Cooking and Rock and Roll music might seem an unlikely pairing, but the results seem to be working for Lake Orion prize-winning cook Susanne Corker.
Corker decided to create her first recipe book, Rock and Roll Recipes, around the theme of classic Rock and Roll, with recipes like “I Wanna Hold Your Clam” clam chowder and “You Better Chop Around” cole slaw. She said the inspiration for the book came to her from the Dream Cruise.
“It kind of dawned on me a couple of Dream Cruises ago,” she said. “I wanted to do a recipe book, but you need a theme of some kind. I coordinated the recipe names with all of my favorite songs.”
Corker started with “Runaround Stew” and went from there.
“I spent about four months collecting the recipes,” she said. “I tested all of them over a longer period of time…my family are my taste testers.”
The book came out in May and is now being offered for sale directly from Corker, her website at www.rockandrollrecipes.com, and from Village Apparel and Gifts in Clarkston.
Corker will offer the book for sale at a book signing at the Orion Township Library on July 16, 4-8 p.m. Proceeds from those sales will go to the library, in conjunction with a bake sale offered by the library staff featuring some of the desserts from the book.
At 6 p.m., Corker will present a short program discussing her experience writing the book, and will share a recipe or two with samples.
Corker always had the idea in mind to have the book be used for charity fundraising purposes.
“When I started I wanted to do it as a charity fund for the Dream Cruise,” she said. “But I found out they don’t really do that…but there is fundraising information on the website.”
CHS Publishing, publisher of Rock and Roll Recipes, offers a user-friendly fundraising kit and invites charities, clubs and organizations to consider using the book for their next fundraiser.
“Many of the recipes are original or the way I make things,” Corker said. “Everyone makes lemon bars…but all of these recipes are from scratch, but they are not difficult recipes.”
If Corker decides to do another book, it will probably depart from cooking and be focused on her other love, quilting instead.
“It would probably be quilt patterns…that’s the other book in my head,” she said.
The cover art for Rock and Roll Recipes features a 1957 Chevy drawn by Pam Drake of Rochester.
“The 1957 Chevy was ‘the’ classic car…it was my definitive classic car,” said Corker. “I was always looking for a boyfriend back then with that car…I didn’t find one, but I found someone else who didn’t have the car and married him.”
For more information on purchasing a copy of Rock and Roll Recipes visit www.rockandrollrecipes.com, or contact Susanne Corker at 391-2668.