SAUCE

All About Sauce

Maryland born, sassy and full of flavor

When people ask what makes someone a Chef Vs. a Cook:

Some would say you must be classically trained BUT this is no longer necessarily true.
Plenty of self taught Chefs can cook just as well as some of the classically trained.

What is true though is the following, it is the absolute rule of thumb:

A COOK NEEDS AND RELIES UPON RECIPES, OR HAS JUST A FEW THINGS THEY ARE GREAT AT COOKING.

A CHEF CREATES DISHES, CHANGES AND PERSONALIZES RECIPES, AND KNOWS WHAT WORKS WELL TOGETHER AND EXPERIMENTS.. WITH
THE END RESULT BEING A GREAT AND DELICIOUS CULINARY EXPERIENCE.

I am Charlene also known as Sauce. A loving nickname given to me by my Longtime partner due to my love of sauces and extra sauce on everything I eat. I am a youthful, family loving 50 year old woman who is a self taught Chef. I first found I had a natural knack for making great recipes and foods around age 17ish. I was pregnant and a senior in High School and my grandmother who raised me didn’t cook some of the types of food I like or wanted to eat.

So I began with some recipes for spaghetti, and a neat lemon based tuna salad. Next I moved on to Chili and seafood. By the time I was 21 and living with my first fiance ( we didn’t get married) and my then 3 yr old, I was cooking chicken alfredo breasts and rice with alfredo sauce etc.

Fast forward to now and I am a 50 yr old mother and grand mom who has raised 5 kids and now enjoys stuffing 2 grandkids when they visit. So now my recipes and food experiments and success stories are as bountiful as the amount of sauce I love.

I incorporate my Maryland girl taste buds along with different foods I have tasted in my travels and journey of life. You will see as we go along on this food journey together that I have a love of seafood, Old Bay and well flavored meats and dishes. Portion size is also something very important to me as a Maryland girl. If you know Maryland, you know we love our large portions. You better not serve a small plate in Maryland, unless its at a very fancy restaurant, that is different. But when it comes to comfort food, family or gatherings… the plate better be good and it better be big.

I wanted to take the time to thank all the women and one man who influenced my cooking and these are people who I often think of when I cook certain things. Sometimes it feels like they are in the kitchen with me and it’s something that does my spirit good. Some are still with us and others have moved on to the heavens. 

"Charlene Sauce"
charlene Strayhon

ceo & chef

Cooking for me is about more than just money. Of course it is also about money but mainly its a further expression of who I always have been. Which is an artist.

I could always draw and paint anything. At one time fashion design was my goal till I became a mom ..again and again lol. I think Chefs are people who cook with a real passion, not just for money, not just for need but because they truly love what they create. Chefs aren’t scared to experiment to push your palette and to push your visual senses.

That’s what I love about it.
It’s what excites me. I cook with a love for the craft.  I hope you’ll try some of my food soon.

INFLUENCE

heroes

My cooking influences

Martie Church Elzey

(my grandmother, she influenced my chicken and dumplings and my sweet stewed tomatoes and the potato salad recipe is hers)

Martie Mae Church Dashiell

(cousin altho I called her Aunt, my first taste of lasagna. I’ll never forget it.)

Anna Murfree

(my godmother, stroked my love of fresh vegetables and seafood.)

Ruth Roberts

(one of my adoptive moms, heavily influenced my collard greens and my spaghetti. She taught me the many great uses of vinegar for cooking.)

Eunice and Donald Haywood

(My mom ( her cornish hens and dressing )and dad btw his fried fish, chicken and from scratch cakes and cheesecakes omg)

Janie Church Birckhead

(another cousin who is my Aunt, her mac and cheese heavily influenced mine also her chili )

Kathy Waller

(another adoptive mom who influenced a lot of what and how I cook. Taught me all about Adobo, and latin seasonings. And how to make Pork Yok. I’m still waiting on the recipe for her potato balls stuffed w beef)

Jean Church

(her famous crab imperial inspired mine. If my childhood memory serves me correctly she cooked for Johnny’s and Sammy’s in Salisbury for many years) 

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