Category: Q&A

New Culinary Director, Pats Peak Ski Area (686 Flanders Road, Henniker, 428-3245, patspeak.com)

“Culinary’s something I kind of fell into,” MacCrea said. “I was working at a hotel when I was like 16 or 17. I was actually a busboy. And then something happened where one of the cooks was on vacation … and one cook got let go, and one guy just kind of stopped showing up. I looked at the executive chef and said, ‘Hey, you can come get me; I can fill in a few shifts.’ That was kind of how I got started. … I did some chain restaurant work. I worked in elder care as a culinary director for Expected Living for about eight or nine years. That was actually really rewarding. Then … I was the executive chef at Great Wolf Lodge for about three years before I took this Pats Peak job. I graduated high school, but then never really went to culinary school because I was already working and in the field doing it, and I love what I did, and I just wanted to work and move up the ladder and progress that way.

Do you have a particular culinary point of view or a philosophy in the kitchen?

I do. I mean, I honestly think it’s not about me; it’s really just about whatever my guest wants. I try to cater to anyone and everyone. I really got into cooking for people with allergies and specific kinds of needs. I started really in health care, but then I expanded it when I was at my last job at Great Wolf Lodge. For me, it’s just all about guest satisfaction. If I can make somebody happy with my food, I’ve done my job.

What’s your must-have kitchen item?

Other than the very obvious, like just a good quality chef’s knife, I feel like oregano is my secret ingredient. I add oregano to a lot of dishes. I just like fresh herbs. I think if you have fresh herbs in general, you’re going to be better off. Fresh herbs, I think they elevate just about every dish.

What do you think is the most important skill in the kitchen?

For me, the most important skill is really being able to interact with a lot of different kinds of people. People skills are huge. You’re interacting with people from all different backgrounds, all different walks of life, all different personalities, and to be able to get the most out of those people that work around you I think is just so important

What would you have for your last meal?

I’d probably just have like a nice steak, like a nice T-bone or porterhouse, cooked medium rare, with something like creamy mashed potatoes and garlic green beans on the side.

What’s the best dish that you ever ate at a restaurant?

I was in Chicago — I think the place was called Gibson’s Italia. It was all family style, but literally everything I tried on that table was amazing — great steak, great pasta, great everything. We were at a leadership course thing, it was like a long weekend, and this woman was local to Chicago and she was taking us to all these places. I mean she’s walking up to these restaurants, no signage, no nothing, you wouldn’t know it was a restaurant unless you lived there. The service was incredible. The food was incredible.

Who’s a celebrity you’d like to see eating your food?

I’d be terrified, but I would love to have Gordon Ramsay eat my food. Although I admit I would be absolutely terrified, but, I mean, he’ll tell you like it is.

What’s your favorite dish to put on a menu?

When I’m planning a menu, I like to have some barbecue items. I love pulled pork, I love smoked brisket. I just like smoked meats. It’s a lot of the kind of weird cuts that way back when people didn’t appreciate them, and then we started making them into fantastic meals and I just love that.

What’s your favorite cookbook?

I’ve read a lot of cookbooks. I don’t know if I have an exact favorite one. I know they’re not actually cookbooks, but I like anything by [Anthony] Bourdain. I love that stuff. The cookbook I go to the most is literally a culinary textbook from Johnson & Wales. I just sort of picked that up, and it’s just amazing. It’s so easy to use, it has everything you could want. Right now, I’m reading about smoking.

What’s a big new food trend that you see?

There’s a lot of stuff I think that is trending, but hot honey is huge right now. I also think people are trying to get back to basics. I think overdone dishes with a million ingredients are kind of a way of the past. I think simple dishes, simple flavors, just good quality fresh ingredients is kind of on the rise. And I love that.

What’s your favorite thing to cook at home?

I like to cook a lot of Asian-fusion food. I like to make orange chicken and Szechuan chicken, things like that. I like to make simple meals that I can make really quick that are really flavorful. Really, my wife’s pretty picky, so anything that I can get her to eat and say is good is huge for me.

Featured Image: Daniel MacCrea, New Culinary Director, Pats Peak Ski Area. Courtesy photo.

Owner/Baker, Big Trees Baking Company

“I make sourdough bread, which I sell at some local stores and at the Canterbury Farmers’ Market,” Bartilucci said. “I have always loved baking; my mother and I baked growing up. Two years ago in 2023, when I moved to Canterbury, I decided to not buy store-bought bread anymore for the year and it turned into a little obsession. So I went to my farmers market board with bread samples and asked if they wanted a vendor. They … brought my bread around to all the other vendors to try it and everyone was so warm and welcoming. They wanted me to come back the next week to start selling, so I went home and got my watercolors out, made my logo that night and I’ve been selling at the market ever since.”

What is your must-have kitchen item?

My bench scraper. It’s a CDK bench scraper and it’s the larger size. It’s pretty much an extension of my hands. It helps me cut the dough, shape the dough, and transfer the dough. It does absolutely everything.

What would you have for your last meal?

Honestly, bread. I make bread and eat it all the time, but I do truly love bread that much. The other day we actually had an old-world sourdough with a friend around our countertop talking and we put sesame oil, avocados and sesame seeds on it and it was absolutely delicious.

What is your favorite local eatery?

I really enjoy Curry Leaf [in Concord]. I love their Malai Kofta. It’s absolutely delicious.

Who is a celebrity you would like to see eating your bread?

I guess more of a celebrity in the baking world would be James Bridges. He’s in charge of a lot of sourdough Facebook groups and Sourdough Geeks (sourdoughgeeks.com), which is a whole website and group devoted to sourdough baking. He does a lot of classes and education. He’s absolutely incredible at what he does.

Have you given your sourdough starter a name?

I have. Its name is Pineapples. When you start making a sourdough starter it smells like dirty socks at first, but after a while it gets this very yeasty fruity smell because it’s a little more on the acidic side as the good bacteria wins out. It reminded me of pineapples and that name just stuck.

What is a baking trend you see in New Hampshire right now?

Sourdough. Everyone’s making bread from home. People are really embracing that. And I think recognizing how important the farmers markets are and being able to bring their food to those and expand that local market.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

Anything with tofu and veggies. I’ve actually been putting tofu in the air fryer lately, just plain. And then it creates this little bit of crisp on the outside and almost gives it a subtle flavor to it. You have to use extra-firm tofu.

What do you put on your bread?

I use a lot of jam. Lindon Garlic Farm [in Gilmanton] makes a black garlic jam with blueberries or strawberries that is absolutely incredible.

What is a good resource for someone who is just learning to make their own sourdough bread?

There are a few people I would look into, actually. Tom Cucuzza, who does the Sourdough Journey (thesourdoughjourney.com), is a good one to start with. I like things in word form instead of video, and he does that well. And then there’s Maurizio Leo (theperfectloaf.com). He has a blog, he has books, he has everything. He’s very, very clear. He was an engineer prior to becoming a baker, so he kind of combines that scientific and artistic element of sourdough. Finally, the Sourdough Geeks Facebook group (facebook.com/groups/sourdoughgeeks) is a really good resource. You do have to look — I think the biggest thing is to look at people’s, the people that comment on your posts and give you advice, look at what their bread looks like and decide if it’s what you want yours to look like.

Featured Image: Tara Bartilucci. Courtesy photo.

Executive Chef at The Birch on Elm (968 Elm St., Manchester, 836-1958, birchonelm.com)

“I started by cooking in high school. It was just a part-time job at Nadeau’s sub shop, but I started there, learned a lot of speed, and did that for money,” Provencher said. “I played golf in college but when I came home for summers or ever needed to make money, I always worked in kitchens. It’s kind of my second love behind golf, and eventually after college I dove more into this industry because it’s fast-paced and kind of chaotic, which I like. I really threw myself into it, which started in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where I worked for four to five years before coming out to Manchester to help my executive chef at the time open the Foundry. I met the ownership of Birch through that and we started that in 2016 and I’ve been there ever since,” he said.

