White House Food
We’re going back in history to look at White House cuisine through the Madison, Kennedy & Obama Administrations. What did these presidents like to eat? What did they serve at the White House? And what culinary impact did they make on a national scale? Today I’m making oyster ice cream inspired by one of the most famous White House hostesses of all time Dolley Madison. Yes, that’s oyster flavored ice cream. It’s so strange that I absolutely had to make it! We’ll also make crème brûlée, the recipe from JFK’s library, in honor of Jackie Kennedy’s sophisticated French influence on White House cuisine. And finally we’ll make Obama’s lucky pasta, that White House chef Sam Kass cooked on Air Force one for Barack Obama.
Dolley Madison was quite the hostess. With her flashy feathered turbins and low cut gowns, you really couldn’t miss her. All of Washington gathered for Dolley’s Wednesday night parties. The drawing room at the White House, or the President’s House as it was known then, was so packed with men and women alike, of all walks of life…that these parties were nicknamed squeezes because of the sheer number of bodies in the room. Dolley was a political asset to her husband, using her hostessing skills to their advantage.
Dolley Madison has a long standing association with ice cream. She served it at James Madison’s second inaugural ball at the White House. She served it at the many dinners she co-hosted with Thomas Jefferson. Ice cream was her dessert. She was famous for it. Though not the first to serve it. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both served ice cream during their administrations. Dolley is certainly noted for serving ice cream, notably fond of apricot and pink peppermint ice cream but what about oyster ice cream? Is it one of those strange food myths? Was it a one time thing? While there are no known accounts of Dolley serving oyster ice cream… cook book author, Mary Randolph certainly did. This recipe comes from Mary Randolph’s 1824 cookbook,The Virginia House-Wife. Among her standard ice cream recipes is this…she suggests taking her recipe for oyster soup and turning it into ice cream. Mary Randolph was friends with James and Dolley Madison, visiting their plantation, Montpelier several times and even gave them a copy of her cookbook containing the recipe for oyster ice cream. I think its safe to say that at the very least Dolley was aware of this ice cream. Whether its just a myth or she really did enjoy this flavor…its too strange to pass up.
Let’s make some oyster ice cream… First I’ll start by shucking these oysters and adding them to a bowl, making sure to reserve all the oyster liquid. We want all the flavor from these. I’ll bring water, chopped onion and the oysters to a boil and reduce to a very concentrated stock. Strain out the solids and return the liquid to the pan. You can eat the oysters as a little treat. We wont need them again. Then I’ll add flour, cream and egg yolks as the recipe suggests but I’m going to add a step: tempering the egg yolks by slowly mixing in some of the warm soup first. Once the soup has thickened, I’ll cool it down completely before the ice cream process. SO! Taking a look at Mary’s ice cream tips, we see that she suggest we scrape the sides of what she is calling the freezer. So remember 1824…obviously not a modern freezer. She’s likely referring to a pewter or tin cylinder that goes into chipped ice. This was before the invention of the hand crank ice cream machine. To recreate this method, I’m going to freeze a copper bowl and set it in a bowl of ice with salt. I’m going to set it in my freezer and then scrape down the sides and stir the ice crystals every 15 minutes. In 1824, this would have gone into an ice house with roughly the same method. I’ll repeat the process until a soft serve consistency and then transfer, cover and freeze it for several hours until i can scoop it. Another option is a really simple way to make any ice cream…just a large ziploc bag with ice and salt. The base goes in a smaller ziploc. Roll it, shake it or give it to a small child with a lot of energy…voila ice cream in about 10 minutes. It will be the texture of soft serve. Then you can freeze that solid for a few hours in another container and it should scoop nicely. You can also use an electric or crank ice cream maker at home, although I cannot guarantee that your machine wont smell or taste like oysters afterward… so beware. Stick around to the end because I will taste this outrageous ice cream.
