A White Christmas White House by Chef Thaddeus DuBois

Chef Thaddeus Dubois, despite his French name, grew up in Idaho and landed the job of pastry chef at the White House under the Bush Administration.  He says, “I think pastry is more important than hot food. It’s the final word of any meal.  DuBois was one of three finalists for the estimated $80,000-$100,000 a year job.

According to the New York Times, he had five interviews and prepared desserts for two small dinners for President George W. Bush, a former owner of the baseball team, the Texas Rangers. ‘W.’ was seduced with Chef Dubois’s individual popcorn parfaits made in white and red chocolate boxes, filled with layers of chocolate mousse, caramel mousse, peanuts, chocolate cake and caramel popcorn.  The showpiece that accompanied the parfaits was a baseball player made of spun sugar. It was a home run.

Dubois’ appointment qualified him to join the Club des Chefs des Chefs, an organization for chefs who cook or bake for heads of state–before he moved on to more fast paced surroundings at the Borgata hotel in Las Vegas.

The beloved Jacques Pepin worked as a chef for three French Presidents including Charles de Gaulle, but turned down the job offer of becoming the chef of the Kennedy White House. Instead he accepted a position at Howard Johnson’s.

When French-born René Verdon took the White House top chef position, he set the stage for Camelot.  Julia Child appeared on the small screen soon after. We all fell in love with Jack and Jackie, and Julia.  In the blink of that proverbial eye, we opened our eyes, our hearts and our bellies to the sophistication of French food.

Lately the bloom has been off the rose. W. ‘confessed,’ (if that is the appropriate word), “I have no food preferences, no drink preferences. A cheeseburger will be fine.”

Behind the scenes, a member of his White House kitchen staff revealed Dubya’s favorite foods are BLTs, grilled cheese, and peanut butter and honey sandwiches. These food choices may nevertheless constitute a gastronomical evolutionary step up from his father’s views on eating.

Many remember President George H.W. Bush’s declared abhorrence of broccoli, “I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. …I’m the President of the United States and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli.” When he later graphically exhibited his displeasure with the food at a banquet given in his honor in Japan, the video of President ’41′ throwing up into the lap of his host was instantly flashed around the world.

Prior to his election, President Nixon campaigned vigorously seemingly eager to sample every regional specialty. When alone in the Oval Office, with a dozen chefs standing to attention and eager to fulfill his every desire, he chose to eat cottage cheese with ketchup for lunch every day.

Lyndon Johnson, on the other hand, was famous for his capacious appetites which included humungous quantities of barbecue and bourbon and branch (water).

I suspect Nancy Reagan hasn’t eaten a thing since she was eighteen.

I once was honored beyond imagination to have lunch in the company of President Jimmy Carter at his favorite Plains, Georgia cafeteria.  This is, (how to describe it?), a remarkably modest eatery.  Submerged in globules of grease on the steam tables were  long-ago expired, soggy chicken wings, forlorn collard (almost black), greens and weary, wilted lettuce with a dressing made from what tasted like strawberry-flavored shampoo. I seem to remember the bill for my meal came to $1.97.

There was a 10 percent discount if you handed the cashier a ticket proving you had attended church services the previous Sunday. The President had just such a ticket and handed it, with a cheerful smile, to the lady taking the money. I got the distinct impression that lunch was not the former president’s top priority.

I mention all these presidential food preferences because the Commander-in-Chief is in a position to influence the nation when it comes to ‘what’s for dinner?’ The more we revere our leader, the more likely we are to emulate him. This is fundamentally why it is so important we elect the right man for the job. His task is to select the right White House chef.  Many food folk have an opinion on this subject.

Dr. Tim Ryan is a master chef. He is also President of the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) and one of only five Americans ever to receive the Presidential Medal from the World Association of Cooks Societies. He has nurtured several CIA alumni who have worked in the White House including Thaddeus Dubois and Walter Scheib.

President Ryan says, “Speculation about celebrity chefs is like engaging in fantasy football.”

He believes President Obama will seize the opportunity to make changes and has proposed John Doherty, another CIA grad, as a candidate for the position.  Doherty is the current executive chef at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria hotel.

Tim Ryan goes on to suggest that President Obama could also shake things up with a rotating cast of big-name chefs for state dinners, much in the same way John F. Kennedy invited famed artists and performers to the White House. We all know chefs are great performers. When President Ryan speaks, the culinary world pays attention.  We hope President Obama is listening too. He probably is.

President-elect Barack Obama and his family are the real thing: super foodies with wide-ranging palates. “They are totally adventurous people … they enjoy food,” said Chef/Owner Rick Bayless of Topolobampo, an uptown restaurant in downtown Chicago that’s a favorite with the next first family.

One caution: Mr. Obama has an aversion to beets even Harvard beets.  We hope heads of state are noting this fact carefully.  The last thing we need is yet another international faux pas.

They say most of us yearn for the food of our childhood.  If this is so, spam could be among President Obama’s favorite foods as he spent much of his childhood in Hawaii.

The Associated Press reports: “For many Americans, Spam is a four-letter word for unwanted e-mail. In Hawaii, Spam is a beloved comfort food, with cans of the gelatinous pork bricks found in virtually every cupboard.”

Hoping to cash in on Hawaii’s love affair with the pinkish meat product, Burger King Corp. last month began offering Spam for breakfast — going head-to-head with rival McDonald’s Corp., which has been featuring Spam in the islands for years. Burger King is offering the Spam Platter — two slices of Spam nestled between white rice and scrambled eggs. The fast-food giant also offers the Croissanwich or Biscuit Sandwich with Spam.

My New Year’s wish for the nation is a White House filled with good food, great wine, the laughter of little girls (and boys) and their parents from around the world.  Bon Appétit to one and all!  Let the good times roll. And, let’s keep the change.

A January 8, 2009 Update to This Piece: the New York Times reported that President-Elect Obama and his family are taking the Bush’s recommendation and sticking with the current executive chef, Cristeta “Cris” Comerford. First Lady Laura Bush’s office has praised Ms. Comerford in the past for creating “original dishes with American flavor.”

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Dressed to Kill, photo John French. London, UK, 1963

I used to have a beautiful apartment with a long staircase in a lovely brownstone in Manhattan. I also had a cookbook publishing and packaging company there.

One day I invited an old friend, Peter Kump, for lunch. At the time, he was running a cooking school in the neighborhood, that he eventually turned into the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE).

As we were chatting, a thin trickle of blood peeped shyly from his nose. I didn’t comment. (I am British. British people do not comment.)

“Peter,” I said, calmly, “Let’s adjourn to the living room. Here, lie down and put your feet up.” Peter held the wad of bloodied paper to his face as I toyed with the idea of dialing 911 to scream for medical attention.

The doorbell rang. Who could this be? Excusing myself, I went down the stairs and answered the door.

A very tall young woman stood before me. Masses of hair. Thick fur coat. Crimson lips. Stiletto heels. Instantly I hate her.

“I’ve come for the interview,” she states. Hmmm. She thinks I forgot about the interview. She’s right. I did.

“Ah,” says I. “Do come in. I’m delighted to see you.” (Note: time-perfected British method of extreme put down by employing use of charming greeting in direct contrast to applicant’s curt statement of fact.)

Woman walks up stairs. Enters living room. Stops abruptly. Stares at Peter on the couch.

“This is Peter,” I say. “I’ve just shot him. Would you please help me throw him out of the window?”

“I just came for the interview,” she responds, restating her previous purpose.

“Well,” I retort. “If you are not prepared to pitch in, I’m afraid there isn’t a job for you here. May I show you the way to the door?”

