Have wok, will travel: Chinese cookware led to food career

The Daily Inter Lake

Sue Cary's approach to cooking is anything but cut and dried. It's chopped, seasoned and saut/ed - and no matter the dish, it probably involves a wok.

"My sort of theme song is about alternatives," she said.

The wok is maybe no surprise, considering she got her start working as a representative demonstrating Chinese cookware. After three years in this job, she decided to strike out on her own and teach cooking. Since 1977, Cary has traveled the United States as a gourmet cook.

When she moved to the Flathead Valley a little more than a year ago, her goal was to continue teaching in her own cooking school. She established three in Dallas in the mid-'70s, and even when she wasn't in an official "school," Cary has spent most of her career demonstrating cooking techniques and kitchen products.

"I pioneered food processors in homes, convection ovens, microwaves - those were all new products in the mid-'70s when I was doing this. I had a chance to really tell a lot of people how to use them."

Food is one way people relate to one another, she said, which is part of what fuels her passion for teaching others about it.

"The common denominator is we all eat and we're all tired of what we eat," she said. "We're all looking for something different."

Although Flathead Valley Community College has a culinary program, Cary prefers to run her own classes.

"What I do is very fun-oriented, not about grades or tests or having a term paper," she said. "It's much more loosely structured, just basically based on fun or personal interest."

While she's taught a few classes, Cary has yet to establish a school. For a time, she taught semiweekly at Meadow Lake Resort in Columbia Falls, and this fall, she held a special class, "Gifts From Your Kitchen," at Kitchen Store Galore in Whitefish. She expects to hold more classes there after the first of the year.

While she enjoys the classes, what Cary really wants is a space of her own. The Whitefish kitchen store doesn't have a kitchen per se, and at Meadow Lake, she taught in the Fireside Room.

"It's not a room that's a kitchen," she said. "It's a room I make into a kitchen every time I come."

This means she hauled in her own burners, pots and utensils. She brought all her own ingredients, and items that required an oven had to be made beforehand. Cary also fastened a mirror to the ceiling so students could watch her work and see exactly what went into the pots.

It isn't impossible to teach under such circumstances; Cary insists, "All I need is a table and a place to plug in." But she hopes to find a room with an actual kitchen, where she can hold real classes and bake during the sessions.

In the meantime, she does dinners, parties, wine tastings and special events; anything someone wants her to do, she'll do, she said.

"There's really no topic that I haven't worked with," she said. "Whatever pops into your mind, I have such a vast experience. It's just fun to me."

She is, however, quick to emphasize that she isn't a caterer.

"The difference between me and a caterer is that I don't bring prepared food. I bring groceries and cook on site," she said.

And whether she's doing all the cooking or showing others new techniques, Cary first and foremost strives to make the experience enjoyable.

"My goal, first of all, is always about fun," she said. "It's all about fun and empowering you in the kitchen. This is really empowering you to become even more creative and more courageous."

Perhaps one of the first steps toward developing kitchen courage is picking up a cleaver. Few people own one, she said; even fewer actually use it.

Cary, however, insists there's no better tool for just about any kitchen chore. She uses them for nearly everything, from coring apples to tenderizing meat to cleaning her cutting board.

"I'll probably go down in history as the queen of cleavers," she said.

Cleavers and woks are the traditional tools Cary prefers to use in her cooking.

"Chinese equipment is so simple and so basic and so forever," she said.

"Forever" might be a slight exaggeration, but Cary has used the same tools since the early 1970s. The blades are no longer shiny, and her wok is black and well-seasoned. It has good reason to be, since she's used it to make omelets, steam fish and grill burgers, as well as create traditional stir-fry dishes.

"If you have a wok and your wok is still gray, I always say you're not loving your wok enough," she said.

Using old utensils is fine, but Cary insists on the newest, freshest ingredients money can buy.

"Be sure that you look at the brand names. Be sure you use fresh, fresh things," she said.

This includes using fresh rather than frozen fruit. "It changes their whole personalities to where they're not quite so fun anymore."

Cary also prefers to avoid "cheating" - which includes using pre-shredded cheese and powdered chicken broth.

"It's just my little purist point of view," she said. "You can cheat all you want as long as it doesn't bring down the outcome of your presentation."

Since it's traditionally been a meat-and-potatoes state, Montana may be less concerned about "presentation," Cary said - but she added that not everything she teaches has to be fancy.

"This is not all elaborate," she said. "It's maybe something a little different than what you're used to."

Cary can be reached at 270-8648.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.