About Chef Jerry

A Message from Chef Jerry Risner

For some people, January is a month to wind down from the holidays and prepare for the year ahead. For me, January brings back memories of potato puree.

As part of my culinary career, I was fortunate enough to be able to spend a year at the prestigious Woodlands Inn and Resort in Summerville, SC. The Woodlands is a Five Star, Five Diamond Relais Chateaux nestled in the quaint little town about 45 minutes north of Charleston, SC. The cuisine was incredible, and the work behind every dish was intricate.

One of the staple recipes was potato puree (Joel Robuchon's recipe.) As you may have guessed, it was one of my daily duties to prepare them. Each day, I baked 10 lbs of potatoes on a bed of salt for one hour. Then I would heat the cream and butter separately. Once the potatoes were done, I split them and allowed the steam to release, scooped out the insides into a food mill, added the butter and cream, and whisked them continuously over the hot stove. The hand-numbing, finger-burning part presented itself when I had to pass them through
a chinois (a super-fine strainer) which was no easy task! After breaking numerous ladles by pushing it through the chinois, the consistency was smooth and buttery. Delicious!

The real joy of cooking is taking something that everyone already loves and making it
even better!