Wichita, Kansas | November 2009
Chef, Cooking, Entertaining, Corporate Executive, In-Home Chef
Writtn by: Christina Hein

Put a man in an apron and a pair of women’s shoes and that old adage “a woman’s place is in the kitchen” can’t help but come to mind.

We’ve totally tossed that out on its ear! “These roles are beginning to diminish in particular relationship to what’s being done in the kitchen,” says personal chef Harry Pape. “I think guys, because they have not typically cooked in the past, try to be more creative and innovative and try new things because they are more curious. They view it as a challenge. Women, perhaps, view it as a duty or responsibility. I think those two things make the guy in the kitchen a little bit more interesting.

Some of you may have had the opportunity to see just how “interesting” Pape can be in the kitchen. For nine years he teamed with Susan Peters as celebrity chefs, who were auctioned off through Catholic Charities and Harbor House to prepare a six course meal. Each prepared three of the courses. Now Pape is on his own preparing five course meals in the privacy of his clients’ homes. “It’s a dining event for the host and hostess,” says Pape.

The process begins with a visit to the Chef H website, www.chefh.net. Pape features five meal options that can be adapted for food allergies or vegetarian diets. Each menu is carefully thought out and is accompanied by wines that complement the specific entrees. “I have several favorites, they revolve around seafood. One of them is my seafood gratin that I make in a scallop shell made with lobster, shrimp and scallops,” says Pape. “Actually, the base of that is an old recipe that my mother had 50 years ago for a crab cake base and then I’ve doctored it up and added those other things.”

The dining event is typically presented to a group of 8, 10, or 12. All the homeowner has to do is organize the group, provide the dining table and chairs, and put out the linens. Pape will provide everything else – including the dishes. “Wichita has thousands of gorgeous homes,” says Pape. “People like to showcase those (through dinner parties) but they don’t want to go through the work. Cooking is really my passion. I love it. I’ve enjoyed it for many years”

Although cooking has been a passion of Pape’s it is only recently that he has turned it into a business. Before that he was a member of the corporate world. “I’ve always been in executive management positions. I guess you could say somewhat stressful, and when I came home at night I thoroughly enjoyed cooking,” says Pape. “For me it was a stress reliever.”

Pape’s new office is his kitchen. Over the years he has traveled around the world meeting chefs in various restaurants and seeking advice, ingredient ideas and recipes. “More often than not I would end up getting the recipes. Sometimes on the back of a napkin, an envelope, a piece of paper,” says Pape. One of his greatest triumphs was a recipe out of Philadelphia; it’s been his signature salad for years.

On the home front Pape’s wife, Janet, gladly lets him wear the apron. “Years ago she decided she couldn’t compete with me anymore, is what she’ll tell you if you ask her,” says Pape. “I do the cooking, all the cooking and she does the clean-up…not that I’m messy.”