By Don Church & Tony Schillaci, Out&Travelin’™
Summer Shack Chef/Owner Jasper White picks out some crustaceans for his Pan-Roasted Lobster Dish!
Of the many top chef-owner restaurants at the Mohegan
Sun Resort in Uncasville
Connecticut, the one with a long and popular tie to New
England is Jasper White and
his Summer Shack. At the recent Sun WineFest we reeled
Jasper in for a chat about his
innovative ways with seafood.
Out&Travelin: Your career path seems to have started
as a child on a farm near the
Jersey shore. What were some of those experiences, so
close to land and sea, that
influenced your career?
Jasper: Well, it’s funny. As a lad I didn’t know that this is what I would be doing. My
love for food was eating it. I let my mom and my grandma do the cooking. My father
hunted and fished. The flavors of my childhood were what I will always remember.
My grandmother expressed love via her cooking. We never ate corn that wasn’t picked
two hours before it was cooked. We grew our own vegetables and my grandma, from
Ferentino just outside of Rome, cooked with the spirit of Italy-the spirit of pure flavors
and simplicity.
When I went to college, it didn’t last – it was a huge expense for my family. I got a job
as a barback and then a barman at a place on the Jersey shore. The chef there let me do
some work in the kitchen and eventually I knew that this is what I wanted to do. I felt
comfortable in the kitchen – I loved the culture of the kitchen. You could have purple
and blue hair and nobody cared as long as you did the work, and you did it perfectly.
Out&Travelin: After graduating from the prestigious Culinary Institute of America, you
eventually made your mark in some of Boston’s great hotel kitchens and then your own
white-tablecloth Jasper’s on the waterfront, followed by a loud, high-energy clam shack
in Cambridge – 300 seats and five dining rooms. What was your vision – quality and
ambience – for what became the Summer Shack?
Jasper: At the CIA at Hyde Park in New York I became like every young cook wanting
to learn classic French cuisine and technique. I call those the ‘Jackie O’ years because
she was such a Francophile. Even 15 years after the Kennedy presidency French food
was still the thing. I worked at Café Plaza in NY and at Parker’s in The Parker House.
The menus were written in French even if the dishes were American. Boston scrod was
called ‘Scrod du Boston’ on those menus! But I learned the technique which was so
important. I don’t regret it, it still represents the basics.
As I became a chef, American cuisine was simmering below the surface. The root of
American Cuisine was not about the technique but about the ingredients. As little as 30
ago years this was an artistic movement in food preparation. In order to get the freshest
and most variety of fish, meat and vegetables, restaurants practicing American Cuisine
had 70 to 80 purveyors. There was not the variety that anyone can get in the supermarket
today.
Back to Summer Shack: I did fine dining for 25 years and needed a break. In ’94 I was
nominated by the James Beard Foundation for Chef of The Year. The lease was up
on Jasper’s and by ’95 I was ready to move on. I started a consulting business, wrote
cookbooks, consulted for Legal Sea Foods, Orion Seafood, and created recipes for Red
Lobster and Outback Steakhouses. It gave me time to spend with my children during
their formative years. I became a ‘civilian’ – I wasn’t a restaurateur any more.
We went out to restaurants as a family, and when we did there was always the question:
‘Do we go where the kids like to go, or do we go where we can get good food?’ I had a
summer house in Maine, and we would eat at clam shacks, fun and not fussy places that
had fresh good food. At Summer Shack I try to copy that model. Everything is made
from scratch – we even bake our own bread. We’re a friendly restaurant and you get
good service from nice kids in an atmosphere of hospitality. The food is good and fresh.
Real seafood is messy and fun to eat – you don’t get dressed up to have steamed lobster!
Right now seafood is expensive and we are redesigning the restaurants to become a bit
warmer and upscale – but still retaining the element of casualness and fun.
Out&Travelin’: What are some of your fondest memories of your friend Julia Child?
Did she have any advice or influence on your New American Cuisine?
