The chef's special

~ Browse a multimedia presentation about Tom Harte

The smell in Tom Harte's kitchen is easily recognizable. The sweet, rich and slightly bitter aroma of chocolate.

Harte stands clad in an apron, a large bowl of melted chocolate sitting on a nearby stovetop. He's in the middle of preparing a cake called Death by Chocolate.

He's walking about the kitchen, going through the steps of making one of his beloved desserts. But he can always talk about chocolate -- one of his favorite raw materials.

"It's hard to beat chocolate, it really is," Harte says.

Harte has had plenty of acquaintance with chocolate -- and just about any other food ingredient those not formally schooled in cooking could think of.

Harte isn't secretive about his food knowledge. For nearly 10 years he's been writing a column in the Southeast Missourian that not only gives readers his recipes but tells them some of the interesting history behind the foods he loves.

On Oct. 1, the Southeast Missouri State University Press will release "Stirring Words," a book full of recipes and what Harte calls his "food essays." More than 200 recipes, a total of 404 pages of food knowledge.

The book contains everything from Death by Chocolate -- which consists of butter, chocolate, eggs and cream -- to salmon mousse.

"There's not a food that I don't like, to be truthful, whether it's dessert or a main course or whatever," Harte says over the machine sounds of his mixer beating eggs.

For the humble Harte, being a local cooking celebrity is no big deal. He's just doing what he loves -- exploring the vast landscape of food in all its forms and sharing what he's found with others.

In fact, the book came about almost by accident, a result of one of the easygoing Harte's playful comments.

"As I recall, he jokingly said something like, 'You should turn this into a cookbook,'" said university press director Dr. Susan Swartwout. "And I said that's a great idea."

In the past few years American culture has seen the rise of what may be termed a foodie revolution. The Food Network and countless magazines have shown that Americans want to explore food and cooking more than ever before.

Swartwout thinks that cultural phenomenon will translate into strong sales of Harte's book locally.

"When I researched the marketing potential of books like this, I found that books on the history of food are extremely popular," said Swarwout.

Of course, editing the book was difficult. Swartwout said she had to stop many times during the process just to make the recipes herself.

Many people know Harte's dessert prowess firsthand. He was the original owner of My Daddy's Cheesecake, and the menu was filled with his dessert creations. Dessert is, of course, Harte's favorite part of a meal. Sometimes he eats dessert first.

As he prepares his Death by Chocolate, Harte recalls judging a pie contest in Colorado one year.

"We judged eight or nine pies, and it was about pie number seven before I realized I was the only one eating the whole slice," said Harte. "Then that night we went out for dinner and I had pie for dessert."

His love of dessert is deeply rooted in Harte's personality. He admits he has a tendency to overindulge.

"I was raised in a family where you had dessert for every meal, you were always encouraged to finish everything that was on your plate and it was a sign of praise if you asked for a second or third helping," he said.

That early conditioning would later lead Harte to start cooking his own desserts while he was in graduate school to become a speech professor in the late 1960s and '70s. He never had formal training in cooking. Harte took it on himself to learn after he found out how much he loved the art of food.

"I think it was eating," he said. "I like to eat. I eat, therefore I cook. I think I'm probably a better eater than I am a cook."

Others might disagree with that last statement, like the staff at Southeast Public Radio. Harte hosts a radio show called "The Caffe Concerto." During the show Harte plays classical music couched in culinary terms. Listeners might hear him talk about a "morsel of Mozart" of a "scoop of Schubert." He also hosts the weekly show "A Harte Appetite," a cooking show, and co-hosts "Going Public," a current affairs show.

KRCU general manager Dan Woods said Harte always brings his treats into staff meetings -- a real delight for the people who work at the station. When he can't make the meetings, Woods said, the staff mourns the absence of Harte-made goodies.

The cook's prowess with the sweet stuff has even altered the way Jane Harte, his wife of 41 years, looks at dessert.

"I've kind of changed my attitude toward dessert over the years," said Jane Harte. "Maybe now it's more of an obsession for me than for him."

Jane Harte has shared in her husband's food adventures over the years, including frequent travels to exotic lands to explore ethnic cuisine. Her husband loves food but isn't obsessed, she said.

"It's just something that he enjoys doing so much," Jane Harte said. "It's not work for him, it's pleasure."

As with any cook, part of the pleasure for Harte is watching people eat his creations.

But giving people facts about foods both familiar and exotic might be almost as satisfying. He loves creating his "food essays" and has no plans to stop soon.

"I've got so many column ideas that I have yet to put in print," Harte said. "I'll never run out of ideas."

Harte can find the beauty in almost any food. The dish doesn't have to be complex or use hard-to-get ingredients. For him, a well-prepared cheeseburger is just as good as the fresh river eels he ate at a restaurant in France.

To Harte, good food is good food, plain and simple. But Death by Chocolate is especially good.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182

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Where to get Harte's book:

Order online at Amazon.com.

Order online at www6.semo.edu/universitypress.books.htm.

Purchase at the Southeast Bookstore on the Southeast Missouri State University campus.

Available for order at Barnes and Noble Booksellers.