Toni, Sue and Mother’s Day Ribs

Walk into Sue Cassidy’s kitchen and you’ll see her cat, Clyde, sitting at her feet listening to Sue as she cooks and sings. Her taste in music is all over the map and includes Eric Clapton, Dire Straits, Counting Crows, Elton John, Sheryl Crow,  Tina Turner and her all-time favorite band, Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes. Her taste in recipes is equally eclectic and on any given day, she could be whipping up one of the over 325 recipes from the “Cooking with Clyde” cookbook she wrote. Known as the Singing Sue Chef, Sue doesn’t want to be famous for her vocal styling. Instead, the singing is really a metaphor for the happiness and joy she feels in the kitchen.

Sue’s mission and goal is to bring the same happiness and joy to others in the kitchen. To enhance her cooking experience, when she is not grooving to music and singing, Sue listens to books on tape. “You get to cook while someone else reads you a book,” Sue said. She wants people to be able to enjoy cooking and feel that it is a leisure activity as opposed to a chore. To that end, her cookbook was written to make it easier for people to cook. She purposely used easy to obtain ingredients and easy to follow recipes.

The book is named “Cooking with Clyde” in honor of her 15 year old tuxedo cat who likes to be underfoot while she cooks. A big part of the cookbook features Clyde. Sue included lots of pictures of him and under each picture is a funny caption. “It’s the perfect book for cat lovers,” said Sue.

For over 14 years Sue worked for a lobbying firm in Washington DC until she changed directions and followed her passion for cooking. It took her 3 ½ years to write the book and the recipes range from Tex Mex and Asian to Indian, German, French and Italian. From appetizers and main courses to desserts, it has a little bit of everything. According to Sue, the majority of recipes take ½ an hour of active prep time. She wanted something accessible for everyone, from the basic cook to more sophisticated home chef. With a background in accounting and administration, her organizational skills and attention to detail came in handy. She meticulously tested each recipe and made sure her instructions were clear and concise. Sue’s husband Pat, a massage therapist, helped her select recipes for the book. He’s always appreciative of her cooking and provided her with an honest opinion towards the inclusion of recipes.

 “Cooking with Clyde” is dedicated to Sue’s mother Toni. As a teenager growing up in York, PA, Sue spent time with her mother in the kitchen. Toni was happiest in the kitchen and loved people in there with her (as long as they didn’t try to help too much). Sue enjoyed being in the kitchen as well and dedicated hours at her mother’s side, learning the traditional recipes.  “Mom’s food was so delicious.” Sue said. “I realized intuitively how rewarding it is to be in control of what goes into your body and the bodies of those you love and care for.  If you go to a restaurant, it’s hit or miss.  If you want to eat fabulous food, you can happily and easily achieve that goal.”

One of the reasons her mother was such a good cook was because she wouldn’t accept anything except the best ingredients. When Toni shopped, she would go to the farmers market, the butcher and the seafood market, selecting the highest quality ingredients at each location. Sue follows her mother’s beliefs and thinks if you start with great ingredients, your food will taste a cut above.

Sue shared her mother’s sparerib recipe with me and told me that when Toni would make it for her family, she bought her baby back ribs from the same butcher every time. He learned that Toni didn’t like a fatty rib so when it came to the rendering process, she had very little excess fat. The finished ribs shouldn’t be greasy at all.

Sue’s philosophy of food is that it should not be thought of as fuel. It is one of the main components of life and therefore something to be shared, enjoyed and revered. When preparing food, make it the best it can be for that moment. Passed down from mother to daughter, it’s a philosophy Sue continues to follow every time she’s in the kitchen. Toni not only shared some amazing recipes, she also taught her daughter to love life and love food.

Lessons Learned:
–I love my husband Kevin and am glad I married an engineer who can fix things, but being married to a massage therapist sounds like heaven! Honey, if you are reading this, please feel free to take some sort of massage classes. Love, your wife.
– Sue is lucky that Clyde never jumps up on her kitchen counters. My cat loves being as close to food prep as possible.
–I never rendered or basted anything before. Now I can add both to my list of accomplishments.
–I need to do a better job of following simple directions. The recipe clearly stated ‘sliced onion’ so what did I do? Chopped it up. Reading *is* fundamental.
–These ribs take a few hours to cook and they are worth it. They are succulent and the meat falls right off the bone. I ate half a rack in one sitting. I thought about giving some to my mother-in-law for Mother’s Day, but I ate too many so got her flowers instead.
–In my family, the men are in charge of the ribs. When my father heard we were coming to dinner, he’d fire up the grill. My married family is the same and the men are well known for their finger-licking ribs. In the case of this recipe, it was nice to see a tradition passed down from mother to daughter.

Recipe (taken from Sue’s cookbook)
At the bottom of the rib recipe below are pictures of Sue’s parents as well as Sue and her mother.