Cooking with class
Chef who graduated from Case High School shares recipes with a new cookbook

By Lee B. Roberts
Journal Times
Sunday, January 25, 2009 7:38 PM CST

Bruce Smith was just “a goofy looking kid” when he showed up at the Hotel Racine many years ago in search of a job in the kitchen. Smith, who graduated from Case High School in 1971, said the chef on duty at the time took one look at him and laughed.

The cook’s amusement soon changed to admiration, however as Smith proved himself when put to the test.

“He threw me an onion and said ‘Cut this up’,” Smith said in a recent phone interview from his current home state, Florida. “I asked him if he wanted to race.”

A few minutes later, the goofy kid had beaten the chef by about two seconds and was offered a shot at the job.

The Hotel Racine was one of several local establishments that Smith cooked in before heading to Madison to attend the University of Wisconsin. Obie’s Buffet, on Lathrop Avenue, was where he did his apprenticeship while taking cooking classes in the area.

Once in Madison, the Racine native paid his way through school by cooking in a number of restaurants, including the Ovens of Brittany. And, each year at Mardi Gras time, he ventured down to New Orleans, where he immersed himself in Cajun cooking.

All of that, combined with some home-cooked inspiration from his mother, Hazel, laid the ground work for what has been a successful career in the food industry for Smith. Currently the food and beverage director of the Tara Golf and Country Club in Bradenton, Fla., (http://www.taragcc.com), he has worked as a chef or manager in more than 25 restaurants and clubs in the past 40 years. He has also led many cooking classes and demonstrations focusing on everything from fast food to fine dining.

Sharing favorites

Along the way, Smith has been collecting his favorite recipes and in November he published some of them in his first book, “The Chef’s Wife’s Cookbook” (Peppertree Press). The cookbook was inspired by his wife, Joellyn Temple (also a 1971 graduate of Case High School), who years ago asked her husband to put together some of the simpler recipes from his cooking classes so that she could make them in his absence.

The result is more than 180 recipes for everything from sauces and appetizers through entrees and desserts, accompanied by interesting tales from Smith’s cooking career in Wisconsin, New Orleans, New England and beyond. The recipes are organized by course and each chapter is preceded by its own anecdotal introduction which tells how and where some of the recipes were developed. Included is the humorous story of how he and Temple met — an meeting that didn’t take place until they were in college, even though they attended the same high school in Racine.

The recipes are easy to follow and range from something as simple as Sauteed Cherry Tomatoes with Fresh Dill to Osso Buco, a classic Italian veal dish that is more complex and best suited for a special family dinner. There is a lot of seafood and plenty of Cajun influence — even a few family recipes such as the Harvey Wallbanger Cake that Smith’s mother used to make for guests in Racine back in the 1960s.

Smith jokes that while he was compiling the book his wife used it frequently, but not in the way you might think. “On my days off, she went through the book and picked out what she wanted me to cook for dinner. Isn’t that convenient?” he says on his Web site at http://www.chefswifescookbook.com

The truth is that Smith loves to cook, both on the job and at home, and that he and his wife of 31 years often prepare meals together in their Sarasota, Fla., kitchen. When they make one of Temple’s favorite recipes, Spinach and Ricotta Won Ton Raviolis, for example, he makes the filling and she does the rest of the work, Smith said. The couple especially enjoys cooking with fresh foods from their vegetable and herb garden.

Smith is also involved with the Taste of Sarasota cooking festival, which serves as a fundraiser for the area’s All Faiths Food Bank. And, he is already compiling more recipes for a second cookbook — one that he says will contain recipes with a higher level of difficulty. Meanwhile, “The Chef’s Wife’s Cookbook” is available for $19.95 at: