THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the First Lady
A 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 3:58 P.M. EST
MS. ROGERS: We are so excited to have all of you here. And welcome to the White House Kitchen. I don't know that you've ever been in here. And so we're delighted to have all the students here. We're delighted to have the First Lady here on the eve of our inaugural dinner. One of the things that you may not know --
MRS. OBAMA: Our Governors' Ball Dinner.
.....You'll see that the chefs have selected many of the vegetables and the meats from across the country, as well as the wines. And so we are really excited about what is going to occur tonight, and particularly excited that the culinary students are here to really be able to share and interface with the staff here. Maybe one day you guys might wind up being a White House Chef. (Laughter.)
And so we've got 130 people coming tonight to eat in the State Room. And then the President and Mrs. Obama will invite them to hear the Marine Corps Band. And then of course one of the American legends, a band I really love, Earth Wind and Fire, is going to be here. (Laughter.) So with no further adieu, Mrs. Obama.
MRS. OBAMA: Thank you, Desiree. Well, welcome everybody. This is an exciting day for me, for all of us. It's my first official dinner, and I've got with me Cris Comerford, the Executive Chef, as well as Bill Yosses, who is the head of our pastry division. This is so exciting, and I want to just welcome all of the students from L'Academie de Cuisine. You guys are the top students, so we are so excited to have you here. This is going to be a fun day for us. We're going to have good food, we're going to have good music, so we're very excited....
....And of course the first things we considered are what's seasonal and what is fresh, and of course representing the best of the American spirit. And you have to make sure -- like we tried to look at the northeastern part and see what's the best thing that they could offer at the season. And let me just go through each courses, so every course will be explained well to you.
Our first course is Chesapeake crab agnolottis, which are stuffed pasta with sunchoke puree. I heard a question earlier from one of the press. They wanted to know what sunchokes is. A sunchoke is also called Jerusalem artichokes, but they're not really artichokes; they're actually a root that's very reminiscent of potato and –- (inaudible). So it has a very -- ooh, wow, on cue -- (laughter) -- this is Tafari right here, who is one of my assistant chefs, who did just a wonderful plate that we'll be serving tonight. These are three agnolottis that are served with the sunchoke puree, a little basil oil. It's really wonderful. It's very light and airy, and of course it's Mrs. Obama's favorite. So thank you, Tafari.
And then next I'm going to talk about our main course, which is the Wagyu beef, or the -- it's actually an American-style Kobe beef. It's actually a cross-breed of the Kobe and the Angus beef, and actually this particular cattle herd is from central Nebraska. In these particular feed lots, we would, like, feed the beef like grass feeding; 90 percent of it's live, and towards the last 10 percent, it's given nice, organic whole grains, and some -- you know, just to enhance -- you know, fattening and marbling of the meat.
So as Tommy is putting together a wonderful beef on the side, I'm going to explain to you some of these wonderful carrots. I'm going to take it away from Franky, who's actually a graduate of your school. So we have one of your alumni. (Laughter.)
This is a Red Dragon carrots that is growing in a greenhouse in Huron, Ohio. So pretty much, as you can see, what connects all of our menu is really trying to use up things that are indicative of this area, but then at the same time, you know, not forgetting that we could get some things that are good -- let's say, for example, in Nebraska -- just like what the beef represents. So we try to be really very good with using the best of the local products.
And as you can see, what the guys are doing right now is just cleaning it off. And later on, this kitchen at about, like 5:00 p.m. -- when this press review is over, it's going to be so busy, trying to put together things. Everything is pretty much prepared and done here.
And this is Tommy, my Executive Sous Chef, who put together this wonderful main course. And it's of course the Wagyu beef that's served on a carrot puree. And of course we have some Nantucket sea scallops that are wonderful -- and it's also Mrs. Obama's favorite, so we have to put it in there.
MRS. OBAMA: The President loves scallops, too.
MS. COMERFORD: He loves scallops, too. We won't forget him, either.
MRS. OBAMA: Don't forget about him. (Laughter.)
MS. COMERFORD: And then for the salad tonight, I mean, you want something that's really light and very citrusy, to kind of like finish this course. It's not, you know, technically heavy, but it's really kind of like -- thank you, Sam. Sam here has put together a wonderful plate of -- you want to explain what's on this?
MR. KASS: Sure. So these are -- we'll start from the bottom up. On the bottom is watermelon radishes that are grown very close to here. They're really big and beautiful. And it's a citrus salad, so we carve our oranges and grapefruit. And then our lettuces are mixed with ice plants, which grow really well through the winter. And we have crystal lettuce, and they're very -- basically the same variety of plant, and with Sicilian pistachios that have been lightly candied, and a honey citrus vinaigrette. So it should be very tasty.
MS. COMERFORD: And of course you saw all of the three courses. And of course this course won't mean anything without Bill explaining -- (laughter) -- the dessert. So I'll pass it on to you.
MR. YOSSES: Thank you. Thanks. The desserts are in the same philosophy as the main courses, in that we like to use regional specialties, natural and unadulterated, whenever possible. So tonight we're going to be serving a huckleberry cobbler with caramel ice cream. It's one of the First Family's favorites.
And here's the huckleberries. They come from Idaho, so I sort of have the West Coast covered. (Laughter.) Idaho and Washington state, Oregon, they all specialize in huckleberries. As you may know, it's a wild product, it's a wild bush that grows on the mountains. They have not been able to cultivate it yet, though they tried. Mother Nature seems to want to keep those for herself.
So we are proud to serve this tonight, and happy to have you with us.
MRS. OBAMA: And we're going to have ice cream, right?
MR. YOSSES: And ice cream, as well. (Laughter.) You've got to have that, yes. -in the meantime, I can bring some of these pieces.
For the after-dinner guests, we don't want to forget them, so we brought a little selection of goodies for them, as well. These are maple truffles; New Orleans pralines -- they seem to be requested quite often -- (laughter); a pear layer cake; these are cheesecake lollipops; this is a huckleberry -- a little version of the huckleberry tart for the after-dinner guests; a meringue; and a raspberry tart; and a passion fruit.....
"1 in 5 children go hungry" I wonder how many kids you could feed with what that elitist spread cost?