COOKS WITH HEART & SOUL

Our stories featured in Cooks with Heart and Soul unite people with a common bond: They all love to cook. What brings people to the table to eat is the same ingredient that brings people to the stove to cook. My friends, it’s the thing that makes us human: heart and soul. And it’s what makes good food so resonate for everyone, no matter your story, past or future. We celebrate these five folks, their love and their heart-warming, living-giving meals. Enjoy.

—Colleen Leonardi

The Farmer

Country boy turned country cook

By Lori Darvas | Photography by Heather Schrock

Pop into Wilson Farm Market in Arcadia over the fall and winter, and you might see a six-foot-two guy in cowboy boots puttering around the kitchen. That’s Scott Wilson, son of the market’s owners and the chef behind the venue’s renowned angel food cake.

Wilson, 41, knows a little bit about failure: When it comes to angel food cakes, there are no guarantees. But he’s nudged his success rate up over the past three years, from about 50% to 85%, by reducing the variables. He reserves one oven for angel food cakes only, stocks up the finest ingredients and mixes everything by hand.

“You really don’t know how a cake is going to turn out until you bake it,” he says.

Wilson found his recipe through an Amish group of workers who were renovating the market a few years ago. They referred him to one of their mothers, who shared her recipe and gave him some tips. Wilson built upon the recipe, accepting that he might have to fail several times before he would succeed. But today, the cakes are a big hit, whether they’re mixed with apricot, raspberry or just plain vanilla. The cakes retail for $8.99, are preservative-free and taller and lighter than the mass produced cakes.

“People absolutely love the angel food,” Wilson says. “A lot of times they’ll never make the floor once they go into production, because they’ve already been ordered.”

As for those failures, Wilson might try to save them. If half a cake comes out well, he’ll sell it at a reduced price. Or, he’ll eat it. The plain ones are his favorites, although he has a weakness for the crispy parts that spill out of the pan. Wilson, a self-proclaimed country boy, grew up watching his mother and grandmother throw down wholesome family dinners. Meals were the heart of his family, and young Scott gravitated toward the kitchen to learn more about what brought the ingredients together. Today, Wilson assumes most of the cooking responsibilities for his wife, Amanda, and their blended family of five children. The country boy has become a country cook. A pot of green beans includes smoked sausage, onions and garlic. “Good cooking can’t necessarily be taught. The wannabe chef needs to have the desire, first,” he says. “Some of my teenagers are beyond hope. I don’t know if I can teach them anything. But our 4-year-old, she’s like I was. She wants to pull up a chair and be at the stove and help.”