Jenna Bush, daughter of U.S. President George W. Bush, claps while celebrating Cinco de Mayo in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, May 4, 2005. REUTERS/Larry Downing
Posted on 04/27/2005 4:58:06 AM PDT by BigWaveBetty
Hail to the chef: Former White House pastry guru shares his sweet secrets
Imagine spending almost 25 years in the White House pastry kitchen as the executive pastry chef for five presidents and first families, doing your work surrounded by pounds of butter, chocolate, cream, fresh fruits and sugar. While the job may sound like a dessert lover's dream, it's not always as sweet as it seems.
Just ask French-born patissier Roland R. Mesnier, who retired last July. Lately he's been traveling throughout the country promoting his first cookbook, "Dessert University" (Simon & Schuster; $40), which took four years to write with help from Lauren Chattman. The 545 pages are filled with all kinds of show-stopping desserts, many from his White House years.
During his time in the White House (1980-2004) he designed and created some 3,000 different desserts with the help of one full-time assistant.
"It was a great challenge. I didn't have much of a personal life for 25 years," Mesnier says.
He was in charge of ordering all the pastry ingredients and arranging for pickup. "There was no delivery at the White House - and all vendors were checked by the Secret Service."
Starting with Nancy Reagan, Mesnier presented dessert tastings to the first ladies for approval, prior to state dinners. After a lot of research, he always tried to include something in his desserts that reflected the invited leader's country. For instance, blown-sugar giraffes for Kenya, flower leis made of sugar for the Philippines, tiny chocolate replicas of Big Ben for England, and a white tiger out of white chocolate and a lotus flower out of sorbets for India.
"Mesnier never repeated the same dessert in all the state dinners," notes Francois Dionot, owner/founder/president of the culinary school L'Academie de Cuisine in Bethesda, Md., who has known the pastry guru for 30 years. "To me, he is the king of sugar work - spun sugar, poured sugar, rock sugar, pulled sugar. Very few people know how to do this anymore. He makes roses that look real."
Mesnier was known for making cakes just so he could put them under a sugar piece. "He's very talented in everything in desserts," says Dionot.
Every first lady put her stamp on the White House - and Mesnier says he's enjoyed them all.
"Mrs. (Rosalynn) Carter spent less time worrying about what was served at a dinner party, but she loved desserts," he says. During Nancy Reagan's time, "the White House became a showcase of grand cuisine. She was determined to have new desserts for every dinner, and she was very demanding."
Mesnier recalled the time, two days before the arrival of the queen of the Netherlands for a state dinner for 150 people, that Nancy Reagan rejected four different desserts. She told him to make 14 sugar baskets decorated with half a dozen sugar tulips and filled with assorted sorbets and fresh fruit. She then said, " 'Don't forget you have two days and two nights,' " Mesnier remembers. The chef pulled it off without any help: "Mrs. Reagan made me a better pastry chef," he says.
With the witty and smart Barbara Bush, "the house took on a different dimension - with children laughing, dogs barking, etc. She didn't make waves with what was served.
"The Clintons, very charismatic people, were very casual - and the only family that ate in the kitchen. Mrs. (Hillary) Clinton was very political - it was like having a second president in the White House." During their eight years, the number of people invited to the White House increased dramatically, as did Mesnier's work load. Mrs. Clinton favored leaner cuisine and plated service for desserts.
"First lady Laura Bush is meticulous - and the house is sparkling," he says. "She has a great knowledge of food and how it should be prepared and (how it should) taste."
Over the years, Mesnier has focused on reducing calories in desserts but without sacrificing flavor. His strategies include reducing sugar, butter, cream and eggs, using low-fat or regular milk instead of cream and sometimes cornstarch to make a thicker base.
"There are at least 50 recipes (out of 300) in the book that would qualify as low-calorie desserts."
His penchant for desserts dates back to the summer fruit tarts of every color and flavor he enjoyed during his childhood. "My mother was a wonderful chef - an unbelievable home cook."
His five golden rules for making great desserts: "Learn the basics and then practice, practice, practice; respect the classics; value economy and simplicity; focus on flavor; and be an artist, develop your talent."
CHEF PROFILE ...
ROLAND R. MESNIER
Age: 60.
Profession: Pastry chef.
Hometown: Bonnay, France.
Food background: Mesnier began a three-year apprenticeship in a pastry shop near his home at age 14. He went on to stints as a pastry cook/assistant in pastry shops and hotels in Paris, Germany (Hannover and Hamburg) and London. Eventually, he became head pastry chef at the Princess Hotel in Bermuda.
After a stint at The Homestead, a resort in Hot Springs, Va., he landed the ultimate pastry job: In December 1979, Rosalynn Carter hired him to be the White House pastry chef - and for almost 25 years his desserts were on view to the world - until he retired in July 2004. Kitchen secret: Work with all of your ingredients at room temperature (including eggs).
Three favorite foods: A good steak, a good apple pie a la mode, honey ice cream.
Favorite junk foods: A good hamburger and a good doughnut.
Foods he hates: Cilantro, dill, onions.
Secret food passion: A good pate.
Favorite kitchen gadget: A homemade cherry pitter (made with a wine cork and a ladies' hairpin).
Pet peeve: Mediocrity in the hotel and pastry industry. Ideal vacation: Alaska.
Favorite restaurant: Jean Marc Raynud in Tain L'Hermitage (near Lyon), France.
Pastimes: Fishing, gardening, cultivating roses, working on recipes for upcoming cookbooks (a cake volume is in the works).
Family: Wife, Martha, and a 35-year-old son, George. If he couldn't be a pastry chef, what would he be?: An actor.
Worst White House kitchen disaster: The time the eggs for the hot raspberry souffles for a state dinner wouldn't whip (guests were in the dining room). "I was sweating bullets (and could visualize this as my last day at the White House)." But fortunately, he started with new egg whites, adding sugar to them instead of an Italian meringue, to gain time, and the souffles came out beautifully. Worst part of being the White House pastry chef: "The inside politicking among the White House staff."
You can bet that Teresa will get her campaign contributions refunded before any Joe Sixpack Democrat sees a penny.
Jenna Bush, daughter of U.S. President George W. Bush, claps while celebrating Cinco de Mayo in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, May 4, 2005. REUTERS/Larry Downing
Kerry unable to connect with the public? What was their first clue, the election returns? There's an entire pictorial history of Dork's inability to relate to the common man.
I think its hilarious that they want their moola back.
What is supposed to happen to leftover campaign cash, anyway?
Augggh, he was in Pa.:
LANCASTER, Pa. -- Former President Bill Clinton said America should focus as much attention on creating new allies as it does on fighting terrorism in the 21st century.
Clinton spoke to an audience of business and community leaders Wednesday night in Lancaster.
In a wide-ranging speech, Clinton touched on globalization, energy, the economy and a campaign to combat childhood obesity. Clinton said the fight against obesity was prompted partly by the heart surgery he underwent in September.
"I dodged a big bullet," Clinton said. "I was lucky that God gave me another chance."
The former president spoke for about an hour at the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce and Industry's annual dinner on the campus of Franklin and Marshal College.
May 6, 2005 -- THE Rev. Al Sharpton can't get enough of "Crash," the dramatic new film by first-time director Paul Haggis that takes an unflinching look at race relations in America. During a panel discussion following a screening of the Lions Gate picture this week, Sharpton said he'd already seen it four times even though it wasn't released until today, reports our City Hall Bureau man Stefan C. Friedman. [Review: Page 44]. "I don't even watch my own speeches four times," the Rev quipped. "I would do anything I could to get people to see this film. It's that important. I would picket this film if it would make more people see it." "Crash" stars Don Cheadle and Larenz Tate joined Sharpton on the Center for American Progress-sponsored panel, as did Haggis, who's coming off an Oscar win for adapting the screenplay to "Million Dollar Baby." Other A-listers in attendance included Sharon Bush, Richard Gere and "Hotel Rwanda" director Terry George.
