scholars. also a former white house executive pastry chef on working under five presidents. that's all tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span 3. coming up tomorrow, live coverage as former white house press secretaries join a discussion with current white house correspondents and presidential historian jo stoto meacham will talk about george w. bush, thomas jefferson and franklin roosevelt. live coverage from the white house historical association's conference with representatives from presidential sites across the country. we'll get under way wednesday morning at 9:00 eastern. former white house executive pastry chef roland mesnier worked for five presidents. he's retired now but was invited to talk about the presidential site summit taking place in washington, d.c. it's an hour and ten minutes.

>> good afternoon. hi, everybody. i've been coming around saying hi to you, if i got up to the stage i needed a round of applause. [ applause ] and the reason is i creamed my foot about six weeks ago and this is my first outing and first walking up steps and only for roland mesnier would i climb steps. so on behalf of the white house historical association, welcome to the 2018 presidential site summit. i'm an stock, president of the board. and i'm chair of the retail committee so here's my plug. any time this week, stop by our shops and bye-buy, buy, buy. you knew i would have to say that. there's a pop-up one outside where we're eating.

there's a full line score across pennsylvania avenue and another full line store at 1610 eighth street so stop by any of them. show your summit idea and receive a 10% discount. me i had the pleasure of working with chef roland mesnier for the first five years of the clinton administration. i was the white house executive secretary and he was the pastry chef. i still hold him responsible for the weight i put on working there. and i mean it, it was about ten pounds. i used to sneak over there everyday. roland is a world renown pastry chef and author who has held important positions in the most prestigious hotels -- the savoy in london, the george sank in paris and the green briar in

west virginia. he served five -- count them -- five extraordinary presidents -- jimmy carter, ronald reagan, george h.w. bush, bill clinton, and george w. bush. and i think that deserves a round of applause. but to many of us he was a very good friend and trusted colleague and here's where i got in trouble, he was always ready with a cookie, a truffle, a piece of cake or sliver of pie no matter what else was going on in the white house that week and when it comes to creativity, i may be biased but few match r e roland in that department. people have marvelled at his

one-of-a-kind creations. his ginger bread houses, whether modeled on the first lady's girlhood home or even socks the cat and when mr. and mrs. clinton hosted the empress and emperor of japan, he was ready. he did his research taking inspiration of the japanese cherry trees in washington and he created what he called simply cherry sorbet. but believe me, this dessert was anything but simple. picture a foot tall hand blown sugar cherry with white almond ice cream, california bing cherries and, yes, cherry or nestled inside. a chocolate basket with bamboo handles and hand-painted cookies, marzipan cookies, made to look like sushi completed the

masterpiece. it was a work of art. her majesty was so enraptured she asked to meet roland to meet him. i thought something was wrong but she wanted to say congratulations on the beautiful desse dessert. my mouth is watering thinking about the beautiful, clever and always, always delicious concoctions this man created. join me in welcoming my friend and chef extraordinary the incomparable roland mesnier. [ applause ] only for you, darling.

>> this is a very tricky podium her here. is this a ski slope or a podium they have here? i'm not too sure. this thing goes down a little bit? remember, i'm just a pastry chef [ laughter ] i'm not an engineer of anything of that kind. >> is that good for you?

>> yes, the papers may fly everywhere, i don't know. welcome to the beautiful capital city of washington, d.c., of course. and the beautiful willard hotel. >> my name is rolaand mesnier. i served five presidents. to get to the white house, everybody wants to work, at the white house until they get the job, then they don't know what to do with it. i really mean it, that's the truth. you have to understand this job is very scary. because of the people you are

serving. you're no longer serving just anybody like in a restaurant or hotel or whatever, you're serving people that have achieved great things in life, that have had great jobs so you better be on the same level with your food. i also served numerous of emperors, kings, head of states, all during my tenure. but when i started at the white house i was already in that line of work for 20 years learning under the best chefs available in paris, france, in germany and especially the hotel that i always mention because that particular hotel used to be known as the number one hotel in the world. still exists today but i think lot a little bit of its luster

