Preparations for an Inaugural Feast

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ee teams of cooks prepare weeks in advance. On the appointed day the stress level goes stratospheric as they go to work in three separate kitchens to prepare gourmet meals fit for a head of state. Celebrity judges go from room to room, table to table, tasting the fare that three different caterers have prepared. There can be only one winner. Is this the pitch for the television series "Iron Chefs?" No. It's the Capitol luncheon cook-off which happens every four years when Washington area caterers compete to prepare the first meal that the newly sworn in president will eat.

This year's winner was Design Cuisine of Arlinton, Virginia, veteran caterers of Inaugurals and countless events for private and corporate clients such as The Boeing Company, Chase Manhattan, Mobil Oil, MCI, Phillip Morris, and RJR Nabisco. Michael Homan, an owner, says that preparations included weeks of research at Library of Congress to look at one hundred and two hundred year old cookbooks. The three caterers had been given a theme. The idea was to have something from 1801, 1901 and 2001.

Foie gras as a garnish? Lobster pie in bechamel sauce? This is an Inauguration for an administration that thinks more about the National Cattlemen's Beef Association that about either cholesterol or PETA. Bowing to the quaint notion that the task of selecting a menu fit for a new president should fall to the wives of Congressional leaders such as Elaine Chao, the wife of Senator Mitch McConnell and now Bush's choice for Secretary of Labor, Tricia Lott, the wife of Senator Lott and Linda Hall Daschle, the wife of Senator Tom Daschle.

Well, thank heavens for Abigail Adams' lobster pie with cream sauce recipe circa 1801. It got the judge's approval for a first course — with a few adjustments. "We were looking at antique cookbooks from the 1800's and 1900's. We just really couldn't use those exact recipes. We had to adapt them all." And although the recipe is close to the one served 200 years ago, it's not a replica of Jefferson's Inaugural lunch. In reality Jefferson was served a rather simple meal of sandwiches, says Homan.

Second course is Grenadin of Beef Supreme. In the tasting it was served with a garnish of foie gras, but the judges eliminated from the final menu. The tenderloins will now be interlarded with vegetables including carrots and turnips and broccoli stems. "We run strings of vegetables tthrough the meat," says Homan. They used to do that in the early 1900's because it would make the meat more tender. But now, of course, we don't have to do that." As for the broccoli, well George W. is the president, not George Herbert Walker Bush. And besides the stem is a very flavorful part of the vegetable.

Although the intention was to have a very contemporary dessert, Homan says that the panel of judges decided "they wanted something that was more homey. We went back to one of the other desserts we'd found which was the Toffee pudding which could be served warm with vanilla ice cream. The reality is it's a recipe that we took from a restaurant in England because they had a great recipe for sticky toffee pudding."

Design Cuisine has catered the Capitol luncheon twice before, for former President Bush's Inaugural and for Clinton's second Inaugural. Each time they have returned to the Library of Congress to pour over the recipes of bygone eras. "It's always interesting doing research because you find so many things. We're doing etched glasses on the table because we saw etched glasses in our research of the 1900's."

The approximately 230 guests will require a catering staff of 73. Homan did one of the Candlelight Dinners last night and a had a sense of deja vu. This will be the company's third Capitol Luncheon. For caterers, especially those in this capital city, every night is New Year's Eve. Nearly every venue is a national monument -- or it is filled with national icons stuffing themselves with hors d'oeuvres. Anyone in such a hectic and demanding business can get jaded. Yet, with less than 24 hours to go before he is to prepare one of the most important meals of his career, Homan says that when he gets the briefest moment to reflect, it's a little overwhelming. "You get in there and once you're there you say to yourself, 'Oh wow, here we are.' It's something you think about."