The Schroeder Family Pumpkin Pie Disaster
Every year for Thanksgiving, my Father’s side of the family gathers at my Aunt Joy’s house for dinner. She lives in a gorgeous old Victorian-style home with a massive fireplace, making it the perfect destination for all of the family’s holiday gatherings. Every year, my aunts put out a massive traditional American Thanksgiving spread, imagine two huge roasted turkeys, multiple gravy boats, huge pans of mac and cheese, green bean casserole, and a multitude of other side dishes.
The family elders always were always allowed to serve themselves first. I remember watching my Dad’s father, lovingly known as Papa to everyone else, balance a rocks glass full of Chivas Regal scotch and his dinner plate in one hand while simultaneously scooping portions of my Nana’s famous mashed potatoes featuring an entire brick of cream cheese and a pound of butter alongside his dark meat only turkey pile smothered in homemade bourbon spiked cranberry sauce.
Even more impressive was the dessert table, which at our family gatherings, was always a sight to behold. It was loaded with assorted cookies, brownies, pastries, and most importantly, pies. My Aunt Nancy, who reminds me of a petite Martha Stewart with the looks and personality Joan Jett, oversaw this table. Every Thanksgiving she prepares the most intricately decorated, and by far the most delicious pumpkin pies I’ve ever had. She brags that it takes her hours to cut out all of the fall-themed pie crust decorations that she aligns beautifully on each pie, and we all believe her. As tempting as the dessert table was, everyone knew the only rule our family had on Thanksgiving: Don’t touch the dessert table until after the dishes are done. It was a sign of respect to our aunts who put the meal together for us all, and everyone abided by it, until Thanksgiving 2013, when Papa hit the scotch a little too hard.
Papa at the Dessert Table
Dinner had been served and Papa was getting rowdy, as he usually did after a huge meal and a power nap immediately following. With a fresh glass of scotch poured, I witnessed him saunter over to the dessert table with a smirk. In disbelief, my cousin Natalie and I glanced at each other, each pulling out our phones to snap pictures and videos for proof. Jaws dropped, we witnessed him dig his fingers into one of the pies, take a huge scoop and shove it into his mouth, attempt to re-arrange the pie crust decorations to cover the damage, and then walk away as if nothing had happened. Natalie and I cackled as we then watched my father, saunter over to the dessert table in a similar manner, only to realize that he had been beaten to the punch. My dad stood there in disbelief, and unfortunately, he stood there for too long. Nana, who had just come from drying dishes in the kitchen had seemingly caught my dad red-handed.
My instagram post of Nana scolding my Dad
Her cane raised in disgust and a snarl in her voice, my Nana went feral. I’ve never seen the matriarch of my family so angry and disgusted by my father. In her eyes, my dad had broken rule number one of Thanksgiving. Before everyone knew it, Nana was in the kitchen tattling to all my aunts about what my dad had done to their precious pumpkin pie. At this point Natalie and I are still cackling in the corner, completely aware of what had happened, trying to avoid eye contact and stay out of the line of fire. Boy, was he in trouble. Both Nancy and Joy came storming out of the kitchen, my dad pleaded with them that he wasn’t the one who did it, but to no avail. For months following the incident, my aunts refused to speak to him because they were so upset by his behavior. Unknowingly and completely unaware that he had taken the fall for my slightly intoxicated grandfather, they punished him by requiring him to supply all the pumpkin pies for the next Thanksgiving.
The following year I came clean to my dad. I showed him pictures of Papa sneaking over to the table. He pleaded with me that he needed my help getting the pies together for Thanksgiving, and of course, I helped him out. I knew it wasn’t his fault, and he had absolutely no business making that many pies for human consumption. When the day came, I made sure that each pie was meticulously decorated, as if my Aunt Nancy had done it herself. Unintentionally creating a new family tradition, I made one extra pie and decorated it with the words “Papa’s Pumpkin Pie” carved out of pie crust. The look on my aunts and Nana’s faces when I showed up with the extra pie dedicated to Papa was one of irritation and relief. The look on my Dad and Papa’s faces? Priceless.
To this day, and even after Papa had passed away in 2018, my dad and I still haven’t come clean to Nana and my aunts about who actually destroyed the pie that night. So now every Thanksgiving, it is expected that I, the only working chef in the family, bring extra pumpkin pies just so that my father can demolish them in honor of my late Papa. Thanks, Dad.
There’s No Stopping Stephanie Izard
Since her first day as a culinary school graduate Stephanie Izard knew that she had found her calling in the food industry. As the owner of five restaurants, including Girl & the Goat, Izard has vast experience not only cooking professionally, but running multiple restaurants, owning her own line of condiments, writing cookbooks, appearing as a television personality, and being a totally badass mom all at once. With a resume like hers, she has proven herself to be an inspiration to women entrepreneurs and chefs across the globe.
