Treats and Tricks at the White House

Submitted by Amy Brady on Friday, November 6, 2009

This past Saturday, "trick or treat" was more than the excited greeting of the costumed and the candy-hungry. It was also the theme of Brainfood's most recent return to the White House kitchen. For the three Brainfood grads who braved the misty fall weather to make the early morning trip to 1600 Pennslyvania Avenue, the tricks started almost on arrival.

Instead of entering the southeast gate for our 10 AM appointment, we had to clear the area and wait on the sidewalk while the Secret Service secured the area for the departure of the presidential motorcade. It was a rare opportunity for us to admire the efficiency and daily diligency of the Secret Service who guarded the presidential departure on foot, bike, and in cars. But the treat of getting to watch the presidential motorcade pull out forced us to pick up the pace to get through security.

Once inside the coolest underground kitchen in DC, we took in the Halloween themed deco coming to life all around us. Loaves of bread, split and hollowed out to look like coffins, were nestled between fall foliage and miniature meringue skulls. A gigantic dish of smashed avocado for the familiar favorite, guacamole, looked eerily unfamiliar when plated up with knotty stalks of salsify. Chefs debated what type of leafy green vegetable would give them the weirdest "Halloween look" for a table display. And familiar faces of chefs looked a little different behind dalmatian-print aprons, mad-scientist glasses, and dark green face print.

Like our last visit, we only had a few minutes to take in the scenery before jumping into our first task of cutting corn tortillas into Halloween shapes. With the aid of kitchen shears, cookie cutters, and elbow grease, purple and red tortilla chips became pumpkins, ghosts, and cats. After we had finished, we got to watch our handiwork go for a quick swim in the fryer and emerge as Halloween tortilla chips. All in all, it was about an hour's worth of work, and we were already in for any Brainfood student's favorite treat: food. We followed the line of chefs who led the snaking procession down the winding staircase to one of the White House lunch rooms. These people really know how to do lunch-- and we were happy to dig into chicken quesadillas, beans, rice, and the omnipresent tub of ice cream (for lunch!) that students have marveled at on our previous visits.

Tummies full and back upstairs, students got going on an assortment of tasks. Dredging chicken breasts was a little gooey, but the treat was getting to fry chicken at the White House! So cool! (Especially a treat since the "fry" option is not one in our regular classroom). Yet another treat: going hands-in on a bowl of avocado halves to smash up another enormous vat of guacamole. It was one of those great moments that blurred the ever-tenuous line between cooking and playing with your food. And the best kitchen trick of all, Chef Cris still had in store for us. For our last activity, we were tasked with putting together one hors d' ouevre from start to finish. The trick: turning puff pastry and sausage links (the basis of the traditional pig in a blanket) into a bite size snack that creepily resembled a severed finger. We worked in near silence as an assembly line-- each person concentrating on doing his or her step in the process perfectly every single time. When the last tray of sausages was finished, we knew it was the end of our long day of work and fun.

As we finished up and headed out at 5:30, everyone agreed: getting to spend Halloween at the White House helping out with behind-the-scenes food prep was exciting, unexpected, and amazing. And it was still early enough to go out and get candy.