Cooking for the Commander in Chief

The importance of last month's dinner went beyond its usual social value. When Mr. Hu visited in 2006, he was invited to lunch, which the Chinese took as a slight. So, at a time when the U.S. is pressing Beijing on economic issues like the value of its currency, but relying on its help with thorny regional problems like North Korea, the pressure was on to underscore the value of the relationship by pulling out all the culinary stops.

The Chinese asked for a "quintessentially American" dinner. What does that mean to a Philippines-born, French-trained chef, married to a chef of Irish descent? To Ms. Comerford, quintessentially American "reminds you of home." Her family Thanksgiving table is an amalgam of Mayflower and Manila, some 20 dishes prepared by the couple with baking help from their 9-year-old daughter, Danielle. The chef's sweet potatoes are a presidential favorite: She roasts them with oranges and star anise.

A first-family entrée of lamb with a purée sauce, served on Reagan china.

Her friendly manner carries an undercurrent of toughness. When her assistant suggested her "spring rolls" are a signature dish, she shot him a look and said, "No, that's not who I am." A Cristeta Comerford meal is known for its Asian spice, colors and "extra garlic," she said. One recent afternoon, she prepared seared lamb loin on chickpea purée for an Obama family dinner, the purée's strong garlic balanced by parsley and mint. The dish was finished with orange zest and streaks of vibrant finishing oil, made by cooking light olive oil with handfuls of parsley until the oil glows a vivid green.

Her starting point for the menu for the state dinner, as with any meal, was a review of the best ingredients available locally, arrayed on one of her stainless-steel work tables. Seeing the items together helps her to draw new lines between them, creating different combinations.

The meal, five courses served to 200 people in 48 minutes, was choreographed in Ms. Comerford's 10-year-old Volvo, "where most of the creative things happen," she said. On the hour-long drive from her Columbia, Md., home, she fine-tuned the recipes, envisioned colors and created the final plating in her mind. Then she instructed the staff, down to the last knife cut.

Goat cheese was featured in the dinner's appetizer of D'Anjou pear with fennel and black walnuts, dressed with white balsamic. The orange-glazed carrots served with black trumpet mushrooms alongside poached Maine lobster were so fresh they tasted almost as good raw, she said. Dry-aged rib eye beef was cooked in a thermal immersion circulator, a hot-water method that ensured uniform doneness.

Great cooking comes from "people who have an innate capacity to taste and see and smell," she said. Ms. Comerford rarely measures spices. She tastes as she goes, relying on her palate, experience and training—and sometimes, her assistants—to tell her when it's right. After she draws up a menu, she conducts multiple tastings for her staff and a full dress rehearsal.

Travel, including an August trip to Beijing, exposes her to new ideas, ingredients and techniques. She belongs to the Club des Chefs des Chefs, composed of those who cook for heads of state, and sharing tricks "is what makes you a good chef," she said. Mostly, she said, the club shares secrets on the tastes and quirks of global leaders. Apparently France's President Nicolas Sarkozy loves chocolate of any kind. British monarch Queen Elizabeth II is a huge fan of fish.

The day of the China dinner, Ms. Comerford assembled a team of 41 chefs. The key to managing a greatly expanded staff in a high-profile situation is advance preparation and practice, so Ms. Comerford—who during an event directs her staff by using hand signals, like a baseball coach—issues very few commands in the heat of battle. Her team works in near silence, their rehearsed movements akin to "a ballet," the chef said. But there still must be enough flexibility to handle the unexpected, whether it's a soufflé that doesn't rise properly or the 2?-inch fingerling potatoes she ordered that were much smaller when delivered.

The meal was transported from the kitchen and plated just outside the White House's Red, Blue and State dining rooms. With the serving of the main course, "a whole burden...is lifted from me," she said.