Meet Savory Spoon’s Guest Chef Laurie Conrad

By Janice Thomas

Baking during quarantine is both incredibly enjoyable and slightly challenging  for me. On the one hand, I find baking to be a very pleasant pursuit. It creates a feeling of coziness in my kitchen,  which is usually pretty fun, and in the end, we wind up with something delicious. 

On the other hand, baking during quarantine means that many times when I go to make something, I inevitably find I’m missing some key ingredient, and popping over to the store on a whim for an ingredient or two just isn’t going to happen these days. Instead, I have to get creative, and in fact I have not found any flour in the market since I shared my sliced white sandwich bread recipe with you a few weeks ago. 

Speaking of creativity, I have asked some of my regular in house instructors at the Savory Spoon Cooking School to share a recipe and a little piece of their life with you. I appreciate all they do for the Savory Spoon and I think you will appreciate getting to know them.

Meet Laurie Conrad

Anyone who has had a class with me, knows that I keep things lighthearted, fun, and educational. For those of you, who have not had the opportunity present itself yet, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Laurie Conrad and I am a private instructor through my business The Blue Daisy.

It wasn’t until college that I was really able to appreciate and understand the importance of gastronomy. Struggling to find a 3 credit class in-between 5 credit Organic Chemistry and Physics classes, I stumbled upon a Food Science class, which changed my outlook forever. This course encompassed everything from the history of salt, to why bread rises, and who has the taste buds to taste cilantro. The information given to me as a student, I pass on to you when you attend a class of mine. Knowing what I know, I am willing to pay that crazy price for a jar of salt or jam, because sometimes ingredients are hard to come by or the labor of love it takes to produce it is equally as worthy.

After school, I worked in the medical field, but soon returned to my passion of cooking. I was the resident chef for Williams Sonoma and was an instructor for Whole Foods to name a few. As luck would have it, I was fortunate to connect with Janice Thomas from the Savory Spoon after both a hilarious and disastrous cooking class she attended. From that point on, I have been with her ever since. That was close to 15 years ago, WOW!

All chefs really try to embrace local, organic as often, and flavorful dishes. What sets me apart from my colleagues is the skillset and knowledge I bring to class. Everything from the anatomy of knives, to the history of the chickens.

Over the last few years, I have been raising different breeds of chickens. Nothing beats cage free farm fresh eggs! And no different than us, what we eat, and how we live is what determines the quality of an egg.Please enjoy the following recipe and some photos of my girls. I look forward to teaching classes at The Savory Spoon and hope you have the chance to attend one of mine or any of the other amazing classes.