Allan Sterbinsky knows that some of the most satisfying relationships are built in the kitchen.

“Just have your friends over and have a blast,” says Sterbinsky. “What I like about cooking is the creativity and the relationships it fosters. When people come over, everyone really hangs out in the kitchen. When I cook for friends, I will cook the basics alone, and then when they come over, I’ll have last-minute prep work for them to do. When they are in the kitchen helping cook the meal, that’s a time when we can laugh and talk. That makes the difference, and that’s what it’s all about. Feeding people is an act of love.”

Cooking has been a family affair for Sterbinsky since he was 2 years old.

“When I first began to cook, my mother would put me in a kitchen chair right beside her at the counter, and I would help her mix or put breading on fish. My mother believed a lot in creativity in cooking,” says Sterbinsky. “If we were going to make a pie, or a casserole or soup, she would have all the spices out on the cabinet, and she would have me open them up, smell them and taste them, and whatever I thought would taste good, we would put in the soup, and the family would eat it. Sometimes there were good combinations and sometimes there were very interesting combinations.”

Sterbinsky was born in Racine, Wis., and grew up on the south side of Chicago.

He is the mayor of Stanton, where he resides with his wife, Debbie. They have been married three years. His father is the late Frank Sterbinsky and his mother is Beverly Sterbinsky of Racine.

Though he is not a cooking novice, Sterbinsky learned at a young age that humility could be a virtue in the kitchen.

“I remember one year, I thought I was a smarty pants. I made some really good pie crust. I thought it was the best in the world. Mother said, ‘Fine, I think this is wonderful. Now your job is to make all the pie crusts for Thanksgiving. I ended up making about 20 pie crusts. And at that point I learned to shut my mouth about what I can and can’t do,” he says. Sterbinsky wants to pass along his passion for creativity in cooking to his family and knows the importance of letting kids learn to cook and be creative at a young age.

“When the girls were small and they would have birthday parties at our house, all the girls would have pizza, but we would never buy it. We always made it at the house. I made the crust and I would spread out all the ingredients for them, like the tomato sauce, the spices, the pepperoni and the cheese, and they would make their own pizza,” he says. “All their friends would love coming to the parties because we let them make the pizza.”

Sterbinsky has two daughters: Reha Sterbinsky, who lives in New York City, and Deborah Sterbinsky, who lives in Dallas, Texas. He has three stepchildren, Justin, Shawn and Brea Anderson, all of Jonesboro, Ark., and four stepgrandchildren, Brett, Jillian and Zoe Anderson and Jessie Poff, all of Jonesboro.

As a kid, Sterbinsky says he and his brothers and sisters would help out in the garden at their house.

“Some of us would gather produce, then a couple of us would clean the vegetables, some would be cutting up the vegetables, and my mother and father would put up hundreds of canning jars,” he says. He has four sisters: Alice Johnson of Atlanta, Ga., Faith Baci of Horseneck Beach, Mass., Silvia Stevens of Greenville, S.C., and April Rathbun of Kerrville, Texas. His brother, Frank Sterbinsky, lives in Racine.

Sterbinsky cherished his “adoptive mother,” the late Mitsu Oyama, formerly of Racine, while growing up. He says that she taught him how to cook Sukiyaki and he has fond memories of fun, and funny, times they spent together.

“One day I was over at her house after school watching TV, and I said, ‘Hey mom, I want some tacos, so she said she had some in the freezer,” he says. “So I went over to freezer, and there were no tacos in freezer. But she said there were.” Sterbinsky said that she did have tacos, because taco in Japanese translates to “octopus.”

His hobbies include studying theoretical mathematics, philosophy, theology, global economics and history. He enjoys practicing and learning different languages and says he simply loves to read and loves to learn. He maintains an organic garden at his home where he grows tomatoes, green peppers, carrots, onions, garlic, corn and squash and he also makes his own sausage Sterbinsky’s specialty is a Danish dessert known as Kringle and he enjoys making that and other family recipes with his family. He says that around Christmas and Hanukah of each year he will make this special dessert, along with other dishes, to give away to family and friends.

He enjoys cooking with fresh vegetables and cooking many of the recipes he grew up making and eating as a child. These included many Hungarian, Slovakian, Danish, Cuban and American dishes. He enjoys tinkering with his family recipes and making his own versions of them.

“Just following a recipe as is only gets you started in that direction,” says Sterbinsky. “When I say ‘flavor to taste,’ I only think of what I like to taste. But everyone has his or her own tastes. It depends on what you like. You have to put your own creativity into it, put your own signature on a dish.”

Sterbinsky says he would enjoy taking some cooking classes in the future. He is currently in the process of renovating his kitchen at his home as well. He says he enjoys using his KitchenAid mixer and his Vita-Mix blender and also loves using his cast iron skillets that come in handy for making a roux and rich pan sauces.

Zőldbabfőzelek

(Hungarian green bean dish)

1 ½ pounds green beans

1 ½ cups boiling water

½ teaspoon salt

6-8 strips of bacon, chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

2 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon vinegar

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons sour cream

String the beans and cut off the ends. Break into 1-inch lengths. Place in water, add salt, and cover the kettle. Boil about 30 minutes or until beans are tender.

Brown the bacon, add the onion, and sauté. Stir in the flour, and then add the vinegar and the liquid from the cooked beans. Cook until smooth and creamy. Combine with the beans. Stir in the sour cream and cover for a few minutes before serving. The amount of vinegar should be adjusted for American tastes.

Kringle

(Danish/Slovakian dessert)

1 package dry yeast

¼ cup warm water

1 tablespoon sugar

½ cup cold butter or lard

2 cups flour

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup warm milk

1 egg, beaten

Filling – could use almond paste or sugar. Could use sugar with rum and raisins. Preheat oven to 315 degrees. Put water, yeast, and sugar in a glass jar and set aside until bubbles form. Cut lard into flour and salt mixture. Add yeast mixture, warm milk and egg. Beat until smooth. Refrigerate overnight. Punch dough down and divide in half. Return other half to refrigerator. On a floured board, roll into rectangle about 10 by 15 inches wide. Butter (melted butter) the middle section. Add filling to middle section. Fold one third of the dough over middle section. Butter top of middle section again and add filling. Fold last third of dough over middle section. Pinch to seal. Bake in pan until golden brown. Use butter as necessary. Glaze: mix powdered sugar and milk to form a glaze and drizzle over dough after baking.

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