Cookapelli

Going to be a witness at a wedding I'm chef for at the Admiral Peary House

I’m the chef and one of the innkeepers at the Admiral Peary House in Fryeburg, Maine.

How to begin…

I was born, pretty good starting point I suppose. Started off in Colorado, then a brief stint at Edwards Air Force Base, then back to Colorado. I can remember playing in the kitchen and possibly even actually contributing to the meal being made. Fond memories of tuna cakes, pots of pinto beans, mac and cheese, and meatloaf still bring a smile to my face. We were always gardening or finding ways of storing the food from the gardens. So I spent a lot of time with my grandmother and my parents canning, pickling, and freezing the annual harvests. I do appreciate fresh produce but to be honest after years of torture with weeding and picking, I don’t like the actual act of gardening. I’m more than happy to wander to my nearby farm stands and see what their hard work provides. We moved from Colorado to a mining camp in way out there northern Nevada. This was the ultimate adventure for me. We lived 100 miles from the nearest grocery store, gas station, post office, and other town offerings. This meant that we grew even more stuff in the garden and also moved on to some meat animals. So I learned the lessons of growing pigs, chickens, goats (the theory was this would be great milk and cheese… didn’t work out as planned), turkeys, and other assorted beasties that either made it to the table or became part of the family. During this period of time my hay fever would really make my life miserable. So to escape working in the garden I would offer to go inside and work on dinner for the family. This probably was the real start to my culinary ambitions. There were certainly some memorable (though we wished we didn’t remember) meals, especially a chili with about a half of a jar of cumin in it. I made a dinner for an unexpected geologist that had arrived and from what I remember it was actually pretty good. My dad and I would also have a great time destroying the kitchen and making fun meals. We became Chef Pigerre and the Galloping Idiot (I won’t tell you who was what). These nights helped cement some basics in my mind. I eventually wandered off to Winnemucca for high school and while I did still play in the kitchen it wasn’t my focus. My focus has shifted to my first job in high school, McDonalds! Funny enough there are some really good things I learned from that experience. From burgers to pizza was the next jump. Broc, my best friend in school, and I ruled our local Round Table Pizza. When I look back at how we made dough, sauce, all the fresh veg, and the daily building of the salad bar I’m amazed at how good the food really was. Those two fast food jobs taught me a lot about cleanliness, consistency, and responsibility, good basics for any food work. That was the end of really playing with food for a few years. I went into the navy and learned about nuclear power and submarines. Aside from the fact that I was boiling a lot of water using some special rocks, I wasn’t really thinking about or even practicing any culinary skills. When I got out of the navy I found myself traveling a lot. To relax after being on the road during the week I began to get back into the kitchen and would spend a whole weekend making a meal. This got attention from friends and family, and certainly helped the fragile ego, but it’s still a big jump from cooking for people that are paying for your food. When the service job got too much and I had a chance to be an innkeeper I jumped at it. So I’m now nearly 8 years into it and I find my culinary boundaries are ever expanding.

So please join me for my culinary wanderings…

Derrek

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