Photo by Tess Lundgren
Former White House Pastry Chef Roland Mesnier pauses with dessert molds he used during his 26 years creating desserts for five presidents.
PHOTO BY TESS LUNDGREN
If you love history and creating delectable desserts, you may want to try your hand at bidding for one of the culinary tools of the trade from a famous White House chef.
For 26 years, White House Pastry Chef Roland Mesnier decked out in his chef's whites and toque, fed five presidents and their families, creating elaborate and delicious concoctions.
It's a life he loved and shares in talks, books and more.
Coming up soon, this fall, The Potomack Company in Alexandria will be auctioning Mesnier's dessert mold collection, which includes molds used to create peach sorbet for Princess Diana in 1985, as well as molds for dessert centerpieces such as a large American bald eagle, the Statue of Liberty, Big Ben, the Queen of England’s coach and many others that honored kings and queens, prime ministers and governors.
Many of the molds and the finished creations are pictured in Mesnier's latest book, “White House Desserts.”
"I have collected a lot of different things, special molds, whatever I thought would help me do my job," Mesnier said.
He used to go hunting for culinary tools of the trade at farms in Maryland, "big old places where they would dry tobacco," he said. "I bought everything myself. My collection is way over the top."
"I think the sale will be unusual, it might give a young pastry chef or cook something they've never worked with. Can you imagine?"
The White House is a long way from where Mesnier started out, growing up in a large family in France.
"I was a kid from a big family, we were nine children and everybody had to pitch in to produce meals for almost 12 people every day, breakfast, lunch and dinner," he said. "And the house where I was born was extremely small, a house from the French government, that's where we were."
Two of Mesnier's older brothers embarked on culinary careers, one as a pastry chef and the other opening his own bakery in the town of nearby Besançon.
Mesnier's first job at age 14 was working as an apprentice in a pastry shop in Besançon.
"The young people today, the only thing they talk about is the vacations they are going to have, how much they're going to drink," he said. "In my day, we talked about 'Where are you going to be an apprentice? Are they making great pastry? How many hours will I work?'"
"Being from a large family I wanted to get the hell out of the way; there was too much family around me to breathe and expand," he said. His career gave him plenty of breathing room — taking him to Paris, and then to a town in Germany and then to The Savoy hotel in London and beyond.
"I came to the door of the restaurant, I didn't speak English," he said. "I had to explain I was trying to get a job in London. It was the best place in the world and I got a job." From The Savoy, he returned to France to complete 18 months of required military service. Afterward, he returned to The Savoy and moved on from there.
Fast forward to 1977, where he began working at the White House for President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter.
"She was extremely nice, very helpful," he said of Rosalynn Carter. "I can call them my friends now; sitting in my office, there is a picture of them, I'm presenting a wedding cake for their anniversary. There was no plan, I just decided to do it at the last minute, it made a bigger impact. We still correspond and I'm still friends with all of them."
"Mrs. Reagan loved beautiful pastry," he said. "She loved quality, beauty and had great taste." Mesnier challenged himself by not creating the same dessert twice in two years during his time with the Reagans.
"Mrs. Clinton took a liking to me," he noted. "I wrote a book with her about all the grand dinners at the White House, it makes a beautiful gift. She loves mocha cake, she was so taken by that."
"Bill Clinton loved cobblers, warm desserts, fruit desserts, we tried to please."
Current White House pastry chef Susie Morrison, is a protege — "I hired Susie in 1993, and she loves what she does."
Mesnier said his personal favorite dessert "would be the good old American pie — blueberry, apple, raspberry. Not always with ice cream, it's overrated. Sometimes warm apple pie with ice cream."
Meanwhile, Mesnier, who has written eight books, said there may be one or two books left in his future. "I really don't want to get involved with that, but if people ask..."
Now, he spends his days at his home in Fairfax Station, spending "very little time making desserts. It takes a lot of strength and after being in a commercial kitchen for almost 60 years, that's enough."
"I make a brioche for my cat," he said, "he's a sweet boy."
