelsen

A history of American gardens, a part of the “Eat the View” effort to turn the 18 acres of the White House backyard into a garden. Sounds like the Obama garden is not the first garden to be planted there.

Categories: American Cooking, Gardens, Video, White House • Tags: American Food, Barack Obama, Culinary History, Gardening, Gardens, Video, White House

President Obama’s First “State” Dinner

February 24, 2009 by Cynthia Bertelsen

According to the White House Web site, dated February 22, 2009, the following discussion took place in the White House kitchen: DISCUSSION WITH THE FIRST LADY, SOCIAL SECRETARY DESIREE ROGERS, EXECUTIVE CHEF CHRIS COMERFORD, PASTRY CHEF BILL YOSSES AND STUDENTS FROM L’ACADEMIE DE CUISINE White House Kitchen Here’s what White House Chef Cris Comerford had to say about the menu for the Governors’ Ball Dinner, not really an official state dinner, but lavish nonetheless: MS. COMERFORD: Thank you, Mrs. Obama. […]

Categories: American Cooking, White House • Tags: Cooking, Cristeta Comerford, Food, Governors' Ball Dinner, Michelle Obama, White House

Lobster Bisque and Striped Bass à la President Barack Obama

February 24, 2009 by Cynthia Bertelsen

On February 24, 2009, President Barack Obama lunched on lobster bisque and striped bass, along with TV anchors due to report on his “state of the nation” speech. Very interesting was a brief mention of the Obamas’ “family dinners”: He cherishes family dinner in the White House, where “thorns and roses” is now the favorite family game. Each family member describes the day’s highlight, or rose, and the day’s worst moment, the thorn. We were told after describing one particularly […]

Categories: American Cooking, Food Columns, White House • Tags: Barack Obama, Cooking, Food, Lobster Bisque, Presidents' Lunches, Striped Sea Bass, White House

Grant at Cold Harbor, Virginia, 1864 (Photo credit: Matthew Brady)

All the President’s Tables: Ulysses S. Grant’s 1873 Inaugural Supper

January 16, 2009 by Cynthia Bertelsen

The punch froze. So did the canaries. Brought in to sing for the guests, the poor creatures stiffened seemingly in mid-air, falling to their deaths onto the guests below. Luckily, supper began at 9 p.m. with hot coffee and hot oysters. And the people needed something hot to forget their blue noses and the sad fate of the canaries. Most of the gala took place outside in tents, society women dancing in their furs and men in heavy coats. But […]

Categories: American Cooking, White House • Tags: Cooking, Food, Inaugural menus, Ulysses S. Grant, White House

All the Presidents’ Tables: Dwight D. Eisenhower’s First Inaugural Luncheon, 1953

January 15, 2009 by Cynthia Bertelsen

January 20, 1953 In 1953, the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies (JCCIC) started the now-traditional ritual of hosting a luncheon for the incoming President and Vice President. General Dwight D. Eisenhower enjoyed tremendous public recognition because of his role as Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe. Any man who could keep the troops on target probably could do the same for the country, or so people figured. Under Eisenhower, the U.S. interstate highway system matured, as did the […]

Categories: American Cooking, Chocolate, Potatoes, Recipes, White House • Tags: Cooking, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Food, Inaugural menus, White House

All the President’s Tables: Harry S. Truman’s 1949 Inaugural Luncheon

January 14, 2009 by Cynthia Bertelsen

Like Lyndon Johnson, Harry S. Truman first became president after the death of an incumbent president. When Franklin Delano Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, Truman took the oath of office in a subdued and quiet ceremony in the White House. The 1949 inauguration, on the other hand, presented an entirely different story. To begin with, the Republicans, believing that popular New York governor Thomas E. Dewey would win, allocated $80,000 toward the inaugural ceremonies. The grandstand alone cost $189,000. […]

Categories: American Cooking, White House • Tags: Alonzo Fields, Cooking, Food, Harry S. Truman, Inaugural menus, White House

All the Presidents’ Tables: Ronald Reagan’s First Inaugural Lunch Menu 1981

January 12, 2009 by Cynthia Bertelsen

Reagan’s first inauguration boasted the honor of being the first inauguration celebrated on the west front of the U.S. Capitol. Held in Statuary Hall, Ronald Reagan’s 1981 luncheon featured a “California Cuisine” menu. The U.S. Air Force String Quartet and U.S. Army Strings performed for the 200 guests. Each guest received a series of frameable prints of past inaugurations … January 20, 1981 California Garden Salad Sautéed Chicken Breast Covered with White Wine Sauce and Capers* Rice Pilaf Hot Asparagus […]

