Cinnamon Cooper

Cinnamon Cooper began cooking for her family of five at the age of 15 after her mother began working full-time outside the home. And just as her grandfather had insisted that her mother know how to separate a chicken, bake flaky biscuits and care for the family's cast-iron skillets, her mother insisted Cinnamon know the same things. When she moved out on her own, her going-away present was a set of three cast-iron skillets. She still uses those same skillets on an almost daily basis. After she moved from Columbus, Ohio to Chicago, she was delighted to find a wider variety of produce, different cuts of meats, and other culinary influences. She continued on a mostly self-taught culinary expansion and used the neighborhood groceries of her new hometown to inspire her home-cooked meals. This inspiration led her to want to inspire others to cook for themselves. She began writing a weekly cooking column titled "One Good Meal" for Gapers Block (www.gapersblock.com) in 2003, where she encourages Chicago home-based cooks to experiment with ingredients and stresses the joys of using cast iron to the 2000 to 5000 readers. Even though her mother used her prized cast-iron skillets mostly for making basic American meat-and-potatoes meals, Cinnamon has found that her skillets serve her well whether she's stewing pork in her dutch oven for tamales, cooking up a roux, making saag paneer, or cooking fried chicken the way her mom taught her. She remains convinced that if her other cookware had emotions, they'd all be jealous of the time she spends with her cast-iron skillets.