Over the Courses with Annemarie

Even during her childhood days in Ulm, Germany, Annemarie Huste demonstrated that she was to the skillet born. By the time she was 20, she had served in half a dozen European kitchens, worked her way to New York, and before she knew it, had been taken on by Billy Rose as housekeeper-cook at $250 a week. "She had very little in the way of references," says the agent who sent her, "but she was very pretty and I thought he'd give her a chance. He told me she was a very good cook."

Then two years ago, after Billy Rose's death, the chance to work in one of the most glamorous households in the U.S. came Annemarie's way: cooking for Jacqueline Kennedy. Although it meant cutting her salary in half (and signing an agreement never to write about Jackie), Annemarie did not hesitate. A girl for all seasonings, she could turn out French, German and Italian dishes, and once in a while Chinese. Best of all, she got John Jr. and Caroline to devour their spinach by decorating it with little egg-white faces. Last Christmas, Mrs. Kennedy's Christmas card to her read: "You make such a happy house when you let the children help you cook."

"Ready to Jump." Annemarie's own taste runs to roast goose with red cabbage and homemade spatzle (noodles), and her idea of an ideal main course is roast duck served with white rice, artichoke bottoms and petits pois with a salad of romaine, watercress and little mandarins. No dieter herself ("If one eats right, one doesn't have to"), she made herself an expert in low-calorie meals. And when Weight Watchers magazine asked for a few samples, she cheerfully agreed. As recipes, they were ordinary. Her "Black Mushroom Soup" is simply five cups of bouillon, 1 Ib. of sliced mushrooms with coarse pepper seasoning simmered for 30 minutes, after which the mushrooms are strained out and the soup is served sprinkled with parsley. But the magazine's cover carried the headline: JACKIE KENNEDY'S

GOURMET-CHEF PRESENTS HER WEIGHT WATCHERS RECIPES.

Worse, from Mrs. Kennedy's view, was soon to come. A syndicated Washington columnist burst into print with the report that Annemarie was 1) making a pilot film for TV, 2) planning to open a gourmet club in a Manhattan townhouse, and 3) about to publish a cookbook. The column also reported that, presumably because of Annemarie's dietary meals, Jackie had slimmed down from a size 12 to a size 8 dress.

Jackie's reaction was predictable. Her secretary informed Annemarie that "Mrs. Kennedy feels it would be better if you didn't come back." Said Annemarie, who claims she never talked to the columnist: "It was a wrench. I admired her, and I loved and adored her children. I was ready to jump down 20 floors." Instead, she went to the hairdresser, donned a miniskirt and received the press.

Suddenly Annemarie was a celebrity. A literary agent took charge of her publicity; Attorney Roy Cohn stood by to guard her legal interests. New job offers of up to $35,000 poured in. TV programs, including Johnny Carson, vied for her appearance (reports notwithstanding, she had not made a pilot film), and publishers bid for her cookbook (still uncompleted). As for Jacqueline Kennedy, at week's end she was still looking for another cook.

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