through the years because now it's mart of a chain. those days the savoy was owned by a family. big difference. big difference. and the customer, the guests that we were feeding at the savoy those days, just to give you a short list. we had a lot of people from hollywood, of course, frank sinatra, audrey hepburn, gregory peck. we also had the queen -- i served the queen of england a long time ago for the first time and many, many after that ch. . we had liz taylor, charlton heston, james cagney and then jackie kennedy that would be coming for dinner but at the time she wasn't a kennedy anymore. she was just -- she was still jackie kennedy but she was not

married. onassis, that became her husband later on would have dinner at the savoy with his girlfriend at the time which was maria callas, the opera singer so this is the caliber of the people we fed everyday at the savoy. enough to give you a heart attack everyday. we had a billionaire that would come and he would reserve a big round table and he expected every time to receive an enormous silver tray filled with homemade chocolates and cookies and all that. he expected it. he did not order it.

one kind of cookies had to be there all the time. if the cookies fell, they had to shatner a thousand people. if they didn't break he would call the butler and say take this garbage out of here. and in the center there was a beautiful pulled and blen sugar disp display. so just to give you a sugar taste of what the savoy was. it was an exceptional place to work and i've learned so much there in this special place.

after that i worked for -- i was the pastry chef at the princess hotel in bermuda and i was also the pastry chef for the governor's palace in bermuda. the princess was owned by the rich chest man est man in the w ludwig, he was a real businessman, let me tell you and he had a hotel billed in acapulco. the first hotel was shaped like a pyramid and then after some other chain picked up the design. when i was doing this scene in acapulco, we also had the millionaire also that died at the hotel, we had to feet him.

i have his name here somewhere but my papers got rearranged. my table is not exactly the best. what was his name? howard hughes. we fed him, he didn't want to see anybody. we fed him under the door, every plate of food needed to fit under the door. that was the end of the life of this man. so all sort of crazy thing was asked for him to live on really. then after that i came back to france for a while, pastry chef at the george cinque hotel and

then i worked at a restaurant in paris. and i was back in bermuda by popular demand. the home ted hotel was my next job where i spent five years and this is where my family and i started our life in the united states. i also was a consultant to the greenbriar hotel for six years. so those were very significant places where quality needed to b be. you needed to be very, very experienced. by the way, after my speechly take some questions if you ever -- you need clarification on something. then in 1979 mrs. roselyn carter

had to spoil it for me. i was happy at the homestead and some of her staff were coming to the homestead regularly and saw my work and approached me one day and said roland, mrs. carter is looking for a pastry chef, why don't you apply? i said no i'm happy here, i don't want to go to washington. i understand they have a mental problem in washington and i'm not about to get that disease so i'm staying away from that place then you start again on me. when are you coming me? i said oh, man, no interest the white house call mid-house and said roland, i'm going to bring an employment sheet and i want

you to fill it in if you don't mind and also mrs. carter wishes for you to come for a tour at the white house. that was a trick! [ laughter ] that was a trap, ladies and gentlemen. so any way, i accept ed. nose days i drove all the way from virginia to downtown d.c. to visit the white house. now i was driving in -- a 1965 dodge dart, avenocado green, no the prettiest thing to bring down to d.c. but the nicest thing those days they let me drive on pennsylvania avenue. they asked me to park my avocado under the colonnade. is that beautiful or what? i said i'll start to like this place. if i get a job here i'll park everyday. that didn't last very long.

took a tour of the white house and who should be on the tour welcoming me? mrs. rosalyn carter with open arms. she was so nice. called me by my first name, gave me a hug and she said come with me, we need to talk so she pulled me on the side and with her social secretary, the late gretchen boston, very, very nice lady and we talked and that's when mrs. carter asked me if i would like to take the job for a little bit. so you cannot say no to the president or first lady. i said madam, i will give you five years and then we'll see okay, that's good, that's good. so gretchen boston, the social secretary reminded mrs. carter that i was not an american citizen. i was legal.

so mrs. carter said to gretchen, said listen, gretchen, i want him and i want him bad, do you understand? [ laughter ] she said don't worry, i'll fix it when he comes to the white house. and sure enough, if you wonder why i love mrs. carter very much because of what i'm going to tell you next because one day surprise surprise i'm working in the white house kitchen, these this dude shows up and says get into the car that's outside. there's a black limousine. i have no idea what he is telling me so he's taking me near the strain station to some offices and -- in an office where the guy stopped to ask me

what's about the american government and i said manyon nothing. very simple, i don't know nothing and she was getting very irritated with me. he says do you know who the president is? i said sure, i feed him everyday, his name is jimmy carter. good you passed the test. i was ready to say what test are you testing me what for? and so after that he said get back in the car so they drove me back downtown in -- not downtown in alexandria and this lady is waiting for me on the doorstep carrying a bible i said who died? she said no joke, no joke, this is business here. put your hand on the bible and repeat after me. i said sure, i did just that. congratulations, you are an american citizen.

well, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, only in america you leaf your house in the morning as a foreigner, come back as an american citizen. is that a beautiful country or what? [ applause ] and this is why mrs. carter has been in my heart all my life. i was able to do something very speci special. last year for their anner have, they were celebrating at the naval academy at the town, annapolis and with a friend of mine we made a wedding cake. she did not know -- the president did not know and we showed up at dessert time and entered the room with his wedding cake.

they were so happy to see me and gave me a big hug and the president and mrs. carter were in fantastic shape. for all what they have done all their life, i love those people, they are very honest. very nice, very, very nice. you know i was at the white house. as a pastry chef we lived a lot of things. not directly because we're not allowed and i'm grad it's the case because too many people will take advantage of that and we are not at the white house to show our faces. we are there to take care of the president and first lady regardless of the party they represent and whatever they are thought of and let me tell you, to have been able to do that to present them this w this cake it meant so much to me and for t m them. i remember when they walked into the room that day after working

all day, they were walking all day fund-raising and they both went on the dance floor for 20 minutes no stop. at their age i never think this is fantastic. so -- and every president that i served as giving me different stories if you will, true stories, this is what i want to be very sure you understand. i do not speak in public to repeat what people told me. unless i lived it, unless it happened with me, i will not repeat it, the same for all my books. i wrote seven books, eight books, i think number eight is in the making but i was really on top of things to make sure that what is printed is the truth and the fact. there's many white house books out there. many. and some of them i wouldn't even

use them to put it on the bottom of my bird cage because lie after lie, they make up stories to be interesting because they didn't have anything else to put there. i said to -- when i start writing books i told people about my books, if you see something in my book that is not correct, let me know. i want to know. well, i'm still waiting. it's been 15 years. so it has to be because i figure that we are doing history here. this is history. that's what the young people will read and whatever they read about a certain first lady and president has to be very, very accurate, very correct. so that's something i would have never, never passed without doing that. you know, as i said, the white

house is a very intimidating place. i always had the fear of failing. my first year on the job most people in the white house thought that i was probably an arrogant man because i didn't speak to nobody. that had nothing to do with arrogance. it has to do with failing because i needed to concentrate like this. talking about that i am amazed today where we're going. i hope there's some young people here but let me tell you one thing, this is what i see when i travel and this is -- although it's factual, you go to a restaurant or somewhere, you ask a waitress or waiter for three things, she will have two wrong and the last one she will forget it. i'm not teasing you. most people say i didn't order it.

they're big on sorry. everybody's sorry and nobody's sorry. i was raised and brought up in a very poor family in france. nine children. we had no electricity or water but when we were told to do something you never forgot. if you did, you never forgot after that. today everything is oh, who cares? who cares? enjoy yourself, man, enjoy yourself. don't worry, they'll never know the difference. take it to the table. i am not happy on that. i like too spend good money but i expect something in return and people are not focusing. not focusing at all.

mostly on the job. you know why? hello, darling, is that you? did you enjoy last night? oui. can't talk now. but this is enough. but when i was at the white house i was a very strict boss. and when i hired somebody i would say i want you to listen and listen good because i am only going to say it once, if i have to say it again you will be taking the door. that's up to you, your decision. you start at 8:00 to work, i don't want you to roll in with a can of coke in your hand or talk about the other guy about what you did last night. there's no importance here. here we work. here we are here to produce the best we can and i need you to have all your concentration to

do that and i have to deny you of that then you're not any good to me so decide if you want to stay here or if you want to go. very simple and i noticed one thing. most people worked best when someone set some regular line and established those guidelines and make sure they are respected. this is enough of this bologna thing to play, you know, they think every -- you turn on tv they all dance, now they dance. i said great, that's going to feed the people, continue dancing. you know you today in to dissect it's a time when you have to be serious and do a job when that is over, i don't care what you do with your life. you want to dance go dance but not in here. and i had young women who worked