So that’s how it was done in 1824 or before, like in Dolley’s day. In 1832 Augustus Jackson, a free black chef from Philadelphia invented a prototype for the crank churn ice cream maker. Augustus had previously worked at the White House for 20 years, making ice cream for James and Dolley Madison. Although he failed to patent his invention, he did run a very successful ice cream and catering business in Philadelphia and became one of the cities wealthiest residents. Not every chef was free however. The Madisons were slave owners. Enslaved cooks on their Virginia plantation, Montpelier, were crafting ice cream for their many events. The Madisons brought enslaved people to work at the White House, including Paul Jennings, who helped Dolley Madison save the famous portrait of George Washington during the White House fire set by the British in 1814. That evening Paul Jennings & Dolley had planned and prepared what they believed would be a celebratory dinner. As the British approached, they were forced to flee. The British barged into the empty white house to find a beautiful dinner. the British soldiers stopped to sample the food, made a toast to madison’s health before smashing the windows and setting fire to the White House .
Let’s move along to the next century…1961, the young gorgeous Kennedy’s moved into the White House. The President and First Lady had a clear vision for entertaining, showcasing excellent food among artists and musicians. The most famous Kennedy dinner, was nicknamed the Brains Dinner, for 49 Nobel prize winners including J. Robert Oppenheimer and John Glenn. The name referred to the brilliant minds at the dinner, a nod that reminds me of Eleanor Roosevelt’s Scrambled Eggs & Brains Dinner ( which you’ll likely recall from my previous video on the subject). President Kennedy joked in his speech to the crowd that quote “I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge that has ever gathered at the White House-with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”
Jackie took a more traditional First Lady role, as a glamorous hostess and taste maker. Jackie hired French chef Rene Verdon and created the title of White House executive chef still used to this day. She ushered in a new style, painting the state dining room bright white, reducing the number of courses in state dinners to allow for more entertainment and mingling. Although she hated the word redecorated and preferred restored, Jackie used her extensive knowledge of history and excellent taste to restore many of the historic antiques to the White House. Jackie even guided CBS through a tour of the White House while a record breaking 56 million Americans watched at home.
President Kennedy, who often had to be reminded to eat, enjoyed simple tastes of his childhood like clam chowder and chocolate ice cream. Jackie joked that “his tastes are distressingly normal-plain food-children’s food-he likes anything.” I do wonder how much of that is political spin though... maybe this “every man” act counteracted the snobbish perception of having a fancy French chef. Optics were incredibly important to the Kennedy’s, who even ordered the secret service to speed up citizenship papers for Chef Verdon. This doesn’t surprise me because even Jackie went to great lengths to appear more American and frugal. She had Chanel suits copied by an American designer so that she could retain the fact that her clothes were indeed American, despite being French designed. Jackie’s favorite dinner was cold poached salmon, lamb with potatoes and string beans and ice cream and her go to drink was champagne on the rocks.
What’s more sophisticated and classic French than Crème Brûlée? It’s perfection reminds me of the Kennedy’s themselves. This very recipe actually comes from the JFK library. In a double boiler, the cream gets warmed by the boiling water. Vanilla flavors the cream. In another bowl, ill mix egg yolks and sugar and add that to the cream mixture and whisk until the custard thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. This gets transferred to crème brûlée molds. They will set in the fridge for an hour or 2 until ready to serve. To finish the dessert, each gets an even sprinkle of sugar. Using a kitchen torch, i caramelize the sugar to create the dish’s famous crispy topping. It’s absolutely delicious. As a quick sidenote… if you’ve never seen Lee Daniel’s The Butler, you should. Although some is fictionalized, It tells the true story of White House butler Eugene Allen who served in the white house for 34 years, including the Kennedy administration. It’s one of the most important movies I’ve ever seen in my life.
On to the next century, In 2009 The Obamas moved into the White House, bringing a love for food, a plan to improve food policy and hope and change for the health of the American people. President Obama who has lived all over the world, is an adventurous eater. Although he loves cuisines of many other nations, he still loves classic food like pie. While serving as President, he visited many of America’s best restaurants like my hometown Kansas City’s famous barbecue restaurant Arthur Bryant’s. While hosting world leaders, the Obamas showcased the culinary talents of the first female White House executive chef Cristeta Comerford.
Michelle Obama led the charge to promote healthy eating and exercise with her let’s move campaign, which centered around fighting the childhood obesity epidemic. Mrs. Obama planted a White House garden in hope that it would quote “begin a conversation about the food we eat, the lives we lead and how all of that affects our children.” This garden offered not just food for the White House but as an important message to the American people. Trump threatened to turn the garden into a putting green…but he couldn’t because the Obamas had the forethought to ensure it was maintained by the national park service hahaha.
