We asked six Greenville chefs what got them interested in cooking. Unsurprisingly, many were inspired at home as kids. With the holidays at hand, here are six nostalgic foods – some with a twist – that kept these local chefs coming back to the kitchen.
Steven Musolf, Oak & Honey: Chicken cacciatore
“One dish always stood out to me because of the way it sounded. As a 10 year old, just saying it sounded like I was eating something extravagant, luxurious and important: Chicken cacciatore,” said Steven Musolf of Oak & Honey. “It was quite the opposite of what it sounded like, but its rustic flavors and preparation was unforgettable. Chicken is simply braised with tomatoes, onions, garlic, herbs and peppers.”
Musolf was a child of the 1970s and ’80s. His mother did not inspire him to choose cooking as a career but did nurture a passion for gastronomy through chefs such as Jacques Pépin and Julia Child.
“Little did I know that (by) exposing me to those cooking shows from the ’80s, my mother was introducing me to the golden age of gastronomy,” he said. “I will always have memories of Jacques, Julia and my mom. I’ll take that over inspiration any day.”
***
Aquila Kentish, The Tasti Plate: Sweet potato pie
“My grandmother, she used to cook and bake a lot for family and church functions and things like that,” said Aquila Kentish of Greenville pop-up eatery The Tasti Plate. “So oftentimes, one of the things I remember making a lot was the sweet potato pie, and that was also my favorite dessert.”
Kentish said her grandmother’s sweet potato pie had a smooth, velvet-like texture with notes of cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla.
“When it all bakes together [with] the butter and sugar, it just gives a kind of caramelized taste,” she said. “That caramelized goodness was, I think, one of the signatures of my grandmother’s pie because it tasted like it had caramel in it, but it did not.”
Seeing the reactions of family members or members of the church inspired Kentish to cook. It wasn’t just about making food but making memorable, tasty food.
RELATED: Tasti fusion, new sushi and Greek sweets: Weekly Dish
***
Nico Abello, Table 301: Poulet ‘cocotte grand-mere’
Nico Abello of Table 301 is a native of France and with that comes a dish you may not have heard of: poulet cocotte grand-mere. The meal is traditional and common in French households. Abello said it is easy for kids to eat given its agreeable flavors.
Poulet cocotte grand-mere is a roast chicken with garnishes of potato, onion, bacon, lardon and mushrooms. Abello described it as “flavorful, roasted but savory and umami.” The chicken is cleaned and stuffed with fresh thyme, garlic and maybe rosemary and old bread, then massaged with butter, tied with twine and roasted. If you can, he recommended getting the butter between the chicken and its skin for a crispier texture.
Interestingly, Abello said he learned how to make this dish both at home and in culinary school, but these days he uses his mom’s recipe.
“This dish for me … I don’t know,” he paused. “It just makes me so happy to think about it.”
***
Jacque Metras, The Lazy Goat: Grandma’s scratch baking
“My grandma, Karen Metras, had a huge impact on my love of food,” said Jacque Metras of The Lazy Goat. “She made everything from scratch, I was always in awe of how she prepared something special out of literally nothing. As a child I would peer into her bare cupboard and see flour and sugar. In her refrigerator there was never much either. She had a few staples, along with a tub of lard.”
Metras recalled picking berries for pie fillings or jam during the spring, and remembered the holidays with her grandmother making cookies and other baked goods.
“Grandma made Christmas truly magical. Using an office envelope, she would decorate her gingerbread men and sugar cookies with almond icing,” she said. “On Christmas morning, a perfectly iced cinnamon roll, topped with a maraschino cherry, would sit at everyone’s place at the table. Sadly, but strangely fitting, my grandmother passed away Dec. 25, 2020. She had a wonderful way of making everyone around the holidays feel special, taking something simple and making it truly special.”
***
Jason Donnelly, Mill City Kitchen and Mill City Wine: DIY
Sometimes, inspiration works in the opposite direction.
Jason Donnelly, who recently opened dual eatery concepts Mill City Kitchen and Mill City Wine along with business partner John Shepherd, has been a chef for nearly three decades.
Donnelly began cooking because he decided the only way to get the job done properly was to do it himself. While he was growing up, his mom made barbecue chicken by grilling the chicken then roasting it with wine, carbonated beverages and barbecue sauce.
“She’d cover it and bake it for like three hours until it just fell off the bone and everything just tasted burnt,” he said. “But she loved it.
“Finally, I said to her one day […] ‘I can’t eat it. I’m just going to cook something myself.’ And that was the beginning of me learning how to cook breakfast.”
***
Gianna Smutzki, Hotel Hartness: Cheese quesadillas
Gianna Smutzki of Hotel Hartness was a picky eater as a child. Raised by a single mom and her grandparents, she was surrounded by great cooks.
But her own journey began by just helping a hungry friend.
“She would come over and just be hungry, and I would just start cooking random things,” Smutzki said. “The biggest thing when I was younger that really got me into cooking (was when) I was finally old enough where my mom trusted me to use the stove was cheese quesadillas.”
She gained confidence from those quesadillas, and her skills grew.