Woman exits. She has spoken exactly 11 words (five of them twice). Peter roars with laughter. Bleeding has stopped. Lunch resumes at the dining table.

This is actually a true story though I blush to tell it as it seems so heartless in retrospect. I never crossed paths with this young woman again. Occasionally I wonder if she interpreted the entire scene differently.

There is a point to this story. As soon as I’d met her, I’d made up my mind I was not going to hire this woman. Other employers possibly would think the same way so:

• Interview Tip #1: Be aware that first impressions happen literally in the blink of an eye. If you don’t believe me, read the excellent Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell. As one Amazon reviewer, Michael Erisman, noted, “the book centers on the concept of how fast we really do make judgments, called “thin slicing,” and how deeper analysis can sometimes provide less information than more. It is all about cognitive speed.”
• Interview Tip #2: Smile. Say, “Good Afternoon.” Provide your name and don’t wear a fur coat to an interview.

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In their brilliant new book, Ask For It: How Women Can Use the Power of Negotiation to Get What They Really Want, Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever uncovered a startling fact: even women who negotiate brilliantly on behalf of others often falter when it comes to asking for themselves. Now…

Women’s earnings relative to men’s have stagnated at 73.2 percent. This is just one of many interesting, though profoundly disheartening facts to be gleaned from this groundbreaking book.

The authors are both distinguished scholars. Linda Babcock is a Professor of Economics at the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University, and co-author Sara Laschever has written for the New York Times and the Harvard Business Review as well as many consumer magazines.

I heard an interview with the authors on my National Public Radio (WAMC) station and immediately ordered the book from Amazon the same day. I keep delving into it, determined to remember all the authors’ good advice.

I mention this as I’ve been wrestling with a problem of my own. A few weeks ago a friend told me she was planning to buy a “ton” of my new book, FOOD JOBS, as a premium for her company. It hasn’t happened.

I keep trying to think of a way I can prod her into actually placing an order. I’m afraid that if I actually ask her she won’t like me any more. In my heart I know the worst thing that could happen is she’d tell me she has changed her mind. She might tell me to buzz off. This wouldn’t be the end of the world, but why am I still hesitating?

I then read this good advice from Ask For It. “It’s time to test those muscles you’ve been building. This week, choose something big that you think it’s really not okay to want, something you think would make you seem greedy or selfish if you asked for it. And make sure it’s something you really do want. Then ask for it. Whether you get it or not, fight your impulse to apologize or feel bad. Tell yourself it’s okay to want what you want. Combat the impulse to scale back out of fear that you’re overreaching.”

So now I’m ready to make that phone call I’ve been postponing. (I’ll call tomorrow.)

Here’s something else the authors reveal about women. “At twenty-two, just out of college, you and a twenty-two-year-old man with the same qualifications are offered the same job for the same salary: $25,000. You accept the $25,000 while the man negotiates and raises his starting salary to $30,000. The man deposits the extra $5,000 in a low-earning account, an account that grows about 3 percent every year. Throughout your working lives, the two of you both average 3 percent annual salary increases but of course your salary can’t keep pace with his because he started out higher. Every year, the man takes the difference between what he would have earned if he’d accepted the $25,000 (what you’re earning) and what he’s actually earning because he negotiated for more, and he adds that amount to the same low-yield account he opened when he was twenty-two. By the time he’s ready to retire at 65, that account contains $784,192 — over three-quarters of a million dollars accumulated simply because he negotiated that one time. That’s over three-quarters of a million dollars you don’t have because you didn’t negotiate. If the man puts the money in an account earning 5 or 6 percent, his gains would be even higher.

Note: In fact if both you and the man had invested your money, you would probably have lost everything in today’s market but you certainly get the point. Perhaps in today’s “challenging” economy it would be more valuable to just ask for a new house, or a car or bottle of hemlock.

Ask For It has many, many examples of real life problems and their resolution. This is a great book. I recommend it with great enthusiasm.

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