“I think my philosophy is to keep food outwardly simple while simultaneously having a level of complexity that showcases whatever season we are in, using different techniques and flavors from all around the world.”

What is your must-have kitchen item?

I like a good set of plating spoons. No matter where I am, if I’m doing off-site cooking or at the restaurant, I always make sure I have a little versatile group of plating spoons that I can use. They’re like slightly larger than tablespoons, but you can maneuver them and get your plating just right. Some of them are slotted, in case you need to get rid of excess moisture or liquid.

What would you have for your last meal?

The last one ever would probably have to be like huge rib-eyes and lobster tails. Simple. If I’m going out, that’s probably what I’m going out with.

What is your favorite place other than The Birch to eat out at?

I think someone that has come in alongside of us and helped push the city’s [food scene] forward that I’m really impressed with is probably Evolution. I love what they’re doing there. We’re very happy to have them a block over and help us make this a food destination as much as possible.

Who is a celebrity you would like to see eating at The Birch?

Chef-wise, it would be hard to pass up getting either just shown out for Gordon Ramsay or, if you got yelled at by him, I feel like it would in some way be a weird honor. I came up in more cutthroat, old-school kitchens. I wouldn’t be new to getting chewed out a little.

What’s your favorite thing on your menu?

I’m really proud of our rabbit lasagna. We make all the pasta — well, we make everything in house — but pasta is one of my true loves when it comes to cooking. So we have handmade pasta sheets laid with a velouté that we make from the braising liquid of the rabbit we cook. Housemade ricotta’s layered in there and then a bunch of fresh-grated Parm and all of the braised rabbit meat layered up with our homemade pasta.

What is the biggest food trend you notice in New Hampshire right now?

Honestly, it’d be hard to not say food trucks. I feel like every which way I look, people either I know or am associated with seem to be opening pop-up kitchens and food trucks. If they’re doing well, it’s almost like if they asked me, I’d be like, ‘Hey, keep the truck, man. Your overhead’s low, the variables are minimal. You can control everything.’ Once you get inside four walls, things get a little different.

What’s your favorite thing to cook at home?

If I’m cooking at home, if I have a whole day to cook, I’ll probably be simmering some type of sauce, braising some type of meat and making homemade pasta. I love it.

Featured Image: Nick Provencher. Courtesy photo.

Bar Manager at Spice Restaurant & Bar (300 Main St., Nashua. 417-7972, thespicenashua.com). “I got into bartending in 2004. I was a server and … the owner … said, “…Carolyn, get on the bar.” I got thrown to the wolves, but I made it work,” Trepanier said.

“For me, a craft cocktail means pairing the … stand-out ingredients of the restaurant you’re working for with a drink that complements them. For instance, a couple of weeks ago, I was looking at our peanut sauce and the crushed peanuts that we use for our summer rolls and the pad thai. I just brought some peanut butter whiskey in. I’ve made peanut butter cup martinis before. This time I elevated it. I took a glass, I did a chocolate drizzle, I whipped peanut butter in it with a spoon to make an additional drizzle. I rimmed it with the peanut sauce and then I rimmed that with crushed peanuts. And I used two chocolate liqueurs and peanut butter whiskey. And it’s amazing.”

What is your must-have item behind the bar?

A cocktail shaker. As a mixologist, you need it to properly mix the ingredients in there. I don’t like it when someone just does a transfer [and pours a drink back and forth between two glasses]. I like it shaken. That makes sure everything’s infused in together.

What would you have for your last meal?

A rib-eye, medium rare, with scalloped potatoes au gratin, creamed spinach and a blueberry cobbler.

Aside from Spice, where do you like to eat?

I like Surf [207 Main St, Nashua, 595-9293, surfseafood.com]. There’s a salad there that I really like. As a matter of fact, I like it so much that we’ve started making a version of it here. Aside from that, I like Italian food. I like a place that’s cozy and quiet and a little dim that serves authentic Italian.

Who is a celebrity you would like to see drinking one of your cocktails?

