DADS in the Kitchen
For these 3, cooking is a daily passion
Mother’s Day is so last month. This weekend it’s all about Dad.
Breakfast in bed was nice for Mom but for the guys … not so much. Especially not these guys.
Meet three local dads whose passion for cooking goes well beyond the grill ... or even the standard family dinner. The Winter, Stodola and Orvis families are the well-fed beneficiaries of the resident dad’s enviable kitchen skills.
Parents were foodies
To say that Rick Winter grew up in a food-focused family would be an understatement. Rick’s parents, Bernalee (Bunny) and the late Chuck Winter, were foodies decades before anyone used that term. The “energizer” Bunny was determined to teach her five sons to cook.
“I had all the boys doing hands-on cooking and helping in the kitchen before they left for college,” Bunny Winter recalls. This 88-year-old matriarch of a family of nine grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren takes pride in son Rick’s obsession.
“Everybody loves to eat … all my boys are interested in food, but Rick has taken it to different level,” Bunny explains.
Rick credits both his parents for his love of food.
“My mom would make beautiful food,” he says. “She always made whatever birthday dinner we wanted, and she ended up cooking beef Wellington for me and paella for my brothers.”
Health forced changes
A physical exam six months ago forced Winter, who lives in Fox Point, to change his eating and cooking habits, but with the Instagram
name MilwaukeeFoodKing, Winter hasn’t let doctor’s orders hurt his cooking game.
“My passion is Asian food,” he says. “I buy salt-free spices and I try to be healthier.”
Winter’s pad Thai incorporates a variety of Asian spices to enhance the flavor.
“I like the heat,” he says. “I try to get flavor from things like ginger, garlic, basil, cilantro and kefir lime leaves instead of salt.”
Winter’s late father was an influence on both Rick’s vocation, dentistry, and his avocation: cooking. The Winter family boasts four generations of dentists. Rick’s grandfather and father both were; Rick and his brother Bruce currently practice; Bruce’s son, Jeremy, is a dentist in Chicago, and Rick’s daughter, Ariel, is a dental student at Marquette.
Winter’s wife, Jackie, and kids Ariel and 18-year-old Eli, are Winter’s favorite sous chefs and dining companions.
“My dad would say never skimp on quality food,” Winter says. “If you can raise your kids with healthy eating habits, it’s such a gift. The best Father’s Day gift I can have is to live a long time and play with them.”
A cook since childhood
Like many children with military parents, Craig Stodola remembers his father, Jack, cooking creamed chipped beef on toast (also known as an expletive on a shingle). Easy-to-make and budget-friendly, the dish wasn’t exactly gourmet fare, until young Craig worked his magic.
“The dish is butter, flour, milk, maybe a pinch of salt and pepper and hamburger or chipped beef. It was so bland. I thought, ‘what if we add seasoned salt or garlic powder and make a carmelized rue?’ My dad tasted it and said, ‘Wow, this is pretty good,’ ” Stodola recalls.
Inspired to raise his cooking game, Stodola turned to television years before the Food Network and Cooking Channel filled the airwaves.
“I started watching cooking shows on PBS and I learned about seasoning. I read cookbooks and got ideas then I would ask, ‘What can I do to make this recipe mine?’ ”
Now a father to two sons, 6-year-old Jonas and 4year-old Keegan, Stodola and his wife, Angie, who live in Oak Creek, balance parenting duties with busy careers: Stodola owns Craig John, a wedding photography service; Angie works for Northwestern Mutual. Stodola also writes a food blog, juicygarlic.com, and is a fan of the “eat local” movement.
“We’re members of the Pinehold Gardens CSA, we also go to their farm stand and load up on onions, carrots, garlic and tomatoes. My kids eat those tomatoes like candy,” Stodola says.
Cast iron devotee
Stodola swears by cast-iron cookware and a smoker.
“I have a vintage cast-iron skillet,” he says. “We threw away all our Teflon, and I learned how to cook on cast iron. And I don’t grill anymore. I love to make hot dogs or brats in the smoker, and when I cook a steak it’s seared in a cast-iron skillet and then shoved in the oven. Nothing gives as good of a crust on a Porterhouse like cast iron.”
Stodola uses cast iron for every breakfast and for his favorite fish tacos. “Teflon is not that great for you, and there are so many benefits with the cast iron. I’ve been loving it.
“Once these beauties are well seasoned, they are slick — a little oil, and they’re as non-stick as the best Teflon.”
Preserving his family memories through food is an ongoing project that’s a labor of love for Stodola.
“Over the past several years, I’ve been collecting my family’s old recipes,” he says.
“From my mother, grandmother, cousins and siblings … I’m creating a historical archive to pass down to my kids. Hopefully they’ll add to it, pass it down to their kids and keep it going.”
Funny man in the kitchen
A former comedy professional, Bob Orvis keeps his family laughing and eating great food. Orvis spent many years performing with and managing the travelling troupe of improv comedians at Comedy Sportz.
Now retired, Orvis is a stay-at-home dad who shares cooking duties with wife, Lisa, for their daughters, 18-year-old Kyra and 15-year-old Chloe. When he was growing up, Orvis’ mom, Betsy, encouraged him to be independent in the kitchen.
“My mom made sure I learned to cook,” he says. “She said, ‘Bobby, someday, men will have to cook.’ My dad worked really hard and he was not a cook.”
Betsy’s prediction came to pass, as Bob does his share of his family’s cooking. “Lisa takes pride in her cooking and she’s an excellent cook; we go back and forth,” he explains.
Personal spin is his MO
Orvis adapts existing recipes to fit his own tastes. “I tell my kids that the person who writes a cookbook is a really good cook. They perfect the dish and then turn it into a recipe, so to not follow that would be dumb.”
At the same time, putting a personal spin on an existing recipe is Bob’s secret to cooking success.
“I have an old Betty Crocker cookbook and I look at that, then I go on the internet,” he says. “I adjust most of the recipes I use.”
He’s been making a family-pleasing roasted pork dish with a sweet spin.
“The first time I added more apples, then I decided to add fresh pineapple. Sometimes, I add ingredients to add color, sometimes I do it to add different smells,” he says.
Gardening is another passion for Orvis, who tends the garden at his Glendale home.
“I grow tarragon, thyme, rosemary, oregano, sage, mint and fennel and chives in a raised box,” he says. “The rest of the garden is based on the ‘dirty list,’ the foods you have to eat organically.
“I make sure I grow the stuff that has to be organic, like beefsteak and Sun Sugar tomatoes. They look like a bright orange golf ball; you eat them like candy, and you can’t find them in the store.
“I grow eggplant, bell peppers and yellow beans. Yellow beans are good to grow after you grow tomatoes. Rotate your crops because it keeps the garden nice and fresh.”
As with many dads, the perfect Father’s Day for Orvis would be a simple one.
“I don’t really want to be waited on, and I’m not into gifts. But to see the whole family together, having fun, would be perfect.”