Izard, was born in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois and grew up in Stamford, Connecticut, where she developed an interest in food from her parents. After graduating with a culinary arts degree from Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts Scottsdale in 1999, Izard began her culinary arts career in the Phoenix, Arizona, area at the Camelback Inn Resort & Spa and Christopher Gross’s Fermier Brasserie. Izard eventually returned to the Chicago area in 2001, with a job as garde manger at Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Vong. After leaving Vong, Izard worked as tournant at Shawn McClain’s Spring, and then as sous chef at Dale Levitski’s La Tache.
In 2004, at the age of 27, Izard opened her first restaurant, Scylla, in the Bucktown neighborhood of Chicago. The 50-seat restaurant offered a menu focusing on seafood and Mediterranean fusion cuisine. Reviews and awards included three stars from the Chicago Tribune, “Best New Restaurants 2005” from Chicago Magazine, and “Ten Best Small U.S. Restaurants” from Bon Appétit Magazine. Unfortunately, Izard closed Scylla in August 2007. While it may have been a setback at the time, it was a blessing in disguise.
Around the time of Scylla’s closing, Izard signed on to the Chicago-based fourth season of Bravo’s “Top Chef”, which she ultimately won, becoming the show’s first female winner, and claiming a $100,000 prize. In the Puerto Rico-based finale, she chose renowned chef Eric Ripert to assist with her prep work in preparing a four-course tasting menu for judging, which led to her victory over the menus prepared by fellow contestant and heavy-hitting chef Richard Blais.
If there was a competitive cooking hall of fame, Stephanie Izard would deserve a shrine. Not only did Izard become the first female contestant to win “Top Chef”, she’s also an Iron Chef, earning the coveted title after defeating Iron Chefs Bobby Flay, Michael Symon and Masaharu Morimoto on “Iron Chef Gauntlet.” In fact, she’s the only person ever to hold both cooking competition titles.
Izard gained much deserved notoriety from her Top Chef win, which ultimately led her to her on-going partnership with Kevin Boehm and Rob Katz of the BOKA Restaurant Group. In 2010, the trio opened Girl & the Goat in Chicago’s West Loop. The 130-seat restaurant features an eclectic menu showcasing Mediterranean influences and “nose-to-tail” cooking, emphasizing the use of offal alongside traditional cuts of meat.
Saveur magazine dubbed Girl & the Goat “America’s Best New Restaurant.” Shortly thereafter, Girl & the Goat was nominated for the James Beard Best New Restaurant award in 2011, the same year that Food & Wine magazine named Izard a “Best New Chef”.
In March 2011, Izard announced that she would yet again be teaming up with the BOKA restaurant group to open a second restaurant, Little Goat which offers upscale americana diner food and all-day breakfast. At the same time, Izard published her first cookbook, Girl in the Kitchen. Following its release, Izard and her team went on a national “Goat Tour” to promote the book. While in each city on tour, Izard teamed up with a chef friend in town to co-host a collaboration dinner to benefit Share Our Strength, an organization dedicated to feeding hungry children of which Izard has been a supporter.
A few years later in February 2015, Izard announced the opening of her third venture with Boka Restaurant group. Duck Duck Goat, situated in the Fulton Market neighborhood of Chicago was inspired by her self-proclaimed love of crab rangoon. Izard brings her version of inspired Chinese-American cuisine inspired by her travels abroad. The menu features hand-pulled noodles, house-made dumplings, wontons, spring rolls, and more.
Among her many restaurant openings, in 2016, Izard kept the momentum flowing with her launch of This Little Goat, a line of bottled sauces, spice mixes and everything crunches for home cooks inspired by international cuisines. A few years later, in 2018, she released her second book, Gather & Graze. In 2020 Izard opened Sugargoat, an imaginative sweets shop featuring creative combinations of sweet and savory flavors using some of her favorite snack foods directly next door to Little Goat. Izard currently ships her sweets nationwide in a partnership with Goldbelly.
Continuing her successful partnership with Boka Restaurant Group Izard opened Cabra in 2019. Located on the rooftop of The Hoxton Hotel Chicago, Cabra is a gorgeous rooftop dining and drinking destination inspired by the vibrant flavors of Peruvian Cuisine. Cabra offers crave-worthy food in a colorful, lively setting featuring dishes playful dishes such as mushroom ceviche and goat empanadas. Most recently, Izard opened her first two restaurants outside of Chicago: Girl & the Goat and Cabra, both in downtown Los Angeles. Both restaurants are receiving rave reviews and have very limited reservation availability, needless to say, she’s killing it in LA too.
When all is said and done, she’s always at the top of her game. With multiple awards, TV appearances, books, restaurants and a successful line of grocery retail items under her belt, Stephanie Izard is a force to be reckoned with and there’s no stopping her now and she’ll continue to be an excellent role model for women, and chefs in the food industry.