Gordon Ramsay, though I don’t know if he drinks. Howard Stern if he still drank but he doesn’t drink anymore. I like people who are feisty and confident.

What’s your favorite drink on your menu?

My mai tai. I’m very proud of it. It’s a recipe I came up with. I altered another popular recipe, with one ingredient being omitted and made it my own and it’s been very popular.

What’s the biggest cocktail trend you’ve seen recently?

Fruit wheels — dehydrated fruit wheels. At first I was not a fan of it, I didn’t think they looked very appealing. However, I looked into the purpose of it and it definitely serves its purpose. It offers an essence of that ingredient throughout the whole beverage as opposed to squeezing a citrus fruit in where you get the pulp, which people may not want … that may be textural.

What do you drink when you’re at home?

A margarita or a white wine — a pinot grigio. In the summertime, though, I do keep the fixings for an Aperol spritz, or a raspberry white Russian.

Lychee Martini from Carolyn Trepanier
This is very popular — very light.

3 ounces vodka — you could use a gin, but it might fight with the lychee.
1½ ounces lychee juice or puree — we have the puree here, which to me makes a visually more pleasing drink; it’s more cloudy, it’s got something to it.
A dash of dry vermouth, which is a very surprising ingredient.

Stir together with ice in a mixing glass, and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a whole lychee.

Featured Image: Carolyn Trepanier. Photo by John Fladd.

Owner and baker of The Sweet Spot, 353 Riverdale Road, Weare, 529-6667, thesweetspotnh.com

“My grandfather was a Japanese chef in New York City. Both my parents were wonderful cooks…. I’ve always baked my whole life, since I was a little girl,” O’Dowd said. “I grew up in Long Island and I baked with my mother. I tried an office job. I didn’t like it, and then I tried a baking job and I loved it. … I worked in a couple of bakeries and coffee shops and then finally the fancy plating stuff with this pastry chef. Then, we bought this place. The previous owner [Just Like Mom’s] really wanted it to stay a bakery.

What is your ‘must-have’ in the kitchen?

Butter. I make everything from scratch. And I use real cream in all my chantillys, … My meringue is from egg whites, but I’ve separated the eggs. … But I guess butter would be the first thing.

What would you have for your last meal?

I would have linguine with white clam sauce. My father was a really good cook, a really amazing cook. And he had five daughters, and for our birthdays he would make us whatever we wanted. And every year I wanted his linguine with white clam sauce and he’d always be like ‘Jackie, that’s so easy! Like the easiest thing to make, come on!’ But I told him, ‘That’s my favorite.’

What is your favorite local place to eat?

That’s a tough question. I like Campo Enoteca [in Manchester], though. I just like the vibe in there. I like homemade pasta.

Who is a celebrity you would like to see eating something you’ve baked?

I love Joanne Chang [celebrity baker and owner of Flour and Myers+Chang in Boston]. I love her. Her recipes are great. … I also like Paul Hollywood [from The Great British Baking Show] … [H]e’s actually legit, he grew up baking bread with his father. So those are my two top bakers who are alive.

What’s your favorite thing on your menu?

Everyone here knows it: pecan sticky buns, which actually use Joanne Chang’s brioche recipe. I’ve tweaked it a little bit here, but really like the pecan sticky buns. My staff all know on the weekend when things are left over you save sticky buns for Jackie.

What’s the biggest food or baking trend that you see in New Hampshire?

Gluten-free, absolutely. … [Gluten-free baking] has advanced so much with new flour mixtures that I can bake almost anything gluten-free.

What’s your favorite thing to cook at home?

It’s not one thing. I get the Milk Street magazine and they have a lot of interesting recipes from all over the world. So I love to pick a recipe like that. For Christmas we always pick a different country and we’ll just dive into that country, something different and exotic, usually from overseas. Last week I made this Korean fried chicken from a Milk Street [recipe], and it was so good. It was so good, so satisfying. So if I’m home making something, I try and do something fun and interesting like that.