for me a little bit and she was kind of losing hair. i would find hair in pastry. is it disgusting? can you imagine if this hair happened to go to the first lady, the president or some guest? so i pull her aside i said tomorrow morning i want you to come with with the hair net. chef, why? why? that's going to -- my coiffeur is going to be damaged. i said if you want me to damage it, i can do it right now. no problem, hair net. she showed up the next day, no hair net. and she -- the same day she was going to enter a competition and she asked me if she could bring a piece of cake to me to taste to see if it was good enough for the competition. i cut into this cake. what is the first thing i pull out of the cake? [ laughter ] i said now do you want a picture of this thing? you know what that is? so do me a favor.

take your tools, go home, don't come back, that was it. that was it but just to say you need today i could solve, ladies and gentlemen in no time, i could solve 50% of your crisis. when you read the paper and you read the crisis, i could put it out there and tell my wife, i tell my wife, she tell you, she's right there, i don't lie to her, i said i know exactly what happened there. i know what happened. this has nothing to do -- but you know in washington the remedy to everything is more money. we need more money. you know what? i want to be very honest with you, money stinks. i don't have any money, never had, never will and i don't care. i'm a happy man because i do my job the right way. i want to produce the best i can. whatever we put in front of the

president and first lady i always wanted it to be so well received and i always thought if i can give them a sweet moment with my dessert, when they go through so much everyday and also the beat up they get every single day. which president did not get beat up i don't know. i'm sorry to say there's something very wrong with this thought, very wrong, very wrong. i could solve -- and you know what? most of the time the things that i say, months ahead to my wife, two months later there it is, oh, see, remember what i told you? there it is. i could have saved -- we could have saved two months of headache if they'd just come to roland. [ laughter ] but i'm not bragging about myself. i want just raised a different way. very much a different way.

money usually is what will rot something, definitely to the core. as long as you have enough money to live on, what the hell do you care? do you need three car? five car? six car? do you drive all of them at the same time? i don't know. are you a genius somehow? and now what i'm telling you, all what i'm telling you now is going into the food business the same. that's why i never went to school to learn how to bake. i learn on-the-job training working in some great hotel for some great chef and those chefs they were just like i describe how i was at the white house. if you want to stay here this is what you need to do. and so on. anyway. just to give you -- i want to give you a couple lines on what is going on in the food business.

have you noticed all these terms that they use that most of if chefs don't even know what they mean. especially they use french terms that i say i know they don't know what they mean. they don't know nothing about french but they want to impress you. cuisine couture. you know what that is? i saw it on a menu not too long ago. you know what couture is? it has to do with clothes. does he sew a steak together? question se question seen cuisine abbator. that's slaughterhouse. and tuna cassoulet, that's just tuna casserole. and i'm sure you've seen the chefs on tv that just want to impress you.

in america, if there's ever a shortage of cheese i think there will be a revolution like we've never seen. have you seen those guys that cook on tv. there is cheese absolutely in every dish. they used to be worried about cholesterol. no more, cholesterol is good for y you. eggs, don't eat eggs, you're going to die. they're feeding you bologna every single day but you are eating it with the biggest spoon you can fine. that's the shame. nobody stood up and said, excuse me, chef, you just say that but i didn't think that was correct. i've read differently. i've known different. we eat it with a big spoon. i can predict to you the restaurant of the future. they're going to weigh you on the way in, way you -- waig you

the way out and measure the difference and charge you. remember when you had a nation table cloth? where is it today? have you seen a waiter when he cleans the you pretend to be somebody that knows but you don't. what's wrong with the tablecloth? they were made of paper. and do you know, when the meal was over he asked the waiter for the bill . he took his pen and he said

there is your bill. then it was clean tablecloth every time on your table. we have progress for people that don't care to make an effort and don't care to work. a professional, to do something great and to do something good if it's in food or anything, you know very well it takes hard work and concentration, and you have to dedicate yourself. when i was in the white house, i don't care who was the president. that didn't mean nothing to me. one day during the george w. bush presidency, i said i am going to make sure they have a good time together. so i created a dessert made of

