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Taste Greg Atkinson

Camelot, Cassini and Cocktails

At the apex of American style, elegance seemed everywhere

Not long ago, while perusing the shelves at a used bookstore, I came across a book called "In the Kennedy Style: Magical Evenings in the Kennedy White House" by Letitia Baldrige, with recipes by René Verdon. Verdon was the Kennedy White House chef, and Baldrige was Jacqueline Kennedy's social secretary.

As I started to read, the dusty shelves around me disappeared and I entered their Camelot world . Here was Jackie, radiant in one of those timeless Oleg Cassini gowns. And there was Grace, princess of Monaco with her husband, Rainier III, on an official state visit to the Kennedy White House. The tables were set, the candles were lit, Crab Mimosa was being served, and by the time I came to my senses, a good quarter of an hour had passed and I felt the same odd disorientation one feels when leaving a movie theater after an afternoon matinee.

The images depicted in that book were, of course, every bit as illusory as the images that flicker on movie screens during afternoon matinees. The Kennedy White House was not the idyllic haven of a happily married couple that it appeared to be, but it was a paragon of style. And that style was expressed just as surely in the creations that came out of René Verdon's kitchen as it was in the chic columns of fabric that defined the form of the first lady.

For just as surely as clothes define — and are defined by — an era, so are recipes and menus. And the menus and recipes ordered by Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy and executed by Verdon are classics, as fresh and appealing today as those Cassini gowns.

But not everyone thought so at the time. When Baldrige ordered bars to be set up in the White House so cocktails could be served before dinner instead of the traditional punch, the Washington press was scandalized; but they availed themselves of the cocktails and quickly adapted to the switch. And even though some Americans grumbled that the White House was becoming "too French" when Verdon's menus were printed in French, everyone agreed that the food was the best served in the White House in living memory.

Matters only worsened when the Kennedys made a state visit to France. The first lady in her stylish pillbox hat chatted amiably in French with President Charles de Gaulle while thousands of screaming Parisians lined the parade route. According to Baldrige, "People fainted in the crush and the sounds of ambulance sirens mingled with the roar of fighter jets flying overhead in a formation salute . . . And through it all, the constant shout of 'Jacqu-ie! Jacqu-ie!' "

When the Kennedys visited American cities, chefs and hoteliers were quick to roll out their best. According to "The Olympic: The Story of Seattle's Landmark Hotel," when J.F.K. came to Seattle in 1961, he stayed at the Olympic Hotel, now the Fairmont Olympic Hotel. No one at the hotel could tell me for sure if he dined there, or if he did, what was served. But history does record some interesting details of his stay. According to historylink.org, a Web site celebrating local history, the president requested a firm mattress for his bad back. "He tested his mattress and found it still too soft. While he attended the University of Washington's centennial celebration, officials at the Olympic had a factory in Tacoma stop production, make a new mattress and deliver it within a few hours."

Greg Atkinson is author of "West Coast Cooking." He can be reached at greg@northwestessentials.com. Barry Wong is a Seattle-based freelance photographer. He can be reached at studio@barrywongphoto.com.

The Georgian Room's Black and White Chocolate Soufflé

Serves 4

If J.F.K. were to dine at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel today, he might very well be served this timelessly elegant soufflé of dark and white chocolate.

For the soufflé

1 cup milk

½ cup sugar, divided

6 tablespoons butter

½ cup unbleached white flour, sifted

5 whole eggs, separated into whites and yolks

5 tablespoons white chocolate shavings (or small chocolate chunks)

5 tablespoons dark chocolate shavings (or small chocolate chunks)

For the vanilla cream sauce

1 vanilla bean

1 ½ cups heavy cream

½ cup milk

4 egg yolks

1/3 cup sugar

1. To make the soufflé. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a medium-size saucepan, bring the cup of milk and 3 tablespoons of the sugar to a boil. In a separate pan, melt the butter; add the flour and cook slightly. Whisk the hot milk and sugar into the flour-and-butter mixture and stir over low heat until thickened. Remove from heat and place in a mixer with a paddle on low speed. Mix until cooled, about 15 minutes. In the meantime, separate egg yolks from egg whites. Stir the yolks into the milk mixture, then stir in the chocolate shavings, but do not over-mix.

2. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with the remaining 5 tablespoons of sugar until stiff peaks form. Fold the beaten egg whites into the soufflé mixture. Brush four ramekins with butter and dust them with sugar before filling them to ¼ inch below the rim. Place the ramekins in a baking pan and fill the pan with water halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake the ramekins in the water bath at 375 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. Serve with the vanilla cream sauce.

3. To make the vanilla cream sauce. Place the cream and milk in a medium-size saucepan. With a sharp paring knife, split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds into the pan. Bring the mixture to a boil. In a separate bowl, combine the yolks and sugar. Stir the boiling liquid into the yolk and sugar mixture. Place back on the stove over low heat and cook, stirring until the mixture is slightly thickened, for about 1 minute. Remove and strain. Chill before serving.

— Recipe Courtesy of executive pastry chef Artis Kalsons and executive chef Gavin Stephenson, Fairmont Olympic Hotel

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