Revealing culinary secrets

During the fundraiser, 20 chefs gave cooking demonstrations for four hours.

By SEAN BARRON

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

LIBERTY — By her own admission, Marlene Strollo does little cooking, but perhaps winning a cheese cutlery set might make her home a tad tastier.

“I came because I knew the chefs, and I always want to support a benefit,” said Strollo, of Canfield, referring to her participation in Sunday’s fourth annual Chefs’ Secrets event at the Holiday Inn MetroPlex on Motor Inn Drive.

While attending a class on preparing marinated cheese with stuffed olives, Strollo was one of two volunteers asked to name as many types of cheese as possible. Since she was the last of the two to successfully name one, she wound up taking the gift home.

Will the new addition change her cooking habits?

“I won’t cook more,” she said with laughter. “I may try making marinated cheese because it’s easy.”

The four-hour fundraiser featured 20 chefs giving cooking demonstrations to about 50 people per class for a variety of appetizers, sides/salads/soups, entrees and desserts. The main thrust of the half-hour sessions was to provide an array of cooking experts to share their secrets, while raising money for the Sojourner House Domestic Violence Program, organizers said.

During breaks, participants discussed numerous cooking techniques with one another and sampled the foods of their liking.

Combining a recipe of fun, levity, music and give-aways with the marinated cheese were Regina Reynolds and Glenn Stevens, a reporter for WFMJ Channel 21, who handed the culinary set to Strollo.

Link to Sojourner House

In another nearby room, Victor Calautti was passionately sharing ways to get the best out of Jamaican shrimp with grilled pineapple and mango salsa.

Calautti, a 20-year chef and owner of Peppers Gourmet Foods and Catering Inc. of Boardman, said he got on board with the fundraiser after learning about Sojourner House through his son, who was a Boy Scout. Calautti’s son chose Sojourner House as part of his Eagle Scout project, he recalled.

In time, Calautti said, he got to know the shelter’s director, as well as members of the Chefs’ Secrets committee. From there, it was an easy decision to volunteer for the event, and Calautti has participated each year since its inception, he added.

“It’s a wonderful charity,” Calautti said of Sojourner House. “It needs to be brought forth more.”

The event also included a Chinese auction, a 50/50 raffle and a silent auction. Last year’s fundraiser netted about $15,000 and this year’s goal is to double that, noted Nancy Flinn, human resource director and event coordinator for the Burdman Group, which operates Sojourner House. Chefs’

Secrets 2007’s main sponsors were Humility of Mary Health Partners, Dr. Ehab Sargious, Ed and Chris Muransky, Coronado Steel and Briarfield at Ashley Circle.