sugar and a donkey, blown sugar sitting on his back with the front leg extended and there is a sugar tray there. that was all made of blown sugar . tried some day and you come back and tell me what you think. the desert came in and i said we are going to hear something here. not a. in the dining room. -- not a.-- not a peep in the

dining room. a flash going off, everybody laughing and having a great time. one of the guests got the idea to take his knife at the end. and then they decapitate the donkey. they did that at every single table. one dessert table. they were having a ball. they all came back but i'd like it. they thought i was going to be mad. i said why should i be mad? that was made for you and i'm glad that for once a republican and democrat can get along together for five minutes. for me that was a real success. ladies and gentlemen, i think i need to stop. i want to take

questions, yes. i don't know. we will take questions because the question-- any question that you have i am very knowledgeable about everything, about money problems, sexual problems, what is it? that's a good question. you will think i'm lying. when i started at the right house, i had no pastry kitchen. i was in the main kitchen with the cooks and the main kitchen, that was about it.

the pastry chefs try to work. impossible to do. anyway, i made it work for seven years. after seven years i had enough. i went to see the head i sure, very good man. i said i cannot continue to work like this. the workload got stronger. i said, i'm not-- if you tell me you cannot, i will be leaving. i have a job waiting for me. the kitchen? yes, you will get it. my wife can tell you, she never

told me. we had a son. i don't even know when that happened. i hope you remember. it's a joke. but it's true. we never did anything. my life was with the white house. 12, 14, 15 hours a day was not uncommon. i would say next week and we go on to dinner. the president and first lady are celebrating something tonight. i could not have done it any other way. this is not possible for me. i would not have enjoyed myself. i asked my boss, i also said i need-- i need a serious raise

because i have two jobs. i am the one who created the first one. i started that and we were producing about 20 a year because there were no pastry chefs in washington. i did that for a year so i told him i could not do that anymore. i cannot do two jobs. i cannot be finishing the white house at 11 o'clock and then go home and back to the white house the next day and that evening to the school to teach for four or five hours. that was a very rough time for me. anyway he said yes to the pastry kitchen and after a

while i was not hearing from him and i said you have not come back to be about the money. are you paying me something? >> he said yes, it's going to be good. >> the pastry kitchen, that's when he started saying to me find a spot where we can do it and i will help you do it. he kept his promise. he was a very good man. we did come to that. there was another in the white house and he was also an engineer. he was good to work with and all of my equipment in front of the white house. they remove the windows to be

able to bring my refrigerator into the place and then there was one elevator to go up there and the staircase was one of those spiral ones like on a submarine. that was better than nothing it's worse for me. later on they give me an additional return to the chocolate rim of the right house. everything is possible if you give it time. the white house, i always say, was a place made for me. i love to work there because they let me produce whatever i want to do. significant somewhere. like, let's say dessert for italy, i find something special

around the town and that will be duplicated of course, maybe to decorate. all the time. maybe that was very, very fast. i love to work for her because she knew what she wanted. trust me. you better do what she asks you to do and do it the right way. i love to work for people like this. people mike, i don't know i'm not too sure. okay. after this i will take the question. the last one, with mrs. reagan. seven day at the white house we

are going to have on tuesday netherland is known. i had already shown nancy reagan to desserts. i studied her very early on. she's interesting. she would even go back to the reporter on television. when the reporter would ask a question i would see nancy saying you don't know what's coming. i feel for you, man. sure enough, she was good. i loved her to death. i said i become the pastry chef that i am because of her and i mean it. every time, i mean it.

she was sold on what she wanted and that was it. sunday noon. it's going to be tuesday night, too many things going on in my head at the same time. it's right on the very top, beautiful home and they had a long table there. the president was eating on one hand and nancy reagan on the other hand. when i came with dessert she looked at it and said brace yourself. and, that's not going to do. president. reagan came to my rescue and said honey, talking to his wife. he says honey, leave the chef

alone. that's a beautiful desert. so nancy reagan looks up to the president. honey, your soup. this is not your problem. >> i don't care. that's not my marriage. that's not my thing. then i went into the kitchen and one word came to mind, suicide. there is a crock pot on the stove and i'm probably going to jump in. maybe a year and a year and a half, that's going to be a short stay.

