Checking In With Chef Extraordinaire Kateri
When it comes to cheffing, Kateri knows what’s up!
A New Yorker at heart with her roots stemming from North Charleston, South Carolina, her calling card is in the kitchen.
An owner and sole proprietor of Kateri’s Soul Sinsations, her cooking tastes are quite diverse: Italian, Southern, Indian, Asian; YOU NAME IT!
Her cooking has also been the focus of several books that she’s written since 2014.
Those books include: Vegetarian Vs Vegan Cookbook, Sicilian Cooking, Sweet Treats Cookbook, The Female Don Dada and Southern Soul Food Sinsations.
“A good writer is a person who’s willing to tell the brutal honesty about their world,” Essence and Cash Money Best Selling Author, Treasure Blue told RESPECT Magazine. “But a GREAT writer, Kateri, is a person who’s willing to tell the brutal honesty about themselves.”
Kateri recently caught up with me and shared her love for cooking and more.
Scoop B: Your journey while in college is intriguing. You cooked for your dorm mates. How much confidence did that give you and what did you cook for them?
Kateri: It gave me a lot of confidence. I used to cook all the family meals at home, so it was very easy for me. I cooked everything from breakfast to dinner. The favorite among my roommates was fried chicken, mac and cheese, and fried cabbage.
Scoop B: Easter is coming up. What dishes do you suggest for the Easter holiday?
Kateri: I am traditional Southern when it comes to the holidays, so I have to say, Fried Chicken, Cherry Pineapple Glazed Ham, Marinated Roast Beef, Baked Mac and cheese, Mashed Potatoes, Rice, collard greens, cabbage, country green beans with smoked turkey, and corn. For dessert, probably a red velvet cake or lemon pound cake.
Scoop B: Your cookbooks are diverse. You’ve got recipes for the Italian and the Southern palate. As an African American Chef, how important is it for other African American cooks to diversify their cookbooks?
Kateri: It is very important. Food changes every day, and as Chefs we need to grow with that change. Yes, I grew up cooking Soul Food, but I also know that to succeed in this field you must learn other cuisines. Soul Food is very diverse and comes from other areas, so why not dig into it and learn. Don’t limit yourself and don’t limit your gift.
Scoop B: Your background in English Literature meshed with your talent to cook seemed to mesh perfectly when writing multiple cookbooks. How clutch was it to have both backgrounds when it was time to publish your books?
Kateri: My love for cooking is my life, and so is Lit. It was extremely easy to transform my recipes into books. As you master the English language, anything you do is easy from there. Now actually writing the recipes was hard. I am a robot when I cook, so to remember the measurements and the steps was not easy. I had my pen and pad in the kitchen when I cooked these recipes. I even had to tape myself lol.
Scoop B: You don’t just have cookbooks, your titles also include some urban street literature. Your level of diversification in subject matter fascinates me. What can people learn from your title Female Don Dada?
Kateri: I think the lesson that can be taken away from Female Don Dada is that women simply cannot be placed in a box. Women are complex. They can be drug dealers, mothers, confidants, deadly, sweet, vengeful, and professional. I’m the perfect example of that as a wife and a professional with both culinary and literary skills.
Scoop B: You’re published and are featured online. What’s next for you?
Kateri: To grow my Personal Chef and Event Planning Companies, to write 3 more Cookbooks, write an Espionage Thriller, Develop a Cooking show, teach a few cooking lessons, make a promo video of my new novel starring Beanie Sigel, hopefully see one of my novels get turned into a movie if not all, make the New York Times Bestseller list, and to be on Hell’s Kitchen.
Make sure to check out Chef Kateri’s website here and check her out on Twitter:@WifeyKateri and Instagram: @Author_Kateri