At D’Artagnan we proudly work with chefs across the country, providing them with quality ingredients to express their creativity in the kitchen. In this blog post, we want to introduce a special chef who has been using D’Artagnan products for decades. Way back when D’Artagnan was young, Chef Jeanie Roland insisted on cooking with our products, even though we weren’t really serving the Florida market at the time. Read on for the conversation with Chef Jeanie and learn about her restaurants, new cookbook and what happened after she beat Bobby Flay. Chef Jeanie Roland is fairly bursting with energy and passion for her work. This was on display at our February 2019 Cassoulet War, where she competed with her own take on the classic French dish (delicious!).
Chef Jeanie and her husband James run two restaurants, The Perfect Caper in Punta Gorda, FL and Ella’s Food & Drink in Westerly, RI, and have been serving D’Artagnan products since our earliest days.
With more than 30 years of experience in the kitchen, Chef Jeanie brings her culinary expertise and competitive energy to everything she does. Using refined French technique and Asian influences, Jeanie creates unique cuisine that keeps patrons coming back.
She’s a seven-time James Beard Foundation nominee for “Best Chef: South,” and nine-time Florida Trend Magazine “Golden Spoon Award” winner, lauded in Florida Trend Magazine’s “Hall of Fame” 2016 and 2017.
Chef Roland has been featured on the Food Network programs, Beat Bobby Flay, where she did just that, and Iron Chef Gauntlet, Season 2.
If you are not near her Florida and Rhode Island restaurants, get Jeanie’s new cookbook, tantalizingly called Butter Love & Cream, for which Ariane wrote the foreword. Look for another blog post this week with recipes from the cookbook.
What was the first kitchen job you held?
I was a dishwasher on the weekends at an inn. Immediately I knew that I wanted to be involved in the restaurant industry!
Has any crazy stuff happened during your time in the kitchen?
I will not jinx myself by telling the craziest thing story … it is my firm belief that just by doing that something even crazier will happen!
Favorite music to work to in the kitchen?
TAYLOR SWIFT!!! And what better music to work to?!? If you ever have low energy or need a pick me up her music literally makes you smile!
What’s your favorite meal to cook at home?
My favorite meal to cook at home is a roasted Green Circle Chicken! For me, the smell of a roasting chicken just fills the house with such lovely aroma and helps me slow down and enjoy my day off!
What is your favorite D’Artagnan product?
Wow, what a hard question to ask me! That is always a changing thing for me since there are just so many great things! Right now I am LOVING the foie bits! They are so wonderful to add to a succotash or emulsify into a sauce! Just the bomb!
Name one ingredient you can’t live without.
The one ingredient that I literally cannot live without is fat! Butter and duck fat are my pantry staples!
Weirdest / most interesting ingredient you’ve ever cooked with?
For me, it was using blood in different applications. It was before Iron Chef and I was trying to challenge myself trying different ingredients. I used it mostly in dessert applications and I was amazed at how well the minerals in the blood paired with the chocolate and spices creating a far better result than I imagined.
Best meal of your life so far?
It was January 2015 at Le Bernardin in NYC! My husband James got us in after I did the Beat Bobby Flay show to celebrate my victory. It was a Friday evening and impossible to get in and we did! That is my absolute favorite restaurant and when I was thinking of best meal three evenings there immediately came to mind. It is all about the food and who you are blessed to enjoy it with!
If you could share a meal with anyone, who would it be? What would you eat?
Jacques Pepin and we would cook chicken together. As a child, his were the first cookbooks that I used and he is so inspirational – living a life truly surrounded by food!
If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?
A food writer! Come on, it has to be in the world of food. If I cannot be cooking it at least I can eat it!
Thanks, Chef Jeanie for talking with us!
Hungry for more? Head to The Perfect Caper Punta Gorda, FL, and Ella’s Fine Food & Drink Westerly, RI. Connect with Ella’s and The Perfect Caper on Facebook.
Since 1985, D’Artagnan has been at the forefront of the farm-to-table movement, producing superior tasting products by partnering with small ranches and farms. We are committed to free-range, natural production, sustainable and humane farming practices and no use of antibiotics or hormones. That’s why D’Artagnan products have been revered by America’s most renowned chefs for over 30 years. We offer the same high-quality products to home cooks at dartagnan.com, along with recipes and guides to help you live the tasty life.
Are you a business looking to serve or sell D’Artagnan? We invite both chefs and food retailers to reach out and become D’Artagnan customers.
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