>> i know exactly what i have to do. >> here's what you are going to do. i want you to make a sugar basket. a basket made of sugar, one per table and i want you to put a candle. i also want this basket to be filled with homemade assorted ice cream. that was in springtime. i said mrs. reagan this is beautiful. i do agree. remember i'm the only pastry man at the white house. i would have to make 15 or 16 of those. i told mrs. reagan,

but madam, there's only two days left before dinner. here comes the challenge. i still have the chill in my back today. thank you very much. i will go back to my kitchen and start cooking sugar. for those who don't know what a sugar basket is, it's made of sugar. you can put it in my book, it shows you how to make sugar basket. then you can count how many sugar cubes that is. first i have to make many other things. the business will not stop because of that.

ladies and gentlemen, of course it did happen and it happened well. she got so many compliments and on my way home that night, i did not know i had that much in me, but this is what courage is . that's what it is when you have passion for something. you say i have to play with the computer or not possible. i'm by myself. i said mrs. reagan, it's going to happen and the did happen.

-- and it did happen. there are pictures of those desserts in some of my books and i was so proud. this is what it is. pride is something you cultivate all the time and this is why i say nancy reagan made me who i am. i said i don't want this feeling again. i want to feel that feeling right now again. it works for me. i do not feel very good for myself. question please? >> remember what i said earlier. if someone talks to you, listen. especially if you are a waiter or engineer, it doesn't matter.

because the people that don't listen, we see what happens with the dc subway. that's it. no more. [ inaudible question [ inaudible question ] [ speaking non-english ] i don't hav i don't have any here. next please. >> of the desert that you got the most compliments on? >> i would say the desert that i describe, i wanted to trade a dessert that nobody already knows what it is until they dig into it. i describe it very well. it was supposed to look like an oversized check. that bowl

needed to be cut in half, to cut sugar in half. very brittle. they were placed on white chocolate so it looked like it was open and inside i placed a round ball of almond ice cream and in the middle of that there was another bowl made of the cherry sorbet. just pick sure, if you dig into that bowl, because you see the guests of the white house serve themselves . if you go into that bowl what

is going to appear? thank you sir. i wanted to do something. there is the flag of japan if you dig into it. after that we serve another bit of chocolate and they made others shaped like sushi. the dinner for japan was big. >> 189. >> 189. while that was big enough for 20 tables.

at the white house, i have no place to work. remember the sugar, after you make sugar if you don't use it, it gets sticky. especially a day like today, sugar does not like humidity. i needed to have enough space to store it and then after, they paid it to be stored and now it's even larger. another thing you have to plan well is the ice cream when it comes to the table. it has to be perfectly soft. the timing, everything has to be worked out. for me that was the desert i was most proud of. there were so many components to work out.

>> the dinner was in the rose garden. the timing was critical. >> for me, the more difficult task that i had, the more power i feel. do you understand? i don't know why you bother. why i bother? my feeling, and it feels good. with each year at the white house i learned to love the first family, president. and first lady whoever they were. many times people ask the same questions and i say they are all my favorites. it has nothing to do with politics. it's the truth.

they all were absolutely fantastic. with me, the first lady, president., no problem . i can assure you another thing. during all my years in the white house i have seen every president and first lady cry and i will tell you one thing. it gets right to your heart. the first family becomes your family. when i come to the white house i put guidelines in my head saying if the president are first lady was attacked, would you put your body to shield them? it's not even a question. not even a question i would do that in a minute.

trust me, i was 26 years in this position and i know. i would have never, if the president and first lady had a deception of what they were expect thing. my profession was very in portent. on television i could not care less. all the poor souls that go on the food network, do they know what they are doing? do they know that it's a shame? do they know that they are telling you stuff that is not true? do you know that when they do some sugar sculpture on television, do you know what they use? there's not 1 ounce of sugar. i will tell you what they use. you know cough drops?

do you know what they are made of? it's a product that looks like sugar that you can flavor but there's no sugar in it. it's easy to work with because it does not get affected by humidity. do you know that many years ago they used to stick together after you open the bag? they don't stick anymore. pastry chefs still come on tv. don't get me started. they are not. they are a totally different breed here. they are taking you for fools every day, every show. >> which president or first lady was the most demanding? who has had the most ideas for you and who had the least?

