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Small bites

News of note for the foodie.

By JANET K. KEELER
Published February 14, 2007

WHITE HOUSE SWEETIE DISHES

For 25 years, White House pastry chef Roland Mesnier created desserts for state dinners and made birthday cakes and favorite cookies for presidents and their families as well. He knows about their allergies (President Bill Clinton could not tolerate chocolate, dairy or wheat flour) and their preferences (first lady Nancy Reagan wanted fruit desserts instead of more high-calorie offerings). Mesnier, who grew up in rural France, shares his stories in an insider look at the White House kitchens in All the Presidents' Pastries (Flammarion, $24.95). Written with journalist Christian Malard, this sweet memoir is a fun read, plus it includes recipes and photographs.

His crime: eating chocolate

A Dutch journalist asked an Amsterdam court last week to convict him for eating chocolate, saying by doing so he was benefiting from child slavery on cocoa farms in Ivory Coast. Teun van de Keuken, 35, is seeking a jail sentence to raise consumer awareness and force the cocoa and chocolate industry to take tougher measures against child labor, according to Reuters news agency. Ivory Coast is the world's No. 1 cocoa producer. International rights groups allege that children are working as slaves on its cocoa plantations. The government denies this.

Food guide author dies

We often consult or refer readers to Sharon Tyler Herbst's Food Lover's Companion. With last month's passing of its author at her home in California, we counted ourselves among the many fans who have long been grateful for such a reliable, handy and surprisingly personable paperback guide. Her husband of 38 years, Ron, declined to disclose her age.

Herbst began her research for the first edition in 1987; the 3,300-entry culinary dictionary got under way without the benefit of Internet access. First published in 1990, the book has sold more than 1-million copies. Herbst completed the 6,700-entry fourth edition, to be published in September, shortly before she died.

Magazine watch

- February's Saveur gives a pagelong thumbs-up to King Arthur Flour's mail order sticky buns and reveals a timesaving secret for peeling lots of garlic cloves in less than a minute. Shaking is involved.

- In February's Bon Appetit, braising ace Molly Stevens shares a nonintimidating duck recipe whose leftovers can turn into ragu.

- Gourmet for March bucks the dark chocolate trend with recipes for and odes to milk chocolate treats, plus Colman Andrews compares steak house kitchen techniques, including one that involves poaching meat for as long as eight hours.

- March's Fine Cooking offers a cutting-edge tip for creating uniformly thick fish fillets, as well as the answer to Minced vs. Pressed Garlic: Can You Taste the Difference?

- Cook's Country for March rates frozen pizzas, with California Pizza Kitchen's Crispy Thin Crust Margherita at No. 1, Red Baron's Thin Crust 5 Cheese Pizza in the middle of the pack and Celeste Original Pizza for One, labeled "a sad specimen," in last place.

Compiled by Janet K. Keeler from staff reports, the Washington Post and Market Watch

[Last modified February 13, 2007, 10:53:14]