Categories: American Cooking, Chicken, Recipes, White House • Tags: Cooking, Food, Inaugural menus, Recipes, Ronald Reagan, White House

Inaugural Luncheon 2009: Menu and Details

January 9, 2009 by Cynthia Bertelsen

According to an e-mail from the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, the 2009 Inaugural Luncheon looks like this. Note that recipes are also included; click for a .pdf file of the recipes. Around 200 guests will attend this exclusive luncheon in Statuary Hall. Design Cuisine, a top-flight caterer in Washington, designed the menu, which “draws on historic ties to the Presidency of Abraham Lincoln. Growing up in the frontier regions of Kentucky and Indiana, the sixteenth President favored simple […]

Categories: American Cooking, White House • Tags: Abraham Lincoln, Barack Obama, Cooking, Design Cuisine, Food, Inaugural Menu 2009, Inaugural menus, White House

All the Presidents’ Table: George W. Bush’s Second Inaugural Menus

January 9, 2009 by Cynthia Bertelsen

According to the official Senate committee on the 2005 inaugural, The 2005 Inaugural Luncheon menu draws upon historic ties to the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt and the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1803-1806. In the early twentieth century, the preparation of a decadent layered scalloped course was a common style of menu presentation. Creamed seafood was one of the many courses served at President Roosevelt’s inaugural ball supper in 1905. In great contrast, the thirty-three members of the Lewis and […]

Categories: American Cooking, White House • Tags: Cooking, Food, George W. Bush, Inaugural menus, White House

All the Presidents’ Tables: Bill and George Tête à Tête

January 8, 2009 by Cynthia Bertelsen

President-Elect George W. Bush and President Bill Clinton met for lunch in December 2000 in the Clinton White House to discuss the impending transition of power. This is what they ate: Squash soup Greek Salad Filet Mignon Upside-down Apple Tart w/ Maple Ice Cream* I think it’s interesting that there’s no quarter given to vegetarians in most White House menus — meat and lots of it, that’s the order of the day. A very traditionally masculine tendency. But then power […]

Categories: American Cooking • Tags: Bill Clinton, Cooking, Food, George W. Bush, Ice Cream, Inaugural menus, White House

All the Presidents’ Tables: President Richard Nixon’s Second Inaugural Luncheon

January 7, 2009 by Cynthia Bertelsen

The Joint Congressional Inaugural Committee served the following menu in honor of President Richard M. Nixon and Vice-President Spiro T. Agnew on January 20, 1973. INAUGURAL LUNCHEON 1973 Shrimp Cocktail Roast Tenderloin of Beef Bercy Sauce Green Beans Amandine Broiled Tomato Grapefruit-Avocado Salad Rolls and Butter Fresh Strawberries with Cream Mints Coffee

Categories: American Cooking, White House • Tags: Cooking, Food, Inaugural menus, Richard M. Nixon, White House

George W. and Laura Bush (White House photo by Shealah Craighead)

All the Presidents’ Tables: George W. Bush’s First Inaugural Luncheon 2001

January 6, 2009 by Cynthia Bertelsen

Two-hundred years after President Thomas Jefferson’s 1801 inauguration, to celebrate George W. Bush’s first inauguration in 2001, the U.S. Army Brass Quintet provided music. Around 230 dignitaries ate lobster from the surface of U.S. Senate china and enjoyed other dishes honoring Jefferson’s presidency. Now Bush walks about as a very lame duck, so lame that the White House Web site hasn’t even added the dishes of the Christmas menu eaten by the Bush family and it’s too soon for the […]

Categories: American Cooking, White House • Tags: Cooking, Food, George W. Bush, Inaugural menus, White House

All the Presidents’ Tables: Grover Cleveland’s Inaugural Ball Suppers

January 5, 2009 by Cynthia Bertelsen

For a man who liked a chop and some herring, Grover Cleveland and his stomach met their culinary match during America’s lavish Gilded Age. Grover Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms as president, beginning his initial term in 1885 and his second in 1893. In between, Benjamin Harrison sat in the Oval Office. While president the first time around, Cleveland started out a bachelor and then — with nary a hint of scandal — married his ward, Frances Folsom, in 1886, […]

