50 Chefs for 50 Years and Gilligan's Island

I could survive on this if I was ship wrecked!

I need a food styling class....delicious, but not pretty! 

The Professor, Gilligan and Mary Ann...1994

 What?  Didn't you say this was 50 Chefs (or cooks)?  What the heck is Gilligan doing here?  For you young readers, check out the Gilligan's Island Wikipedia, and let me explain.  When I grew up, way back in the 70's, we had 3 channels.  Every day after school, we would watch Gilligan's Island (best theme song ever!) and the Brady Bunch.  Then, we would head to the big woods in my yard and we would play on the fallen trees, building forts and making our own little Gilligan's Island.  We always fought over who got to be Mary Ann.  Neither me, nor my friends, were Gingers.

Mary Ann and Christina who is just 7 months old!

So fast forward to January, 1994.  I was visiting my parents with my little children, (they were 4 and 1) and The Hurricane, a restaurant on Passe-A-Grille, was having a shipwreck party.  I was so excited!  I met Gilligan, Mary Ann and the Professor.  Sadly Gilligan passed away about 9 years ago, and the professor, Russell Johnson passed away last week.  They were the nicest people and they so understand what an important part of many childhoods they were.  Gilligan even wore the hat!  But it is crazy when you think that the show aired prime time in 1964-1967 (I was born in 64),  but was a daily standard throughout most of the early 70's.  All reruns.

A fun keepsake of my 70's childhood.

Gilligan

Mary Ann

The Professor

Since my childhood friends would be turning 30 in 1994,  I bought the Gilligan's Island Cookbook for a few of them, and had them signed.  Of course I bought one for me too!  The book is a funny read.  It has lots of photos and quips from the TV series.  There are little bios on the characters (not on the actors who played them) and then lots of recipes.  The book is compiled by Mary Ann, aka Dawn Wells.  And the recipes aren't terrible, but they all have these goofy names to them that incorporate many of the characters who visited the castaways, and never seemed to help them get off!  What I love about the book is that there is 11 recipes for coconut cream pie.  Ha!  Guess what we are making?  The show may not have been an influence in my cooking, but I don't care.  It is signed and part of my collection.  So yea, Thomas Keller is coming, but today is all about MaryAnn.   It is my childhood, and I have never made a coconut cream pie until now!  The big dilemma was which recipe?  Mary Ann's?  Skipper's?  Mrs. Howell's?  Well of course Gilligan's.  So, just sit right back....

Gilligan's Favorite Coconut Cream Pie

1 1/3 cups half and half
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup flour
3 eggs, separated
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups shredded coconut
1 9" baked pie shell
3 T sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Pre bake the pie shell according to directions on the package.  I used a roll out shell from a nice organic market.  I baked it with pie weights, and then finished it off without to brown the crust.  Cool.

Delicious custard!

In the top of a double boiler over simmering water, scald the half and half.  Add sugar, salt and flour and whisk until smooth.  Cover and cook for 15 minutes.  I found my custard quite thick after 5 minutes.  Keep an eye on it.  Separate the eggs and beat the yolks.  Remove the pan from the boiler, and slowly whisk in the egg yolks.  Return pan to the water and cook for 5 more minutes, stirring.  Remove from heat and add vanilla and coconut.  3 cups of coconut is a lot, and my filling turned into dough very quickly.  I added more half and half to try and loosen it up a little, but still I had to press it into the pie shell when it was cooled.  It was not custardy at all.  It was like the inside of a Mounds Bar, although my coconut was unsweetened, I felt the sweetness balance was perfect.  I think a sweetened coconut would have been too sweet.  I also think a graham cracker crust would be pretty tasty!

Beat the egg whites with remaining sugar and vanilla until stiff peaks form.  Spread over the pie and toast in the oven (or with a torch) until browned.  Makes 6 servings. (Huge servings!)

No sugar coating on here.

Super fine shreds of coconut.

If you missed any of my previous 50 Chefs for 50 Years posts, here's an easy way to catch up!

#1 Mom, and Steak In A Bag and Ambrosia Pie
#2 Chuck Williams (founder of Williams Sonoma) and Cheese Souffle and Chuck's Zucchini
#3 Dinah Shore, and Corn Crab Cakes with Jalepeño Tartar Sauce
#4 Deborah Madison, and Summer Squash Tatines
#5 & 6 Eli and Max Sussman, and The Best Fall Dinner EVER!
#7 Ina the Barefoot Contessa and Chopped Cape Cod Salad
#8 & 9, Julee Russo and Sheila Lukins, The Silver Palate and Chicken Puttanesca

#10 Paul Prudhomme and Mirliton Pirogues Stuffed With Andouille and Shrimp

#11 Giada's Pumpkin Spice Cookies
#12 Richard Sax and Farmer's Market Veggie Soup
#13 John Currence and Oven Fried Chicken

May I Have Your Autograph?

I've collected autographs from a young age. It started with an autograph book that everyone at grade school would sign (we didn't have yearbooks until high school). As I got older I would grab an autograph on whatever I had. Harry Caray on a napkin when I met him in a bar (where else?), Little Oscar (the Oscar Meyer "little person")on a Walt Disney World menu circa 1974,programs from PGA tournaments, NCAA tournaments and all sorts of sporting events. After I got married, my husband became sort of obsessed with signed objects. Pete Rose will never be in the Hall of Fame, does that make a signed ball more or less valuable? Baseball bats, home plate, golf balls, baseballs, footballs, helmets, jerseys. But seriously, who falls faster off the popularity scale than an athlete. One arrest, one bad season, one life changing injury. It all becomes nothing more than clutter.
I, on the other hand like culinary autographs. I'll never get Julia or James, and wouldn't pay out the wazoo for one for fear it would be a fake. I would have loved Richard Sax as I have almost all of his books. Jacques Pepin, Tom Colicchio, and Anthony Bourdain are on my current chef wish list to add to my small but nice collection.
My dad was a grocer and over the years we were very lucky with the people we met and places we would go.
In 1985 when I was planning my wedding, no one in Iowa knew who Martha Stewart was. I was introduced to her work by my florist who raved about her first book, Entertaining. I found it at the library and read it cover to cover. I rechecked that book out as I planned our wedding, and my cake can be found on page 269. Just after the wedding, my parents were at an event at a California winery, and Martha was a speaker. My mom bought a book and had it signed for me. Somewhere in the course of that day, somebody took it. (If you have that book inscribed to Susie, it could be mine!) When word got back to the hosts, they sent my mom another book and a hand written card from Martha to me, it says "For Susie, Be entertaining always! Martha Stewart". I taped it to the front of my book, and a collection was born.
The next book was also from an event my parents attended, this one hosted by Dinah Shore. Now very few people younger than me know who she is, but I was a big fan of the afternoon talk shows in the summer. I would sit on our huge screened in porch and watch Merv Griffin and Phil Donahue. Back then it was entertainment, not reality TV, and Dinah was a frequent guest of Merv's. She signed her book, American Kitchen, "To Susie, Have Fun Cooking! Dinah Shore". She was really part of old Hollywood and her recipes are dotted with little stories from her life. She was 70 when the book was published.
In the winter of 1994, Christina was a baby, Nic just a toddler, and we would spend a few weeks in the winter in Florida. One weekend I spotted a Shipwreck Party at a restaurant in Pass-a-Grille called the Hurricane. I dragged both kids and my parents, and met the cast of Gilligan's Island. I have seen every episode at least 3 times as it was a year round staple, every day 3:30. We used to play Gilligan's Island in the woods behind our house, what fun to be shipwrecked! They were there selling Mary Ann's Gilligan's Island Cookbook. Bob Denver (Gilligan), Dawn Wells (Mary Ann) and Russell Johnson (the professor) were there to sign. I bought one for my childhood best friend Barb Lingle, because she was most likely the one I watched every episode with and my high school best friend, Mary Beth, because it really was a part of all of our childhoods. This book isn't a culinary classic, but it is full of trivia, pictures, episode guide and, count 'em, 13 recipes for coconut cream pie!
One of my next books came from a real culinary icon. Chuck Williams. Many people know little about the man that founded my place of employment. He had a hardware store in Sonoma, CA and after a trip to France, he was enlightened much like Julia Child. He began to sell French copper cookware in his hardware store. As his product lines grew, so did his store, and the rest is retail history. I met Mr. Williams at the Williams Sonoma in Las Vegas in 1999. I was out there for my dad's 60th birthday, and popped my head in the store looking for someone I knew that had transferred to that store. I had only been working for the company a few years, and he couldn't have been nicer to me. There was no customers in the store, and I'm not exactly sure why he was there. I bought a book called Williams Sonoma Savoring Italy, and he signed it "For Susie, with inspiration to cook! Chuck Williams". He is a testament to living right. He is now into his 90's and has spent his life eating great food and drinking good wine. It has been my pleasure to work for him for the last 11+ years, I look forward to many more!

The last 3 are what you might consider television personalities. Ina, Giada and Wolfgang. Ina and Giada are being handled by corporations and networks. Their signings (in my experience) have rules. No personalization, no photos (although that rule was bent for the hundreds of people who complained), and because of their enormous popularity, you wait hours for a hello, sign and go. But hey, Back to Basics by Ina Garten and Giada's Kitchen by Giada de Laurentis are great cookbooks, and the autograph is just an added bonus!
Wolfgang Puck was one of the earlier celebrity television chefs. I would read about him in the cooking magazines and see clips of him on TV. When I would go to Los Angeles to visit my sister she would humor me and take me to the Wolfie restaurants: Chinois on Main, Spago, Granita and Postrio. I never saw the master at work however, but of course Scott, who runs smack into celebrities all the time (honest) was at Postrio and meets him. He introduces himself, chats up Wolfie and gets me a book. Adventures in the Kitchen, signed "to Susie, good luck, Wolfgang Puck".
To be honest, I did travel across the country for Ina and Giada, but I don't really hunt these things out.I simply take advantage of signings when they come.
Williams Sonoma in Saddle Creek is hosting a book signing by a Birmingham author and restaurateur, Frank Stitt. I am most impressed that he was on the PBS series, Great Chefs, I loved the program and its easy flow. He is most noted recently, however for Highlands Bar and Grill in Birmingham where he is famous for his French cuisine and he recently opened Bottega which focuses more on the Italian cuisines. He was just announced as a finalist for the 2009 James Beard Awards and has been featured in Southern Living. He will be signing his book Bottega Favorita, A Southern Chef's Love for Italian Food, Thursday Feb. 26, between 1-3pm. The book must be purchased at Williams Sonoma for the signing. Of course I will attend and blog!
So another autograph to add to the collection. Keeping my eye out for other signings, and feeling a little hankering for coconut cream pie....Mary Ann's? Ginger's? Maybe Mrs. Thurston Howell III's version, hell, she probably ordered it from the bakery! Until the next...