The Making of Schuler's Fresh Recipes & Warm Memories Cookbook

Just how many cookbooks does one person need? If you like to experiment in the kitchen and want to try something new--or make your classics relevant in this low-carb, diet-crazy world, the answer is: Lots of them.

Fresh Recipes & Warm Memories, is by itself, worth at least a few of them.

What makes the Schuler's effort unique is the blend of classic recipes, produced by chefs at Schuler's restaurant over the 98 years of its existence, and new and delectable recipes from Chef Jonathan Schuler, fourth-generation heir to that tradition of quality and creativity.

The Schuler family has spawned a legacy in the restaurant business in Michigan and beyond, with many past guests remembering with great fondness their sojourn to this classic, Midwestern eatery. Now Jonathan takes up the mantel as the author of an enticing new cookbook from the Family Schuler in Marshall, MI.

Jonathan Schuler had help with the historical facts about the family with information from his father Hans, and had the enviable talent of a local historian and writer, Keith Kehlbeck, to put the 98 years of restaurant expertise into vivid prose. Jonathan Schuler authored many of the recipes in Fresh Recipes & Warm Memories.

Cookbook Production Notes

In the winter of 2003, Jon began to collect and test his favorite recipes in his own kitchen and asked friends and relatives to try them too.

By process of trial and error (like all good cooks) he arrived at the final list of recipes to be included by early September. Then he reproduced many of them in Schuler's restaurant kitchen with the help of Executive Chef Bill Scott.

There are 155 recipes included and over 80 color food shots, and another 18 black and white historic pictures from the Schuler archives in the cookbook. Photographer Joe Vaughn from Detroit arrived on the scene in early September to set up shop with loads of props, lots of film, a food stylist and an assistant in tow. Over two days time, Jon and Joe kept the pot boiling with over 50 different recipes prepared and photographed.

Huron River Press, the Ann Arbor-based publisher of the cookbook, sent its representative to oversee the filming, and Schuler's coordinator Shondel Neal, kept them all on schedule. A big challenge was how to keep the ice cream for the Baked Michigan Apples with Homemade Caramel Sauce from melting in 80 degree weather (most of the photos were shot outdoors) before the cameraman could capture the scene on film.

Then Huron River Press began the rigorous compilation of the text, the recipes (with Jonathan's comments) and the photos, into the actual manuscript. The first copy for proofing arrived at Schuler's in December with subsequent iterations on January, February, and March, until the whole thing was finally committed to press at a printing company in Canada in 2004.

The restaurant has plenty of cookbooks in stock for sales everyday and on special days such as birthdays, anniversaries, and Christmas gifts.

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