Barbara Bush’s recipes live on
The late first lady’s love of Tex-Mex, seafood, Chinese and more chronicled in cookbook; The Houstonian makes her cookies
Barbara Bush, a mother of six, was no stranger to cooking and baking — casseroles and layer cakes, soups and taco salads, quiches and chocolate chip cookies. Good chocolate chip cookies.
Good enough, in fact, that The Houstonian hotel’s pastry chef Catherine Rodriguez requested Bush’s recipe, which uses oatmeal, in 2016. Bush gave her consent, and the hotel now bakes them for special occasions such as Christmas parties, for new brides, private parties and for Houstonian club members.
The cookies have a special connection to The Houstonian. While George H.W. Bush served as director of the CIA and vice president, he and Mrs. Bush lived for a time at the Manor House, the John Staubdesigned home on the grounds of the hotel that now serves as a restaurant and special-events space.
The Bushes had a healthy appetite for good food, including Tex-Mex, seafood, pizza and steakhouse fare. Their favorite foods were chronicled in “The Bush Family Cookbook: Favorite Recipes and Stories from One of America’s Great Families” (Scribner, 2005). The author, Ariel De
Guzman, was a personal chef for the Bushes, who apparently enjoyed everything from simple everyday meals to elaborate dinners fit for residents of the White House. The cookbook’s many recipes include lobster salad, buttermilk layer cake, Chinese chicken salad and hot seafood casserole.
In an interview with De Guzman, former Chronicle food editor Peggy Grodinsky learned this interesting nugget: The Bushes, he said, particularly like soup, salad and Chinese food, and they’re not above eating cereal for dinner — wheat puffs for her, Life for him.
The Bushes lived in China in the 1970s, when President Bush served as chief of the U.S. Liaison Office to that country. That’s why the cookbook includes many Chinese recipes, including one for Mandarin Beef.
Barbara Bush’s passing last week brought out many memories Houstonians have of the former first lady. And some of those recollections are of food. The Bushes were loyal to many Houston restaurants.
Here are some recipes attributed to Barbara Bush, including the cookies served at The Houstonian.