also why did you retire when you did? >> no president or first lady forced me, but most of it i decided on the desert. they will look at it and say yes or no and the first lady was involved but there was more than one person involved on saying yes or no. after when i started to have the feeling about doing special stuff, it was almost over the top. don't ask me to make a pie. i say the pie shop is around the corner. it has to be special and many times it would reflect the head

of states. a flag is too easy. it has to be something else. and then sometimes-- there's a story on that but we need to curb it. >> did you do samples to make sure they would work? >> the first lady will sample and others would come around and look. >> i did not finish your last question which was-- >> when-- why did you retire? >> i was ready. going downhill physically. a 15 hour day will catch up with you and i was really in bad shape. one day i sat down with my wife and said we need to decide on a date. i cannot do that anymore. because of that, don't tell me

to do simpler things. i could not do that. so that's why, yes. there was a question i did not answer. >> in all those years, what advice would you give? >> no problem with sugar but the soufflis are interesting. it was not even part of my control. we were doing a souffli which is delicious because dessert could be low-calorie. a diet dessert if you will made with fresh raspberries and everything. we were doing that for a while. that was in spring. i put that on the menu. i wanted a hot raspberry

souffli and at the white house we made a big one. so, i tested the recipe and tested the timing and everything. it works beautifully. so come the night of the dinner, you know what? it never came up. i said man. or are they different? honestly the guests, the soufflis outside need over and hour to bake at least. so dinner at the white house takes less than an hour so i

said okay, let's wash the ball and start all over, start again. they don't come up again. the clock is ticking. when they come for dessert you cannot say i need another 10 minutes. you can't do that. the only word they want to hear is speak up. so, we watched them. when i heard-- this is what i was still working in the main kitchen-- i heard the chef and assistant chef working i heard what they made on the machine that morning. do you know how many jobs it takes to mess up? one or two drops. forget it. they would do that but i didn't

see. i wasn't there. so it's all on the machine. you don't know what it is so when i heard them talking, would say would you like it now or later? i was very upset that they didn't tell me. so luckily, meanwhile i have lost a great deal of time. this is when you have knowledge and when you have experience you can excuse that because you've been there before. that young people out of school forget about that. what is he going to do? call 911? probably call his mother. i

gave the order to create-- to crank up the others, maximum. those two were put on baking pans that boost and we were able to shave a great deal of time off of those soufflis. not even a one minute delay. that happens if you had the experience. don't tell me the guy that just graduated from the school, the country club is what i call it. this is not possible unless you've lived it unless you were worried-- unless you were there. food is a different kind of business. >> what is your favorite dessert?>> a cool american pie.

a good old american pie because most ties are no good. it's like the noodles and by the-- it's very rare that you find it pie. -- that you find a good pie. >> we are going to be selling books cost. my latest book that came out which is the white house and gingerbread. it has many dresser breeze-- recipes, dessert recipes. in this book we have a fabulous recipe which is the original from the white house and messed up later on by another chef. i'm telling you the truth.

you want to know the truth? hold on i will tell you. the eggnog went on the sink every night. nobody want to drink it. in my time there was never enough. i see that, and it's true. that was a delicious eggnog. but anyway, remember, christmas is just around the corner. let me show you some time. this book because it's so good, the truth about by several

cases. this thing will be worse. take a look at it and i will be signing it. everybody gets my business card with every book that i sign which has my information. when was the last time you bottom and they also gave you a phone number? anything happen to you like that? these are thousands of books. that should tell you something. i started working with them at the might have-- at the white house and i was so taken by the

quality. if you look for a beautiful christmas present, it is worthwhile to go see it. shopping done. i was really taken which is why i decided to do my book with them. and i was ready to compete with them but it blew me away because they do not shortchange everything. the body is going to take-- let's do it and let's do it right. this is why i appreciate working with them and hope we will continue this nice communication that we have for a long time.

>> i wish you the best of time in dc. enjoy yourself and i hope you enjoy this speech.

american history tv is in prime time. we will show you coverage of the white house historical with discussion on presidents and speaking-- and several scholars. a former executive pastry chef is all tonight at 8:00 eastern. >> we will have live coverage as the former white house press secretary is joining a discussion with current correspondence and presidential historian. andrew jackson, thomas jefferson, and franklin roosevelt. coverage from the conference with representatives from sites across the country will get underway wednesday morning at 9:00 eastern.