A Special Memory Of A Great Man – George H.W. Bush

This blog is off the supper club topic, but in light of the passing of George H.W. Bush, I wanted to pass on a special memory of him that Susan and I have.

We met George H.W. Bush 20 years ago at his presidential library in College Station Texas on the campus of Texas A&M University. We were in Houston visiting our friends Jerry and Tricia MacDonald. It was a cold snowy/rainy day and instead of playing golf as planned, we decided to visit the George H.W. Bush library.

I remember that day clearly. I knew that Bush was from Greenwich CT where my wife Susan went to school, lived and taught and Barbara was from Rye NY. Our friends Tom and Mary Julian, lived across Onondaga Street from the house that Barbara grew up in.

Presidential libraries are all great. History comes to life. On the day we were at the library there weren’t a lot people there because of the weather. The tour was great. I loved his emphasis that while from Greenwich he was really a Texan. At the end of the tour we were in the back of the library watching a tv with funny video clips of Bush. We were watching one where a post President George was playing golf, complaining that putts that friends used to give him when he was President, they now made him putt (with his long putter)

Just as we were watching on tv the real George Bush appeared in person. He walked up to Susan and said: “watch this, it is really funny”. He just happened to be there that day to throw out the first pitch for a Texas A&M baseball game that had been canceled. George Bush had a sense of humor. He could laugh at himself. The way he did it, was a testimony to the self confidence of a great man.

Video clip of George Bush and Dana Carvey

I had been a fan of “41” for years. As a history major in college, I always have felt that he was the best trained president in history. (War hero, Yale graduate, Senator, Ambassador, CIA Director, Vice President). Past that, he was such a good person. In the presence of his greatness, I could have asked a lot of questions. We had common history having grown up in neighboring towns. I could of asked a historical question.

But no: I asked him if he gave lessons on how to use the long putter in golf like he was doing in the funny video we were watching? He looked at me like I was from another planet. Then, he and his secret service contingent whisked away.

A stupid question, but a great man and a special memory.

George and Barbara Bush with Amy Grant, Jerry MacDonald and Michael W. Smith at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion on December 5 2015. Jerry (in black) runs the Pavilion and was with us when we met President Bush at his library.

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Cookbooks Lie Experience Doesn’t

Have you ever wondered why when you cook a roast beef to exactly to the instruction in the cookbook, it doesn’t always turn out the way you want? Many cookbooks call for cooking a roast beef 130 to 140 degrees for medium rare. If you pull your roast out of the oven at 135 degrees, let it sit for 15 minutes (as recommended) you are guaranteed to have your roast cooked to medium well. The fact is that beef and other items will continue to cook after coming out of the oven, and cookbooks lie.

My kitchen Bible has always been the Joy of Cooking. Older editions, like mine, called for cooking your roast beef from 140 for rare to 170 degrees for well done. I have annotated my copy more than once. As you can see in the picture, I originally crossed off 140 and penciled in 130 for rare. Finally, I have written, “Cook to 120 to 125 degrees and let stand”. That pretty much says it all: Cookbooks lie, experience doesn’t.

(My notes on Roast Beef in the Joy Of Cooking)

My family has a tradition of over cooking the holiday roast. We all like our beef medium rare. We always used to wind up with beef at medium well. It wouldn’t be the holidays if the beef isn’t overcooked. The fact is that your roast will continue to cook and Mom’s roast beef pulled out of the oven at 140 degrees wound up at 150 degrees. That nasty grey color is just never good, unless you are one of the outliers that like their beef well done

I used to work with two great chefs that ran the top white tablecloth restaurant in Memphis. I asked them what percentage of their customers like their beef medium rare? They claim that 85% of customers at higher end restaurants like their beef medium rare. Of course there are those that grew up in households where their mom’s overcooked everything and medium well was the standard. I do believe people like what they grew up with, but I still have a problem killing a good piece of meat. I have a friend that likes his meat cooked well done. I will admit that I don’t invite him to a dinner knowing that it pains me to ruin a good piece of meat.

As we get into winter and the holiday season, there is not much better than a good roast beef. If you are planning a big dinner party, it is never a bad idea to have a test run with family or a few guests. Just remember Cookbooks and bloggers lie, experience doesn’t.

Culinary Side Effects

Some dishes have side effects that impact different people differently. My last blog was about a wonderful ham and bean soup. My wife Susan reminded me that while she loves bean soup, it doesn’t love her. There is that wonderful rhyme from our youth:

Beans, Beans good for your heart, the more you eat the more you fart!

For Susan this is the truth, fortunately for me, not so much.

There is the wonderful campfire scene from the movie Blazing Saddles. The cowboys are sitting around the campfire eating their plate of beans for dinner and soon break out in a chorus…

Blazing Saddles Campfire Scene.

I was once driving from Frankfurt Germany to Paris with two business associates. One was from east Texas and the other, the South of France. It was a long drive and as we started to get sleepy. I decided to ask questions to keep the conversation flowing and keep me awake. I asked what were the standard meals that your mother made for you growing up? The Frenchman started out explaining that every day started with a croissant and confiture and he went on from there. The Texan countered with: “We were poor and we had beans for breakfast, beans for lunch and if we were lucky, beans for dinner”. All I could think of was the scene from Blazing Saddles. In the closed environment of that car, I was just glad the Texan’s dietary fare had evolved.

Beans are not the only cause of a certain unwanted culinary side effect. Back in the 1990’s the food industry went to great lengths to develop fat replacers. A few of these replacers had the same effect of those good old beans. Olestra was the branded sucrose polyester that the FDA required a warning on the label that said: “Olestra may cause abdominal cramping and or loose bowels”. It didn’t have the same marketing impact as the warning on Viagra.

At Kraft we had a friend that worked for a company in Germany that had developed a polyol based fat replacer. My friend had an array of baked goods made with his miracle fat replacer that we sampled during a morning session. That afternoon we had a meeting in the R&D lab. I noticed that one by one the Kraft people kept walking away from the meeting table. Again, it was like that scene from Blazing Saddles. I finally confronted my German friend telling him what the rest of the group was too polite to say. To which he responded: “You Americans are too sensitive, you need to be strong…” Strong or not, there certain culinary side effects that some of us need to avoid.