The Sweet Spot Maple Honey Granola

12 cups oats
4½ cups total raw nuts and/or seeds (chopped pecans and whole pepitas, for instance)
1½ handfuls whole almonds
3 teaspoons sea salt
1½ teaspoons cinnamon
1½ cups organic coconut oil, melted
¾ cup maple syrup
¾ cup honey
3 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups total dried fruit (dark and golden raisins, dried cranberries, etc.)

Mix oats, nuts, salt and cinnamon.
Mix wet ingredients separately, stir well. Add to oat mixture and stir by hand until all items are coated.
Add to parchment-lined, lightly sprayed full sheet pans (two pans). Spread evenly. Bake in 275°F oven. Stir every 20 minutes until nicely browned, approximately 1½ hours. Allow to cool.
Place in large bowl when cooled. Add dried fruit and mix well. Leave some clumps.
Store in airtight container.

Featured Image: Kristen Chiosi. Courtesy photo.

Kristen Chiosi is owner of and instructor at The Culinary Playground (16 Manning St., Derry, 339-1664, culinary-playground.com). “I got my master’s in business management and human resources. But I’d always loved to cook,” Chiosi wrote. “I always spent a lot of time in the kitchen and always took cooking classes wherever I was. … The business came up for sale and I decided that I kind of wanted to take a leap of faith and buy this business and see where I could take it. That was in 2013. The previous business owner had put in a lot of elbow grease, got a nice foundation going. I took it on in 2013 and we’ve just continued to grow and develop, offer new things.”

What’s your must-have kitchen item?

I say my must-have kitchen tool is your mindset. You have to want to do it. … It’s just an opportunity to connect and be really present. Getting all of your stuff in order — ‘mise en place’ is a term that we use. It’s just from start to finish, from pulling your ingredients, compiling your recipe, enjoying the meal, cleaning up, it’s just all such a beautiful ritual.

What’s your favorite place to dine out at?

I really like to try to keep it local, and we have some nice options downtown in Derry. We have Cask and Vine, who is just always being really unique and coming up with some great menus. We have Foundations that just reopened. We have a great little Indian place downtown, Destination India. I love that just from my location from my kitchen I can walk to all different types of cuisines.

Who’s a celebrity you would like to see taking one of your classes or eating some of your food?

Oh my gosh, I just love Barefoot Contessa [television chef Ina Garten]. She’s just so approachable …

What is a class that you really enjoy at the Playground?

I love homemade pasta. I think people are really impressed when you can make your own pasta, and it’s such a tactile experience. … We do homemade ravioli in one of our classes, and it’s just awesome.

What’s a food trend that you see in New Hampshire right now?

… I think we’re kind of moving away from a dependence on all these meat-filled dishes. I like the idea of getting more vegetables and whole grains into the diet, but not in kind of fake ways. Let’s highlight the ingredients for what they are and their nutritional value.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

I like soups and stews — something that you piece together and leave it simmering. It fills your house with these beautiful scents…

Ham & Cheese Scones

From Kristen Chiosi at The Culinary Playground. Makes 4 regular sized (or 8 smaller sized) scones

1 cup flour, spooned and leveled
½ Tablespoon sugar
½ Tablespoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes
¼ cup + 2 Tablespoons buttermilk
¼ cup diced ham steak or deli slices
½ cup shredded cheddar
½ Tablespoons snipped scallions

Preheat oven to 425°F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, garlic powder and salt.
Add cold butter. Mix into coarse crumbs using hands or pastry cutter, working quickly so as not to soften butter too much.
Stir in buttermilk, ham, cheese and scallions. Mix until a soft dough forms.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead 3-4 times with hands.
Flatten out dough with hands until you have an even circle of dough, approximately 1 inch thick.
Cut into wedges (4 large or 8 small).
Place each wedge onto baking sheet, separating them so they don’t touch. Use a pastry brush to brush each scone with heavy cream.
Bake for 18-22 minutes or until lightly browned and firm to the touch. Let cool on baking sheet on a cooling rack for a few minutes before serving.

Featured Image: Kristen Chiosi. Courtesy photo.