These days, it's de rigueur for any big-name chef to release a cookbook. Similarly branded kitchen wares usually follow suit, as do more celebrity cooking demos. Many people have found fame riding on the coattails of famous cookbook authors, most notably Julie Powell, whose well-documented quest to complete every recipe in Julia Child's epic tome, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, became the basis for a Hollywood film; and to a lesser extent, Carol Blymire, who is still working her way through the the ludicrously challenging Alinea Cookbook.
It was only a matter of time before somebody rose to the challenge of replicating the recipes from Michael Symon's Live to Cook: Recipes and Techniques to Rock Your Kitchen. Thankfully, that person is a northeast Ohio resident, a dedicated Browns fan and passionate about food.
"I always wanted to create a blog, I just never had a reason to, because I wanted something that maybe somebody would actually be interested in reading," says Live to Cook at Home blogger Dave Whittaker. After winning a copy of the cookbook through Michelle Venorsky's Cleveland Foodie blog, inspiration came. "I started reading through it, and I really, really liked it, and somewhere along the way it hit me that this was my chance to start something."
It's an ambitious project, with hundreds of recipes for Whittaker to prepare. "I started typing all the titles in an Excel document, so I could track the recipes I still had to do," he says. "I was up to more than 100, and I wasn't half way through the book."
His goal is to attempt one recipe per week - sometime more, sometimes less - and pepper the blog with insights on local food issues. Whittaker's commitment to local produce grew two years ago when he joined Covered Bridge CSA. "This past year, Plum Creek Farm, which is actually out where I grew up in Valley City, Ohio, started a CSA, and we had been buying their chicken and eggs, and other stuff for awhile," he says. "So when they offered a CSA, we joined right away, because they offer meat and eggs with theirs, which is really nice."
Live to Cook at Home blogger Dave Whittaker with his sous chef
As with many today, his interest in the local food movement has grown exponentially in recent years, and his 7-month-old daughter has led him to include more organic produce in his family's diet. "The biggest thing that's important to me is locally grown, so that I'm supporting my community," says Whittaker. "I've grown relationships with different farms, trying lots of different ones, forming relationships with ones I really trust."
Throughout the year, Whittaker is a regular at farmers markets, and his quest for the region's finest products led him to Bluebird Meadows. "Michael Symon's big thing is pork, and I love pork as well," he says. "I've tried all the different pork vendors that sell in the area, and hands down, [Bluebird Meadows] has been my favorite."
His pork lust led him to purchase an entire pig, which will be invaluable as he works his way through the cookbook. The pig's head was saved for Symon's pig's head ragu, and the belly will be vital in recreating the many dishes that call for it.
To date, he has yet to have any major kitchen catastrophes, further highlighting the accessibility of the recipes so carefully created by Symon and award-winning author and Cleveland native, Michael Ruhlman. "This site I hope will relate more to the in-home cook," says Whittaker.
In a short time, Whittaker has generated quite a following, with visitors from across the globe. "The response I've gotten, I've been absolutely amazed by," he says. Never underestimate the power of positive cooking.
Author:
