CHEF CHAT

'Flavor Bible' authors back with 'Kitchen Creativity'

Chef Chat: Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg

Kristine M. Kierzek
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Over their 25-year writing career, Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg have created books that are building blocks for professional chefs and home cooks. 

It’s been a happy collaboration, if one they never expected. It all started when Dornenburg was working in restaurant kitchens, trying to figure out his future. Page, a writer, suggested he find a book. None existed, so they wrote the guide they needed. Creating their own career path has worked for the duo, who have built a following in the industry for their educational cooking approach with titles including “Culinary Artistry” and “The Flavor Bible.” They are also the creators of the app, “What to Drink with What You Eat,” available on iTunes.

Their latest, “Kitchen Creativity: Unlocking Culinary Genius — with Wisdom, Inspiration and Ideas from the World’s Most Creative Chefs” (Little, Brown, $40), features four years of research and tips from chefs around the world, including Jose AndresRick BaylessDan BarberCurtis DuffyCarrie NahabedianEric RipertNancy SilvertonVikram Sunderam and Jacques Torres. Tapping into an intuitive approach to cooking, this guide to technique and flavor is loaded with tips and “experts’ criteria for creating new dishes” rather than a collection of recipes. 

Bringing their book tour to the Midwest, the pair will be in Milwaukee for a “Five Flavors” dinner Friday, Nov. 10 at Amilinda, 315 E. Wisconsin Ave., featuring chefs Nathan Heck of Factotum Custom Catering, Goodkind’s Paul Zerkel and Lisa Kirkpatrick, Thi Cao of Buckley’s, Dan Jacobs and Dan Van Rite of DanDan and EsterEv, and Gregory Leon and Sara Ostrowski of Amilinda. 

The five-course meal with wine pairings includes a copy of the book. Cost is $130, and there will be two seatings for the dinner, at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. Proceeds from ticket sales will go to the culinary arts program at Milwaukee Public Schools. To order tickets, go to amilinda.com and click on “Events.”
The Spice House, 1031 N. Old World Third St., hosts a book signing from noon to 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 11. 

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Q: What prompted you to write books together? 

Karen: Andrew had been an aspiring chef. He’d been trying to figure out whether to go to cooking school, or can you really work your way up. I said sweetheart, go to the bookstore and buy a book on it. That’s what I do.

Well, there were books on everything, even becoming an astronaut. But no books on becoming a chef. We’d just gotten married in 1990. We started sending around the book proposal in 1992. 

Andrew: We were invited to a national food bloggers conference years ago. One of our slides was a photo of all the rejection letters we’ve received. If you believe in a project, you can do it. We were told it (“Becoming a Chef”) was a magazine article. It’s still in print as a book today. 

Q: Twenty-five years later, you’re still collaborating. What makes it work?

Andrew: For the first book, I was still working six nights on the line, and for most of “Culinary Artistry,” I was still working. Fortunately, the writing really took off. 

I did catering for a while, but it is so much more inspirational to write books. When we work on these books, I still get excited and want to go grocery shopping immediately.

The nice thing about writing, we can reach a lot more people than me working the line and doing 120 covers a night. I can still have one foot in the professional field, but I can ask questions and see my wife on holidays and her birthday. That is so much better. 

Q: Tell us about the dinner at Amilinda. How did that come together?

Karen: We’ve never even met Gregory (Leon), but we’ve seen his (copy of our) book and we’ve held his book, because he sent someone to our last event and had it signed. He had to work and couldn’t show up himself.

We were teasing him on Facebook; I hope this time we get to see you and not just send someone in your place. He said “What about a dinner?” He was able to rope in some other chefs. We want to get to know the top chefs in town. It is wonderful to meet them after having this relationship of author/reader. 

Andrew: I also like that they’re doing it about the basic tastes of sweet, salty, bitter, umami. 

Q: How has the conversation with chefs and readers changed through the years? 

Karen: The world of food is evolving. There are new ingredients that didn’t exist when we came out with “Culinary Artistry,” which came out a dozen years before “The Flavor Bible”…

We hear, “Oh yeah, everybody has that book. Everybody knows about that.” It didn’t exist 10 years ago, so with this book we’re expanding the conversation on creativity. “Kitchen Creativity” gives you a step before “The Flavor Bible.” 

Q: “Kitchen Creativity” could or should be a precursor? 

Karen: Yeah. We both think of it as a companion book, but you’ll start with “Kitchen Creativity” if you’re planning a menu. The brainstorming aspect can start (there). It is also a bridge, too, for people.

It has really good reviews on Amazon, but occasionally it gets one-star reviews. Not everyone understands how the book works. It is written for intuitive cooks, and not everyone is intuitive.

Andrew: We also introduce intuition in this book, and how to introduce intuition into cooking. Some people are pure recipe people and some aren’t. This is where we bring it all together. 

Q: What’s something that is always in your kitchen?

Karen: We actually went vegan for two months and Parmesan cheese was the one thing we couldn’t live without. 

Q: You’re known for writing books as resources. What are your resources? 

Karen: We write the books we need. I have a terrible memory. I really need reference books that can access information quickly. That’s what’s behind the A-to-Z approach.

I use our books every day. I also use our app when shopping. We have a bottle of wine, what cheese goes with this? I just look it up.