White House Chefs Share What It's Like To Cook For The President

Table Of Content

• Who is White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford?
• How Andre Rush's childhood influenced his cooking style and why he joined the U.S. Army
• The Clintons Were Surprisingly Casual In The White House Kitchen
• A behind-the-scenes look at state dinners, as the White House honors Japan
• things you didn't know about the White House kitchen

The following recipe of President Eisenhower was included in a menu for a dinner given in honor of the prime minister of Canada and the president of Mexico in April, 1956. Lucy Hayes was the first first lady to graduate from college at nineteen with high honors from the Wesleyan Female College in Cincinnati, Ohio. Although she believed in women’s intellectual abilities in an era when women’s capabilities were questioned by many, she, like many women in the 19th century, was not yet liberated. Her temperance attitude earned her the nickname Lemonade Lucy, and many a White House visitor was disappointed that the president approved her stance. Martha Dandridge Custis Washington was a plump widow with two children when George Washington married her. She not only brought property and elite social status to the match, she brought vast property holdings, too.

Who is White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford?

Today, White House menus and wine lists from small dinner parties to large state dinners are much discussed by the first lady, her social secretary, and the White House chefs. The duties of the White House Chef are not as easy as simply cooking the President their favorite dish. Beyond the day-to-day, there are duties like preparing to cater state dinners or hosting leaders from around the globe. You'd expect the relationship between the first family and the White House culinary staff to be rather formal, given the responsibilities the cooks and chefs have. One first family, however, had a particularly tight connection with their culinary staff that bordered on chummy, and that was the Clinton family. It takes more than one person to keep the president fit and fed.

How Andre Rush's childhood influenced his cooking style and why he joined the U.S. Army

The chef also gets inside information because she's a member of Le Club des Chefs de Chefs, a group of 23 men and women who earn their membership by serving as the personal chefs to heads of state. In addition to keeping world leaders healthy and happy, these cooks meet every year to swap tips and recipes. As part of the job, the executive chef oversees three separate White House kitchens. The one located on the second floor is for the president and his family.

The Clintons Were Surprisingly Casual In The White House Kitchen

Hosted by Colin Jost of “Saturday Night Live,” the 2024 White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner will take place Saturday night. The show will be staged at that shrine to comedy, the Washington, D.C., Hilton. The event, which lets comedians mock powerful people (and lets powerful people, like President Joe Biden, live-action role-play being comedians) is usually a flaming hot mess atop a dumpster floating, languidly, in a lake of chunky sludge. Stephanie Breijo is a reporter for the Food section and the author of its weekly news column. Previously, she served as the restaurants and bars editor for Time Out Los Angeles, and prior to that, the award-winning food editor of Richmond magazine in Richmond, Va.

A behind-the-scenes look at state dinners, as the White House honors Japan

Weird Rules That White House Chefs Have To Follow - Mashed

Weird Rules That White House Chefs Have To Follow.

Posted: Thu, 02 Feb 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

It was funny because, in Mississippi, it was all Southern food, comfort food. I mean, I think the closest thing we had was home ec, but I wasn't in home ec of course. Just embedded in my mind, and my heart, and my head about how food was supposed to be to me, and how I thought it was. She remained as White House executive chef under former presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, and has continued in her role under Mr Biden. When Scheib retired 10 years later, first lady Laura Bush promoted Comerford to White House executive chef. The move made Comerford the first woman and the first person of color ever to hold the post since the Kennedys created it in 1961.

The foods Presidents and their families love to eat

Who is White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford? - The National

Who is White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford?.

Posted: Thu, 01 Dec 2022 08:00:00 GMT [source]

"A menu might seem inconsequential," White House historian Lina Mann tells PEOPLE."But there is a lot of thought that goes into it - particularly when it's being served to some of the most powerful people in the world." Season 2 champion, Ilan Hall opened his vegan Ramen Hood at Downtown LA’s prestigious Grand Central Market in 2015. Instead of using eggs, Hall and his on-site chef, Rahul Khopkar craft whites with GMO-free soy milk set with agar, and yolks starring spherified nutritional yeast and black salt. They created a bold broth with sunflower seeds instead of pork tonkotsu, and char siu is reimagined as King oyster mushrooms.

things you didn't know about the White House kitchen

George Washington's enslaved chef from his Mount Vernon home, a man named Hercules, continued to prepare his food during his presidency (the White House was still under construction, so Washington worked out of New York and Philadelphia). A painting by Gilbert Stuart entitled "A Cook for George Washington" is presumed to be a portrait of him. Hercules escaped from slavery on Washington's birthday in 1797. Kitchen staff use two dumbwaiters, a small elevator, and a spiral staircase between the pantries to transport food from one floor to another. Comerford also worked as a chef tournant (aka revolving chef) at Le Ciel in Vienna, Austria, for six months. There, she became proficient in preparing classic French cuisine.

