The news media were not allowed in to the Capitol’s Statuary Hall for the inaugural luncheon, a traditional meal hosted by the members of Congress who organized the overall ceremonies. Bloggers didn’t make it past Secret Service agents wearing toques. Fortunately, there were flies on the wall, despite the January temperatures. They did not care about either the swearing-in nor the parade, but liked their particular front-row seats to history. This is their story, corroborated by a PDF of recipes.
The first course was Seafood Stew comprising scallops, shrimp, lobster and cod. The stew part came from the holy trinity of carrots, celery and onion, in this case leeks. And you thought Barack Obama had enough staff loyalty to halt leaks. Paired with a white from Duckhorn of Napa Valley, online at $14.50 a bottle. The press release says the menu was inspired from foods known to be favored by President Lincoln. In this instance, Abe liked oysters. Oysters are nowhere in the updated stew. Please, honor the media honeymoon of a new president by not joking about a meal served by a congressional committee.
The second course was “A Brace of American Birds (Pheasant and Duck)” with Molasses Sweet Potatoes. A brace means a pair, specifically a set of two similar things considered as a unit — “three brace of partridges” or “a brace of hounds.” The former consisted of “Herb Roasted Pheasant with Wild Rice Stuffing” and the latter “Duck Breast with Cherry Chutney.” The similarity, in order to constitute a brace, thus ended at both having had feathers. It’s a wonder that the justices who ate at the lunch weren’t called to referee the constitutionality of the game. For the home, outsource the chutney from India. The yams, according to the recipe, are to be seasoned with kosher salt. L’chaim! News reports and the recipe PDF noted that winter vegetables — asparagus, carrots, Brussels sprouts and wax beans — also came with this course. Asparagus is a spring veggie and beans are summer but for the grace of Yankee refrigeration. The wine for this course was a red, a Goldeneye Pinot Noir, from Anderson Valley, Calif., which the vineyard sells online for $55 a bottle. Goldeneye is a James Bond label, 1995 vintage.
Meanwhile, the children got hot dogs, mac and cheese and the like. Why not serve them smaller portions of what everyone else was eating?
The third course was dessert: Apple Cinnamon Sponge Cake and Sweet Cream Glace, with the third wine a Korbel Natural “Special Inaugural Cuvee,” a California Champagne apparently bottled just for this and not for sale. Glace here means caramel sauce, the recipe says store-bought is fine. Abe liked apples; The second president, John Adams, favored a tankard of hard cider every morning. How about them apples?
Sadly, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. who is being treated for a brain tumor, became ill as dessert was served. He’s better now, but he missed the Korbel. Might that have marked his first taste of a common favorite? The president and first lady surely remember Korbel from their college days for its, er, affordability.
Afterward, as TV viewers saw, the Obamas had a designated driver for the ride back to the White House, but a couple of times they left the car for sobering walks, bracing in January.