Categories: American Cooking, French Cooking, White House • Tags: Cooking, Food, Grover Cleveland, Inaugural menus, White House

Sauce Bercy, as Served at Nixon’s Inaugural Luncheons

January 3, 2009 by Cynthia Bertelsen

A lot of wine used to be sold in Bercy, a Parisian neighborhood. Naturally, the restaurateurs there featured wine in their menus, particularly in a sauce made with shallots and butter. Sauce Bercy. One of President Richard M. Nixon’s favorite sauces. He liked it so much the chefs served it at both of his inaugural luncheons. Only thing is, that’s not what Nixon ate at all. The name is wrong on the menu. It should be Bercy Butter. Not Sauce […]

Categories: French Cooking, White House • Tags: Bercy Sauce, Cooking, Food, Inaugural menus, Recipes, Richard M. Nixon, White House

All the Presidents’ Tables: President Richard Nixon’s First Inaugural Luncheon

January 2, 2009 by Cynthia Bertelsen

The Joint Congressional Inaugural Committee served the following menu in honor of President Richard M. Nixon and Vice-President Spiro T. Agnew on January 20, 1969. INAUGURAL LUNCHEON 1969 California Fresh Fruit Supreme Celery and Olives New York Roast Tenderloin of Beed Bercy Sauce Baked Tomato Parisian Potatoes Avocado on Romaine Rolls and Butter Pastry Gems Mints Coffee

Categories: American Cooking, White House • Tags: Cooking, Food, Inaugural menus, Richard M. Nixon, White House

Christmas in the White House: President Benjamin Harrison’s Carlsbad Wafers and His 1890 Christmas Dinner

December 17, 2008 by Cynthia Bertelsen

President Benjamin Harrison, being a card-carrying participant of the Gilded Age, and his wife Caroline Scott Harrison served an unusual dinner on Christmas day, 1890. (The menu follows below.) Unusual in one way. Carlsbad Wafers. Huh? The mention of Carlsbad Wafers stopped me in my tracks for a minute. Like a curious cat, whiskers trembling, I dug a little bit in the darkness of Google and came up with a most interesting historical blurb, found on the California Wine Wafer […]

Categories: American Cooking, Menus, White House • Tags: Benjamin Harrison, Carlsbad Wafers, Christmas, Cooking, Food, Recipes, White House

Truman Signing the Atomic Energy Act of 1946

Thanksgiving in the Truman White House 1946: Poor Harry

November 28, 2008 by Cynthia Bertelsen

President Harry S. Truman found himself on the slimming end of things in 1946. The New York Times reported that Truman’s menus seemed a bit austere and quoted White House housekeeper, Mrs. Mary E. Sharpe, as saying “When I make up menus I keep it in mind.” “It” being President’s Truman’s ongoing battle of the waistline. Of course, poor Harry got a bit of reprieve (but not much, from the looks of it) on Thanksgiving), like the turkeys all presidents […]

Categories: American Cooking, Thanksgiving • Tags: Food, Harry S. Truman, Thanksgiving, White House

BREAKING: Camp David / White House Thanksgiving Menu 2008

November 26, 2008 by Cynthia Bertelsen

Just in time for Thanksgiving eve, the White House uploaded the following menu that President Bush and his family will eat on November 27, 2008. Just a few changes from 2006: Free-Range Roast Turkey Cornbread Dressing Cranberry Sauce Sautéed Green Beans Morelia Style Gazpacho with Spinach Salad Zucchini Gratin Whipped Maple Sweet Potatoes Buttered Mashed Potatoes Giblet Gravy Fresh Clover Rolls with Honey Butter Pumpkin Pie with Whipped Topping Apple Pie Pumpkin Mousse Trifle Fresh Fruit Platter # # #

Categories: Food News, Menus, Thanksgiving, White House • Tags: Cooking, Food, George W. Bush, Thanksgiving, White House

George W. Bush with Lynn Nutt and "Flyer"

Thanksgiving in the Bush White House: 2006 Menu

November 26, 2008 by Cynthia Bertelsen

Like presidents before him, George W. Bush prefers eating his turkey at Camp David. Here’s what he loaded up on at Thanksgiving in 2006: Free-Range Roasted Turkey Cast-Iron Skillet Cornbread Dressing Cranberry Sauce Sauteed Green Beans Zucchini Gratin Whipped Maple Sweet Potatoes Basil Chive Red Potato Mash Giblet Gravy Fresh Clover Rolls with Honey Butter Pumpkin Pie with Whipped Topping Apple Pie Pumpkin Mousse Trifle Fresh Fruit Platter # # #

Categories: American Cooking • Tags: Food, George W. Bush, Thanksgiving, White House

Pumpkin Pie -- Tarte Citrouille 101 (Used with permission.)

