White House Chef: 11 Years, 2 Presidents, 1 Kitchen

July 09 2007 - 10:54 PM

I must confess that I’m a political junkie and was surprised that I never really thought about the head chefs at the White House. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush’s White House chef, Walter Scheib, has put out a cookbook full of interesting anecdotes, from the fact that W. like his hot dogs boiled, not grilled to details about Chelsea’s high-school rooftop parties. There is no mention of Willie Nelson being there.

In addition to dozens of presidential recipes inflatable water slide there is a very interesting passage about September 11th and this Chef’s trips to the kitchen and cafeteria after the Pentagon crash to make sure everyone had left the building. Recipes from the state dinner for Nelson Mandela, served in the room where the Civil Rights Act was passed, even a recipe of crispy shrimp with roasted artichokes and wild sorrel soup that Bush had sent back to the kitchen are all included. Sometimes maybe eating something that has something going for it other than flavor, a specific occasion for example, makes it taste better?

Grill me up a hot dog.

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