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Chicken-Fried Reidentified
Back on the ranch in Crawford - and in all of Texas - it’s called chicken-fried steak and, for some, it’s among the four basic food groups.
But when a Texan gets to the White House, all of a sudden it’s “Chicken Fried Beef Tenderloin with White Onion Gravy.”
That’s the way the southern dish - a delicacy to some - is listed on the White House holiday buffet menu, released today as First Lady Laura Bush previewed the building’s holiday decorations.
As she tour-guided reporters through the East Room, Mrs. Bush referred to the dish as “chicken-fried steak and creamed gravy.” Texans are more likely to identify with “creamed gravy” than “white onion gravy.”
The dish, along with the tamales on the buffet menu, are what the First Lady called “regional favorites.”
White House Chef Cris Comerford said the chicken-fried steak is “actually our favorite.”
“With the creamed gravy,” Mrs. Bush added.
For those not hankering for chicken-fried anything, the buffets also will include stuffed turkey breasts, sugar-cured Virginia ham and “herb-roased lollipop lamb chops.”
The dessert table includes cookies shaped like snowflakes, Christmas trees and Bush family dogs Barney and Miss Beazley. (Note to PETA: That’s cookies shaped like family dogs Barney and Miss Beazley.)
The first of 25 holiday receptions is scheduled for later today, shortly after President Bush returns from a grueling trip to Estonia, Latvia and Jordan.
For more information about the decorations, visit www.whitehouse.gov/holiday.
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