Everything to Know About Last Night’s White House State Dinner

I would not want it to be given or anything of the sort, so I took it for that value, face value. My younger sister, she's a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force. It was eight of us, so the next one up from me is 13 years older. I had another brother who retired as an officer in the Navy. Then I had one of my sisters, she was in special education. One of my other sisters, she helped the blind live in communities.

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"Tiny" is his nickname, and by now you can gather that it's an ironic one. Andre Rush is a 285-pound tank of a human, who has to slit the sleeves of his chef coats to fit them around his now-famous 24-inch biceps. "I love Tiny! One of my favorite mentors ever and one of the most talented chefs in the Army. Tell him he's looking a little small." “Plenty of wine” was a correct assessment, for Jefferson drank one to four glasses of wine a day, ordering it by the barrel from Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal, and served four to six wines with dinner.

While preparing meals for presidents and other dignitaries may have seemed like the most exciting part of the job, Rush says he most relished time spent with first ladies. The teams are responsible not only for keeping the Oval Office's main kitchen running, but also for working in the White House's two pantries, the official pastry kitchen, and in the Executive Kitchen located inside the president's residence. On top of this, White House kitchen staff are also expected to be on call 24 hours a day in case the president or their staff get a little peckish while working overnight in the Situation Room.

The president called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to release Gershkovich immediately, adding that the White House was also doing everything it could to bring home freelance journalist Austin Tice and businessman Paul Whelan. The president said later that age was the only thing he and Trump had in common, adding, "My vice president actually endorses me," a reference to former Vice President Mike Pence's refusal to say he'll back his former running mate in 2024. WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Saturday used his White House correspondents' dinner speech to swipe at former President Donald Trump, taking shots at the presumptive GOP nominee while highlighting the stakes of the election. Quavo, 33, will attend the dinner as a guest of ABC News. The rapper rose to stardom as one-third of the hip-hop group Migos, which also featured his nephew, Takeoff.

Before state dinners, the first lady insisted the kitchen staff perform multiple trial runs, plating and arranging the food until it looked perfect. She would then have someone photograph the dishes so Haller could duplicate her vision down to the last detail. This section includes books and journal articles by and about chefs and other personnel involved in White House and presidential cuisine. Some of these resources are strictly cookbooks, but many include personal anecdotes and memories.

One thing that helped him grow more comfortable in the role, he says, was learning that, beneath the pomp and circumstance of the presidential title, these were just regular - hungry - people. For one thing, security is a major precaution, with all of the members of the kitchen staff vetted and background-checked before ever setting foot in the building. "It took about 14 months before I could even come to work," Martin Mongiello, who has cooked for six U.S. presidents at both the White House and Camp David, tells PEOPLE. "During the Roosevelts' time in the White House - because it was during the Great Depression and World War II - they didn't serve elaborate meals," says Mann, the historian.

"We do have shoppers that would go out clandestine every day," Mongiello says. "The staff kind of follows around the president or vice president with the box," Mongiello says. Though he eventually grew comfortable being "in the president's bathroom, his bedroom, and the kitchen," Mongiello says there was a steep learning curve. State dinners and parties, on the other hand, were and remain an all-hands-on-deck affair in which nearly every member of the White House staff is involved.

"I'm actually even more impressed by them, because I know behind the scenes [it's] FLOTUS," he says. "It's like a military spouse. They get the residuals. They're guilty by association. And a lot of people don't know that responsibility is on FLOTUS to hire the chef." Chef Andre Rush first began cooking at the White House in 1997, after serving as a cook and trainer in hand-to-hand combat and food service for the U.S.

Opened in 2015, the original Santa Monica location touts spiral tabletops, geometric designs carved into counters, potted succulents, and a system of lights and piping that combine to resemble a circuit board. Antonia Lofaso, Season 4 and Season 8 All-Stars competitor, has become a breakout star. The Cutthroat Kitchen judge now contributes mightily to LA’s culinary landscape along with Mario Guddemi and Sal Aurora. In 2011, they debuted Black Market Liquor Bar in the former Studio City home of the Victory Motorcycle Co., complete with an L-shaped bar, arched brick ceiling and reclaimed wood accents.