Eating with Your Eyes: The History Added Food Colors
It should come as no surprise to anyone that most food consumed by Americans is highly processed. Our foods are altered from their natural states to make them safe by removing harmful bacteria, extending their shelf life or by making them more appealing with the addition of natural or synthetic colors. We eat with our eyes first. Simply put, beautifully presented and colorful food is more appetizing looking. Imagine a vibrant sushi roll, a sprawling charcuterie board, or a meticulously plated dish from a 3-star Michelin restaurant. Now imagine what a hot dog would look like without the addition of synthetic color. Spoiler alert…it would be grey. Doesn’t that sound delicious? Think of food coloring as cosmetics for your food. There is a lot of confusion surrounding additives used to color manufactured foods. Artificial food dyes, more properly called synthetic food dyes, are a cause for concern among many consumers, and for good reason. After all, not only do we read articles telling us how dangerous these dyes may be, but we’re also seeing some of them be banned in the United States and abroad.
So, what exactly is a food color? The FDA, which refers to them as color additives, defines them as: “A color additive is a dye, pigment, or other substance made by a process of synthesis or similar means, or extracted, isolated, or otherwise derived, with or without intermediate or final change of identity, from vegetable, animal, or other sources, that when added to a food imparts color to it.”
The first synthetic organic dye, known as mauve, was invented in 1856, by William Henry Perkin. Foods, medications, and cosmetics that were sold in the United States by 1900 were frequently artificially colored. The coloring compounds weren’t all safe, though; some of them contained lead, arsenic, and mercury, while others were being used to mask food defects. Although hundreds of synthetic food dyes have been developed over the past century, most of them are toxic. Food colors, both natural and artificial, have had federal oversight for more than 125 years and continue to be studied and regulated to ensure their safety.
Today, manufacturers have the luxury of using 7 synthetic, FDA certified, food-safe dyes to color foods. All of them have earned the FD&C (Food, Drug, & Cosmetic Act) distinction after rigorous testing. This deems the following colors safe for use in food, drugs, and cosmetics; FD&C Blue No. 1, FD&C Blue No. 2, FD&C Green No. 3, FD&C Red No. 3, FD&C Red No. 40, FD&C Yellow No. 5, and FD&C Yellow No. 6. Added colors are a crucial component in food processing. Natural and artificial food colors both assist in restoring color lost during food processing. The vibrancy of a food product can be affected by exposure to light, air, high temperatures, moisture, and poor storage conditions. Furthermore, these added colors help to improve naturally occurring colors, correct color variation, and give color to foods that are otherwise colorless. Due to the affordability, brightness, and durability, synthetic dyes are preferred by food makers over natural colors like those derived from beet pulp. The cost of obtaining and processing the materials needed to create natural colorings is much higher than the cost of producing synthetic dyes in large quantities.
In the past, and to a certain degree today, color was added to foods to make it look more appealing to the consumer and, thus, more sellable, or to disguise inferior products or those that had turned or were spoiling. Today, the natural look of unadulterated foods is highly valued. To avoid so much processed food, some have advocated using natural food coloring, whenever possible. Natural dyes have been used for centuries to color food. Some of the most common ones are carotenoids, chlorophyll, anthocyanin, and turmeric.
The next time you’re at a child’s birthday party, notice the beautiful array of cakes, cookies, and cupcakes, all showcasing a rainbow assortment of artificial colors. Would you try green or purple ketchup? How about pink or blue butter? Believe it or not, these products actually existed in the early 2000’s. As mentioned by Bob Hambly in his article ‘ Colour Studies’, “Heinz eventually sold over 25 million bottles of their multicoloured ketchup. Due to rising awareness of better nutrition and healthier foods, people shied away from the product. Profits dropped and, in 2006, the line was discontinued.”
While they may make these sweets look appetizing to children, these synthetic ingredients often take the place of nutrition in foods. For example, fruit juice that contains colors is typically devoid of any fruit, making it artificially-colored sugar water. Worse than that, many food colors are linked to hyperactivity disorder. Studies suggest there is a small but significant association between artificial food dyes and hyperactivity in some children.
As mentioned in the 2021 Food Dyes Health Effects Assessment from the state of California, “research does indicate that children who consume synthetic food dyes, including red dye 40, can experience hyperactivity and other neurobehavioral issues. Experts believe that red dye 40 and other synthetic color additives may cause behavioral changes due to: a depletion of minerals that play a role in growth and development (including zinc and iron), chemical changes in the brain, and hypersensitivity which causes allergic reactions such as inflammation.” Despite this, both the FDA has stated there is currently not sufficient evidence to conclude that artificial food dyes are unsafe.
Overall, there have been some amusing and imaginative advancements in food coloring and application methods over the decades, such as edible spray paint in aerosol cans and edible image printing. The range of colors has expanded to include pastels, neons, metallics, glitter, and more. The demand for more natural substances and their organic colors, however, appears to have increased again in recent years as customers’ attention has turned more and more toward their health. Are the vivid, rich colorants used in modern food truly necessary? Of course not, and it can be challenging to defend, particularly if artificial colors are used in place of natural ones. But you must understand that they are necessary for the regularity and attractiveness that you have come to anticipate in manufactured foods.
