ALL ABOUT FOOD:Discovering cooking acumen later in life

As part of our continuing series about home chefs in Laguna, we would like to introduce you to Richard Sneed, a modest yet accomplished southern gentleman; a scholar, academic, linguist and great cook. Born in Memphis, Tenn., he moved around a lot as a child because his dad was in the Army Corps of Engineers.

His background as an academic was in biblical studies with a continuing interest in the Dead Sea Scrolls. He can read Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, French and German.

Sneed’s career eventually brought him to California to administer the World Campus Afloat program at Chapman University, and in 1986 he became chancellor at Saddleback College and was instrumental in the development of the Irvine Valley campus. He retired in 1993, but remains active by teaching adult education classes.

In a manner of speaking, he is a Johnny-come-lately to culinary endeavors. As a child, there was a cook who prepared the family meals. As a young man, his wife performed the task and later, as a bachelor, he relied principally on prepared foods.

Finally, his palate grew weary of re-heated fare and he bravely enrolled in a Chinese cooking class. The logic behind his choosing this cuisine was the fact that in Chinese restaurants, the food came very quickly, therefore, it must be easy to prepare. Big mistake.

Overwhelmed by the elaborate preparations, which involved a daunting amount of chopping, he retreated to his old habits but began perusing cookbooks and finally gathered the courage to try again.

This time Sneed took two more cooking classes at Santa Ana College from Sandy Stave and had a wonderful experience — learning simple, delicious recipes and gaining confidence. Some of his favorite recipes come from those classes, including the sweet bacon recipe below.

Sneed then became a cooking class addict, taking lessons at The Home Chef in Fashion Island and then, when it closed, at our own Culinary Institute in Laguna Beach.

One of his first teachers was Nancy Milby, the founder of the Institute, who de-mystified pastry-making for him. Now he can throw together a tart at the drop of a berry.

Sneed’s other great influence was Chef Laurent, who runs the Institute’s Professional Chef School, and whom he describes as being very particular and thorough but also an extremely patient teacher. Sneed tells the story of making a roux and stirring it ever so carefully to remove the lumps.

When he was satisfied, he proudly showed it to the Chef who said, “Oh no, no, that’s no good, it’s not smooth enough!” He had found lumps that Sneed couldn’t even see.

Sneed’s most memorable cooking lessons were at the Culinary Institute’s summer sessions abroad. Thus far, he has been to Spain, France and Italy. In Catalonia, he learned about paella made with noodles rather than rice, which he much prefers.

Reminiscing about his week in the Perigord, Sneed described a surprise canoe trip down the Dordogne where, upon docking, the students were treated to a fabulous picnic in a walnut grove. This picnic featured creatively rendered leftovers from the previous evening’s meal; for example, the roast veal became an elegant terrine.

In Tuscany, they ate pizza that had been baked in an ancient stone oven and learned the art of ravioli made easy. This summer Sneed is returning to France to study in Provence.

These one-week cooking adventures are taught in villas, chateaus and farmhouses, and include trips to the extraordinary local farmer’s markets, tasty lunches in town and wonderful multi-course dinners cooked by the students and accompanied by local wines.

Nowadays, Sneed does the cooking for himself and his partner of 14 years, Tad Acker, who happily does the cleaning up and says he doesn’t care how many pots and pans Richard uses as long as he keeps on making such delicious meals. As they have gotten older, Sneed and Acker are enjoying simpler, healthier meals featuring lots of fresh produce from our Laguna Farmer’s Market.

One of their favorite dishes is salmon, which Sneed prepares with honey, lemon zest, garlic, ginger and teriyaki sauce baked in foil. Another is salmon brushed with a glaze of raspberry jam, mixed with raspberry vinegar and capers.

Sneed still enjoys reading cooking magazines and cookbooks. His favorite monthly is “Cook’s Illustrated” and his favorite cookbooks are those by “the Barefoot Contessa” (Ina Garten) and Giada DeLaurentiis, although he has quite a large collection.

For a dinner party, Sneed will call on his expertise to whip up a more elaborate meal. Recently a menu for guests began with foie gras (brought back from France) with fig preserves, a perfect medium-rare rack of lamb with Dijon mustard, garlic and soy glaze, accompanied by lemon pasta and steamed asparagus.

For dessert, there was a cheese plate with a soft Boucheron goat cheese, a mild French blue and a hard cow cheese, similar to an aged Gouda, served with three kinds of grapes and a thinly sliced baguette. The coup de grace was some special dark chocolates, although Sneed admitted that he tossed the leftover sweets down the garbage disposal so as not to be further tempted.

We spent quite a bit of time chatting about recipes, which is one of the many pleasant aspects of doing these interviews, and we would like to share with you a couple of Richard Sneed’s favorites that are easy to prepare.

For a simple hors d’oeuvres, here is one of his favorite recipes from Chef Laurent: wrap raw tail-on shrimp in prosciutto and sauté them in olive oil until the prosciutto is crispy. The tail becomes a little handle for easy eating.

A great brunch item to serve with French toast is Sneed’s sweet bacon. First he lays out a pound of bacon strips on a cookie sheet with a lip and cooks them until half done, then pours off the fat. In the meantime, he mixes together ¼ cup flour with ½ cup of brown sugar. He sprinkles this mixture on top of the bacon strips and puts one walnut, cut in quarters, on each piece and bakes for 10-15 minutes at 350°. Sounds like a winner, yes?