By Jomay Steen
Rapid City Journal staff
Danielle Edmonds will cook a dozen different recipes tonight at Taste of Home Cooking School’s “Swing into Spring†in front of an audience of 1,300 home cooks. This cooking marathon also will include door prizes of a GE stainless steel microwave, Gallo Wine gift basket, spice rack, bags of groceries, cook books, tote bags, a variety of other kitchen necessities, plates and serving trays that will showcase these delicious foods.
I’m hoping that my sister or cousin will have to figure out how to get that microwave into their car. These expert cooks bought their tickets early, making sure they were seated within the first six rows of the stage, front and nearly center to watch every nuance of this cooking event. Their first question to me was if I could get them tickets, the next “Are you going?â€
“Yup, I’m washing dishes,†I said.
It’s true.At 11 a.m., I went into the storied Rushmore Plaza Civic Center Arena to begin my duties as cooking show dishwasher. Being goal-oriented and lacking any glamorous food show ambitions, dishwashing is about the best thing that I do in a kitchen besides watch other people cook.
The dishpan is the best place to smell the wonderful aromas and where you see the beautiful platters, plates and trays that will create–not just a taco cleverly ringed in pastry–but a work of art. I also stocked the leftover vegetables into the food crispers and loaded up dry ingredients tidily into a big box.
Even at that, Edmonds was appreciative of my efforts, giving me a certificate for Taste of Home Magazine. She even joined us for lunch, where the group of women who helped chopped, baked and set up for this evening’s event visited with her.Edmonds began her career by doing cooking demonstrations in a grocery store.
In a month, she would do about 20 shows with five recipes at each demonstration. In a year, she typically demonstrated 1,200 recipes—well-versed in the kitchen to say the least.
Trading in her local grocery store demonstration for her new gig at Taste of Home, she was confident she could handle the cooking part. Yet it was the cooking, instruction and finished presentation of each recipe completed within 10 minutes that made her pause.
To build her confidence, Edmonds timed the recipes of several favorite Food Network cooking shows. She discovered that her favorite cooks completed their recipes in seven minutes. “I have plenty of time,†she said.
Energetic, quick and with an eye toward a great show, Edmonds talked us through setup with courtesy and patience. After lunch, she was going back to her hotel for a quick nap. Then it will begin an entirely new eight-hour work shift.
After the show, everything will have to be torn down, food packed and cooking utensils packed and repacked into her car. This week, Rapid City is the first of a three-city tour. She travels to Vermillion tomorrow and will end the week at Grafton, N.D. near the Canadian border.
“I love what I do,†she said.
A few of Edmonds tips offered over pizza and soft drinks:
* Read the recipes all the way through so you have an idea of what they’ll taste like.
* Try new recipes, but keep practicing your classics, too.
* Occasionally cook enough food to share a meal with your parents, siblings or single friends.
* Ask your favorite restaurant chefs who sharpen their knives, then make an appointment to bring them to the store or restaurant.
* When traveling great distances, bring along a favorite book on tape.   Â
