CNN
Why one restaurant chef still cooks his grandma’s recipes
Dorothy's Pot Roast is on the menu at Kaysen's Spoon and Stable restaurant in Minneapolis.
Photo Credit: Libby Anderson
On his culinary quest that has included two James Beard Awards and countless “best of” restaurant mentions, chef Gavin Kaysen has amassed an impressive list of mentors: Daniel Boulud, Thomas Keller, Paul Bocuse — and Grandma Dorothy.
One cold winter day decades ago, the future chef whipped up one of the first recipes his grandmother Dorothy Kaysen taught him. It was her signature Sunday recipe: chicken and dumplings.
“Everyone came in from outside to warm up together over this meal,” he recalled. “I had already known that this meal felt like a hug in a bowl. But at that moment, it clicked that cooking can be the basis of connection.”
Among the 100-plus recipes in his 2022 cookbook, “At Home,” you’ll find his grandmother’s pot roast (which is currently on the Spoon and Stable menu), those beloved chicken and dumplings, and the family-friendly recipes Kaysen believes he might be known for one day.
“I think it’s extremely important to chronicle and carry on family recipes. We are only as great as those who came before us, and I carry on my grandma’s memory through her recipes,” Kaysen said. “Everything I learn is on the shoulders of someone who came before me, and this is a way I can honor that.”