Along with the garden, Mrs. Obama had honey bee hives brought to the South Lawn to provide honey for the White House. President Obama became the first to brew beer at the White House, using the garden’s honey to flavor it’s recipes. Mr. Obama famously loves beer and even hosted a Medal of Honor recipient, Sargent Dakota Meyer for a beer on the Oval Office patio.
Sam Kass is the Obama’s former personal chef turned senior policy advisor for nutrition, assistant White House chef & executive director of Let’s Move. His work with President and Mrs. Obama included policy reform, advocacy for school nutrition, helping to create the white house garden and White House beer. I had the privilege of meeting Sam Kass when I was the chef instructor at the Emeril Lagasse foundation kitchen house and culinary garden in 2017. He was in town for a public speaking engagement and came by our garden to learn about our programs teaching students about cooking and gardening. Sam wrote a wonderful cookbook called Eat a Little Better. The recipe we’re making today comes from his cookbook.
Former White House Chef Sam Kass (Center) with my former team at the Emeril Lagasse Foundation Kitchen House & Culinary Garden- Edible Education Experience, I’m on the far right of the photo.
Recipes:
Creme Brûlée from the JFK Library. I followed this recipe but instead used 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and i used white sugar to brûlée the top of the custard, not brown sugar.
Mary Randolph’s recipe for Oyster Cream (Oyster Ice Cream)
Mary Randolph’s Oyster Soup. She recommends using this as the base for Oyster Ice Cream. I skipped the ham and thyme.
Oyster Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 12 oysters raw
- 2 cups water
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 yellow onion (diced)
- pinch salt
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon flour
Instructions
- Shuck all the oysters. Add oysters and their liquid to a bowl.
- In a pot, bring 2 cups water, diced onion, all the oysters and liquid and a pinch of salt to a boil. Reduce by half and strain. The strained liquid should equal 1 cup.
- Return the cup of oyster broth to a clean pan over medium heat. Discard or eat the cooked oysters and onion. To the oyster broth, add 1 teaspoon of flour (this was in Mary’s cookbook. It did immediately clump up so whisk or press out any solids). Then add the cream. Whisk all together until smooth. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks and add a ladle full of the oyster/cream mixture into the bowl of yolks. Whisk that together very well then add everything back to the pot. This tempers the egg yolks to prevent them from scrambling.
- Turn off the heat. Whisk the oyster soup very well. Allow to cool, then refrigerate for 30 minutes at least before starting the ice cream process.
- Ice cream options: 1. Use an electric or crank ice cream machine to freeze the base. 2. Use a gallon ziplock bag filled with ice and a tablespoon of salt. In a smaller ziplock bag, add the ice cream base. Seal very well. Put small ziplock bag into the large back of ice. Roll or shake for 10 minutes. When the ice cream is the consistency of soft serve, transfer it to another container and freeze for a few hours until ready to scoop. 3. Using a small metal bowl, add the ice cream base. In a larger metal bowl, add 1 tablespoon salt and ice. Place small metal bowl inside the large bowl of ice. Place the bowls in the freezer for 15 minutes. Take the bowls out. Scrape the sides of the bowl containing the ice cream. Stir. Repeat the freezing and scraping process until the ice cream is the consistency of soft serve, transfer it to another container and freeze for a few hours until ready to scoop.
POTUS Lucky Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 pound dry pasta
- 1/2 clove garlic
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves
- 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts or pecans
- 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive oil
- 2 chicken breasts
- 1/2 pound raw baby spinach
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Roast chicken breasts on a sheet tray with oil, salt and pepper at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes. Allow to cool before chopping into bite sized pieces.
- Cook the pasta in boiling water according to package directions. Drain but reserve 1/3 cup of the starchy cooking water.
- In a food processor or blender, add the garlic, basil, toasted pine nuts, Parmesan, half of the olive oil and salt and pepper. With the motor running, slowly add the rest of the oil until well combined.
- In a large bowl, combine the raw spinach, hot pasta, hot diced chicken and the pesto with the reserved 1/3 cup cooking water. Toss until everything is well combined and the spinach has wilted slightly.
- Serve with more grated Parmesan and a squeeze of lemon.