Interview With Sheila Lukins
by Laura Lehrman


LL: What were some of the early influences on your career choice?

SL: My career in food started when I was married and had young children at home, but I wanted to be working. I entertained all the time and cooked every night. A bachelor who lived in my building was in a desperate situation. He was going to be having six people for dinner and asked for my help in preparing the meal. I cooked the meal for him and delivered it with my dishes. My neighbor's dinner was a tremendous success and he returned my dishes all clean and paid me in cash. I decided that this was a great way to make money and do what I liked to do — cook. Soon after, I started The Other Woman Catering Company that provided catering services for single men. New York magazine got wind of what I was doing and covered it in its "Best Bets" column.

The Other Woman Catering Company was formally launched! At this time, one of my clients was living with my soon-to-be-partner, Julee Rosso. Julee had had my food many times and loved it. She called me to do the catering for the company that she was working for during their market week. "Would I ever be interested in starting a take-out shop with her," she asked. Of course I jumped at the opportunity and The Silver Palate was born.

LL: Most of our readers know you through your Silver Palate cookbooks, All Around The WorldCookbook, U.S.A. Cookbook and your column in Parade Magazine. Could you tell us about some of your most recent projects and food interests?

SL: Most recently, I've been designing all the menus for United Airlines North America. I create all the recipes as well. For coach passengers only. I'm a person of the people. It's a huge job. 42 million meals a year! I love doing it and, in addition my job as a food columnist for ParadeMagazine is going well. Through that column, I reach 83 million people each month. I like reaching out to big groups. I've been writing the column since 1986 and my contract was just renewed for four more years.

LL: Where do you get your inspirations to create the recipes that you are constantly developing? Can you describe how you actually go about creating a recipe from start to finish?

SL: Finding new recipe inspirations is a challenge that's becoming more and more intriguing to me. The inspiration for my last two books, All Around The World Cookbook and U.S.A.Cookbook was generated by my travels. For All Around The World, I traveled to 33 countries and got my inspirations from the cultures of the different people --their markets and local ingredients. This also applies to U.S.A. Cookbook. I was inspired by the best local ingredients, the culture of the places that I visited --the what and the way the people like to eat in a particular genre. Working alone in my kitchen is definitely a challenge. I can't get inspiration from just reading cooking magazines. I am going to write a new book and it won't be a "traveling" book. I'm not sure what the focus will be yet. I know that it won't be a diet book, but the recipes will be moderate as far as fat content is concerned. For my recipes for Parade, I do nutritional counts now. Those recipes that I created for the Silver Palate cookbooks were sooooo yummy, but many of them started out calling for a pound of butter. The concept for a new cookbook will take some serious work. There are so many cookbooks on the market these days.

LL: When you look at your career in the food service industry, what would you say are a few of your most memorable experiences?

SL: Definitely the Silver Palate shop was a wonderful experience. We opened in 1979 which was the same year that E.A.T. and Dean & DeLuca opened in New York City. It was a red letter year for the retail specialty food industry. It was an amazing time to be part of that scene. Today, there are many huge specialty food shops around, but I don't feel that most of the take-out food is anything special. Everything looks jazzy, snazzy and glitzy, but to me it's anonymous food. You don't know who's in the kitchen making it. There is one particular exception that I know of, though. That's Loaves and Fishes in The Hamptons, Long Island. The food is delicious and it's nice to have people in the kitchen who you recognize.
Developing and manufacturing the Silver Palate line of products was also quite memorable. I went to the factory every morning, out of the city, getting there at 3:00 am. Overseeing the arrival of 10,000 pounds of sour cherries, coming in three times a year to be pickled for our Wild Cherry Preserves, trying to convince the farmers to pick the cherries with the stems on. It was wonderful. Oh yes, and attending and manning a booth at 11 fancy food shows a year with 25,000 people attending each show!

LL: Mentors and people in the business who you have high regard for -- who are they?

SL: I have high regard for everybody in this business.

LL: What predictions do you make for the near future as far as the world of food and eating is concerned?

SL: One thing that I'm aware of is that so many people are attending cooking schools and loving it. Not only women. Many more men are learning how to cook. The interest in cooking at home seems to be blossoming. There are thousands of food-related shops and thousands of cookbooks being written. When I travel and demonstrate and speak to groups, there is great interest in food being expressed by young people --nineteen and twenty year olds and even younger. I think maybe an avid interest in food preparation skips a generation. My daughters are twenty-three and twenty-five and they haven't shown much interesting in cooking yet. But, they're not married and maybe they'll start cooking when they are in the future. Kids seem to be getting sick of fast food. They hear all about the benefits of eating healthy food from the TV and other media and they're interested in learning about the foods that are good for them and how to prepare them.

LL: What tips do you have for home cooks?

SL: Stay away from gadgets. I have very few. A juicer from 1965, a food processor, an electric can opener from way back, Corningware from 1965. I began using a microwave when I started developing recipes for Parade Magazine. I use it for defrosting and for cooking a fast meal when I'm home alone. I can put in a piece of salmon, a new potato and a slice of tomato, all together in a Corningware container for four minutes and it's done. I also use the microwave when I have big quantities of tomatoes at the end of the summer that I want to cook for a long time to make tomato sauce. The tomatoes don't burn when I slow cook them in the microwave.

LL: What sage advice do you have for someone who is thinking about a culinary career?

SL: How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice. Go to one of the well-known cooking schools, the best that you can. The best schools of this kind will tend to place you when you get out. That's how it works. They find jobs for you. Work your way around to different restaurants but stay at a restaurant long enough to learn as much as you can. Be patient. Work, work, work. Don't be too anxious to have your own restaurant. It's good to be around top chefs, any chefs for that matter. Observe, work with them, being an apprentice is worth years of schooling. It's important to pick a career which capitalizes on what you do best and what you love. Then you will be sure to stick with your choice.

biography | cookbook | interview | recipes

Published: 2000