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."
I'm sure Larry was disappointed a few weeks back, whilst lurking around the hospice in which Terri Schiavo lay dying, that no one was handing out complimentary cocktails. It's such a pain to have to buy your own drinks, eh, Larry?
JFK Jr. went to Brown for undergrad school. The award was probably created by family or friends upon his death.
But... JFK Jr. died in 1999 and this is the "First Annual Award". Took them a while to think it up? :-)
Laura was brilliant tonight! She killed!!! And of course she looked fabulous!
Cedric the Entertainer was great too, really funny. I haven't seen much of his stuff but he did a terrific job tonight.
Condi(leeza) thought so too.
Lynn "dollarbill" Cheney looked fab too. :-)
It was really Great, wasn't it?
I wish someone would explain to me what a Wife Beater shirt is! For Goodness sakes. What a strange name for a shirt.
I wish someone would explain to me what a Wife Beater shirt is!
It's one of these. What most of the world calls a tank top, some how became associated with being worn by sloppy, fat, beer guzzling bullies who beat their wives.
We caught some of Laura and Cedric at the correspondents' dinner. What we saw was pretty good, but it was funny to see the sour old libs in the audience trying not to have a good time. Al Franken, please just go away.
IF YOU missed Jane Fonda's appearance on Bill Maher last week, let's urge him to repeat it. Again. It has already aired twice. This woman has herself totally together. She'd make a great alternative liberal political candidate. And being No. 1 on the best-seller list doesn't hurt!
I don't know what Liz's idea of "totally together" might be, but Jane is coming across as a looneytoon, based on the revelations in her book about her various nutty behaviors and mental conditions. Is there an alternative political party for the terminally stupid? I mean, apart from the Democrats.
I'll watch the repeat today, looks like it was a lot of fun!
And thanks for explaining the wifebeater t-shirt. I had no idea what it was..
Meanwhile, Jenna was having fun at the ballgame last night, in D.C., with "friends". Looks like the same guy that Laura declared is "not a serious boyfriend"...lol...
I am so disgusted with Jane Fonda. I hope she had a miserable time last night, having to hear the standing O's Laura got. And I am sick and tired of hearing about her rough childhood with a "cold" father. If he was a bad daddy (Henry) he sure got paid back by the antics of his adult daughter.
Are those Larry Klayman pics from last night or a previous year?
Hillary Clinton appeared as part of a get-to-know-me tour this weekend after a visit toWisconsin and Ohio.......At the gala, Clinton was staying focused on her shared experiences with the legal community. "There were so many times when being a legal aid lawyer really felt like I was being a warrior for justice," Clinton said.
Hillary was a legal aide attorney???First I heard this; I think she was a bloodthirsty partner in the Rose Firm for all of her career, wasn't she. (except for when she was busy getting Nixon shamed and impeached)
Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., addressees an audience of about 2,200 people at the Wisconsin Women in Government recognition dinner in Madison, Wis., April 29, 2005. Dozens of people lined up to get Clinton's autograph as she ate dinner before speaking at the 2005 Wisconsin Women in Government Inc.
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