Jasper: Oh, Julia! I love her so much and miss her all the time. You could not impress
her with unnecessary fussiness. She was a purist who liked simple dishes – to her a piece
of fish should taste like a piece of fish, just some brown butter on it. She influenced me
in many ways. She sometimes booked at my restaurant under another name so that we
wouldn’t know it was her coming to dinner. I would tell my kitchen staff ‘Julia might
show up tonight’ which put us all on top of our game. She elevated all the restaurants in
Boston. She made the whole city rise to her standards. In 1984 I created Pan-Roasted
Lobster, and Julia would order it 9 out of 10 times. When she got older, she would
sometimes go to the movies across the street from Summer Shack. She’d be with her
nephew and would order lobster roll so she didn’t have to fight with the shell.
Julia was a bit of a flirt. She loved men. When she was 94 years old I was out in Santa
Barbara on business and I had four of my sous chefs with me. I phoned Julia and asked
her if I could stop by. I said that I had the sous chefs with me and was that ok?
‘If they’re boys, bring them along!’ she replied! Earthy classic Julia Child!
Out&Travelin’: You credit your Italian grandmother with your love of food. Could you
tell us more about this important influence on your private life and career?
Jasper: One of the most intimate things we can do with friends and family is to break
bread and dine together. Talking to each other and listening while at the table adds to
that intimacy. Listening is so important! My grandmother believed that Food Is Love.
She practiced this with us every day. We always ate well and every day it was a joy to
eat. I still believe that. Food is love!
Out&Travelin’: With America’s rapidly growing interest in buying the best and freshest
ingredients, especially locally grown and produced foods for use at home and offered by
restaurants, there are concerns about how safe our foods are. For instance. what are you
views on farm-raised versus wild-caught fish and shell fish? Organic versus non-organic
food stuffs?
Jasper: It’s complicated. Where I live we have real diversity, and there is a growing
lower economic class who can’t afford to buy organic which is more expensive. I always
want organic for flavor, but rather than lose farms or orchards we sometimes have to
choose vegetables and fruits that do use minimal pesticides. Be picky when you shop and
let your grocer or supermarket people know what you want.
Regulations are killing fisherman and families who depend on fishing. Yes, there is the
sustainability factor, but we have to consider balance. I don’t use farm- raised shrimp in
my restaurants, I use wild shrimp. Farm-raised is acceptable if it’s done in a safe
environment. There is high-end farm-raised that comes from Canada which is good. We
buy wonderful Blue Point oysters that come from off Fire Island. We look for the best
quality in everything that we cook and serve.
Out&Travelin’: As the author of four best-selling cook books – many still in print – how
easy will it be for home cooks to get the memorable Jasper White results as they get in
your Summer Shack restaurants?
Jasper: The books were always written in my head before I ever started putting them
down on paper. Every recipe has been tested and re-tested. There was a wonderful chef/
food writer named Craig Claiborne (The New York Times Cookbook). One year I studied
with him in his home in the Hamptons. We were going to do a Thanksgiving Dinner
together, and he would sit at the edge of a counter in his kitchen with an old manual
typewriter where he would type out the recipes. He would say ‘how much does that
onion weigh? How many chopped onions did it take to fill that cup?’ He would have me
weigh and measure over and over again to get it just right.
If you want the best results from my cookbooks, as you do the recipe, follow it exactly,
but then as it’s happening take notes in your head. Learn the basics. Once you’ve done
that, cooking is like music. You can improvise once you’ve mastered the notes.
My grandma cooked without recipes. She probably had some recipes that she started
with, but she pretty much just instinctively knew what to do with her ingredients. You
just need to look past the recipe and learn. Happy cooking!
Out&Travelin: Many thanks to Jasper, the staff at Mohegan Sun and the enthusiastic
team at Summer Shack for making our time with him possible during WineFest. Visit all
the Summer Shack restaurants online at www.summershackrestaurant.com, and Summer
Shack and Summer Shack Express at www.mohegansun.com.
Writer’s note: FOOD IS LOVE TM is used with permission from Jasper White.
Posted on February 8th, 2012 | category: Featured Articles