A Meditation on Pumpkin Pie

November 24, 2008 by Cynthia Bertelsen

Just in time for Halloween, the frost descended on the pumpkin weeks ago. It shows no sign of retreating yet. And now Thanksgiving is nearly here … With a stroke of his pen, in 1863, a time when the United States didn’t see a lot to be thankful for as the Civil War skimmed off the lives of young men, President Abraham Lincoln officially created this national holiday. A day for giving thanks for the bounty of our days. It […]

Categories: Recipes, Thanksgiving • Tags: Cooking, Food, Poppy Cannon, Pumpkin Pie, Sarah Josepha Hale, White House

President Bill Clinton’s First Thanksgiving in the White House: The Menu

November 22, 2008 by Cynthia Bertelsen

U.S. Presidents since Eisenhower seem to prefer the rusticity of Camp David for Thanksgiving. Bill Clinton ate his first Thanksgiving dinner as president at Camp David. The Office of the First Lady released the following menu the day before Thanksgiving that year, November 23, 1995: Thanksgiving Menu Turkey Wrapped in Bacon Mrs. Kelly’s Traditional Cornbread Stuffing Mashed Potatoes Liza’s Sweet Potato Casserole (from 30 Years at the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion) Giblet Gravy Seasoned Green Beans Assort Cut Relish Tray Black […]

Categories: Thanksgiving • Tags: Bill Clinton, Food, Thanksgiving, White House

White House State Dining Room (Used with permission.)

What??? $500-a-bottle wine* at the White House … Now???

November 14, 2008 by Cynthia Bertelsen

What do world leaders get to imbibe at the White House in these last days of the Bush presidency? To look at the menu for the G20 financial-crisis dinner held on November 14, 2008 at the White House, you wouldn’t even guess that world leaders flew in to discuss the economic woes of the world — and swilled wine to the tune of $500 a bottle for the main course. Shafer Cabernet Hillside Select 2003.* Pretty exclusive. And the chanterelles […]

Categories: Food News • Tags: Cooking, Food, White House

Election-Day Menu: Food from Our Greatest Presidents

November 3, 2008 by Cynthia Bertelsen

Hands down, my vote for the greatest presidents we’ve seen in this country goes to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. John Kennedy might have been a truly great president, but he died before he could prove his mettle, though his stand against the USSR during the Cuban Missile Crisis counts as something commendable, I guess. Anyway, I thought it would be nice to get in the mood for Election Day by cooking up food served […]

Categories: American Cooking, Beans, Beef, Desserts, Pork, Recipes, Soup • Tags: Cooking, Food, Recipes, White House

Looking for a Woman Chef: The 2005 Palace Revolt

November 2, 2008 by Cynthia Bertelsen

In 2005, sparks flew in the White House kitchen. And the conflagration came not from the Crêpes Suzettes. No indeed. White House chef, Walter Scheib, formerly chef of the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia, found himself in the same pickle that other French-trained chefs working at the White House experienced over the years. Scheib, who served as White House Executive Chef from 1994-2005, was fired, the official reason being that he didn’t meet the standards of First Lady Laura Bush […]

Categories: American Cooking • Tags: Chefs, Cooking, Food, Walter Scheib, White House

FICTION IN THE (WHITE HOUSE) KITCHEN

November 1, 2008 by Cynthia Bertelsen

Food and fiction go together like ham and eggs. And especially food-based mysteries — as the following authors so aptly show: Phyllis Richman, Susan Alpert, Miranda Bliss, Nancy Fairbanks, Ellen Hart, J. B. Stanley, and Diane Mott Davidson. Elliott Roosevelt, the son of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, wrote a mystery with the title of The White House Pantry Murder. “The Menu in Modern Fiction,” by Edna Kenton, published in The Bookman in November 1910, indicates that food in fiction is […]

Categories: American Cooking, Food News • Tags: Cooking, Culinary Mysteries, Food, Julie Hyzy, White House

Gherkins & Tomatoes

Meditations and Photographs about Food, Cooking, and Life