May 6, 2005 -- "MY father was a pretty liberal guy. People wouldn't think that; looking at him or reading about him, they'd think differently. I think [Vanity Fair's] George Wayne put it best: John Gotti was probably the first metrosexual, but nobody knew it — not even him! It was just the way he was" — Victoria Gotti in Next magazine's special Mother's Day issue . . . "THE time is at hand when the wearing of a prayer shawl and a skullcap will not bar a man from the White House. Unless, of course, the man is Jewish" — cartoonist/playwright Jules Feiffer.
Isn't that a warm fuzzy piece for Mother's Day?
Prince, whose parents learned him sex early on: "Mom wanted me to know about the birds and bees so she gave me 'Playboy' and porno magazines when I was barely out of diapers."
Ally Sheedy's parent told her not long ago that she was a lesbian. Said Charlotte: "I wasn't hiding it. I just hadn't revealed it to my children. I felt it too complicated an issue to bring up before they were ready to discuss sexuality." Ally's reaction: "I'm happy you told me, mom, but I already knew." (Cindy Adams)
Steven Clemons writes on his blog, TheWashingtonNote.com, that "the media should investigate questions about [Christina] ... and what some of their friends consider quite cruel treatment by him of their relationship."
Clemons also writes that, during their marriage, the "hyper-conservative John Bolton" was "also allegedly involved in somewhat risqué private behavior." Clemons doesn't go into any more detail, saying he'd rather stick to "intellectual and policy differences."
The good news for Bolton is that his ex isn't in any hurry to fill in the blanks. Christina, who served in the first Bush administration as a deputy assistant commerce secretary, tells us, "What happens in a marriage should remain between the two people." Foes of Bolton, whose spokesman declined comment, may see Christina as an ally. But the international-trade consultant won't say boo about the nomination of her husband of 10 years. She does scoff at any suggestion of "risqué private behavior."
"No way," says Christina. "He's a real straight guy."
____________
So this Clemons has published a boldfaced lie about Bolton, in other words. Gee, who could be behind this latest libel?
Yikes, looks like Janeane Garofalo, and I don't mean that in a good way.
Having no clue about FEC rules on leftover money, I'll make a guess Effin' is holding on to it, letting it collect interest getting ready to use it to collect more. His main contact with his list of 3 million supporters will cost next to nothing when he wants to spread his propaganda. And we'll be seeing that mug much more than we'd like.
Effin is the quintessential narcissist. The public just wasn't able to see what a teriffic guy he is, if they could have just gotten out his message. But that was only beginning, republican dirty tricks, stupid voters, voting fraud and Osama bin Laden scared votes away from his rightful place as president. And no, little pee on consultants will not keep Effin' from saving our country.
(gak)Theresa in 'Round Two' should be intertaining.
How much was that mortage on the Boston (?)abode? 14 million? He gave out 2.5 mil - kept 14.5...
[PageSix]
April 27, 2005 -- WITH stagnant ratings at the "Today" show, the firing of executive producer Tom Touchet and Alessandra Stanley's vicious takedown of Katie Couric in the Times, NBC Universal Television president Jeff Zucker seemed thrilled to be in front of a friendly audience at yesterday's Shop Etc. magazine's annual sales meeting. "I'm happy to be here," Zucker said in his opening remarks. "Anything to take my mind off the 'Today' show." When asked whom he would steal from another network, Zucker quickly responded, "I'd love to rip off Kelly Ripa because she's as natural as you can get on TV. I think she's fantastic. Incredibly talented."
U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., right, straightens the jacket collar of YouthBuild representative Darnell Leacock, left, as U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., behind, looks on, seconds before a group photo, in Boston, Friday, May 6, 2005. Clinton and Kerry met members of YouthBuild Friday to show support for the national program that allows students to earn a GED, while learning vocational skills. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
If Katie gets canned, then her zillionaire boyfriend from California, who has said he won't marry her because of her job and he does not want a bicoastal marriage, will be in a spot won't he....hee hee..
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