After working across the country as a professional chef, Montana native Sheri Shockman moved her career to North Dakota, where she found love and a niche serving “gourmet comfort food.”
The story of a professional chef in New York City moving to small-town North Dakota for love seems the perfect plot for a Hallmark Christmas movie.
Except it’s not so far-fetched for Sheri Shockman.
When Sheri joined an online dating service about 15 years ago, she was not looking for a relationship. Rather, she wanted to help a loved one who had fallen victim to an online scam.
“I went on (the online dating site) to find this scammer. Instead, I found my husband,” she says.
The proposition of moving to rural North Dakota after traveling the country as a private chef and working in the city that never sleeps appealed to Shockman, who grew up on a farm near Bozeman in Gallatin Gateway, Mont., and tired of city life.
“(Bruce) came to meet me in New York City, and it was so funny, because it was like these two farm kids in the big city,” Sheri recalls. “I don’t even know if I ever wanted to get married, but he talked me into it.”
FARM GIRL
“We were organic before organic was even a word,” Sheri says of her upbringing in a farm family of 13 kids.
In Montana, the family raised chickens, pigs, sheep and dairy cattle, so fresh milk products were always available, and their large gardens ensured year-round access to fresh, frozen or canned produce.
“We didn’t have anything premade. (Mom) was on a budget of about $200 a month to feed 13 kids, and that was mainly the essentials like flour, sugar, that type of stuff, baking items. Otherwise, we raised everything ourselves,” Sheri says. “We were (basically) off the grid.”
Growing up, Sheri stuttered, which her siblings would tease her about. When that happened, she retreated into the kitchen to be consoled by her mother. Sheri would stand on a 4-inch block so she could reach the counter and help.
On that block, watching and learning from her mother as she baked fresh bread daily, pies and everything from scratch on a cookstove, Sheri developed her love of baking and cooking.
“It was like an art to me,” she says.
Sheri credits her food foundation to her mother and the countless hours spent with her on the farm.
“When I heard her say that she was not going to raise 13 unhealthy kids, it really made me watch her,” Sheri says. “She just believed that if you raise it, you want to take care of it better.”
FROM BEAUTY SHEARS TO KITCHEN SHEARS
As Sheri readied for a future in food, her wings were clipped by a high school advisor who told her culinary school was not a place for women.
“I was young enough and stupid enough to listen,” she says. “The Sheri I am today would not listen to him, and she would say, ‘Watch me.’”
Sheri moved to Missoula, Mont., for beauty school and worked as a hairstylist for 13 years. While she liked it, she dreamed of trading her beauty shears for kitchen shears.
“I had this feeling all my life I wanted to do food,” Sheri says.
“I kept telling my clients, ‘Don’t like me, I’m not going to do this forever.’ And I would tell them, ‘I’m going to be a chef,’” she says.
The time finally came while Sheri was home recovering from shoulder surgery. Until this point, Sheri’s mother hadn’t loved the idea of her daughter becoming a chef.
“I said, ‘Mom, I’m going to go to culinary school.’ And she looks at me for the first time in my whole life and goes, ‘I think it’s about time,’” Sheri recalls. “When she said that, I thought I better run while she’s OK (with it).”
Sheri attended culinary school in Scottsdale, Ariz., where she was exposed to new cuisines and learned the business side of the industry.
“I had a good upbringing in the kitchen, so I understood food, and culinary school taught me more professionalism than food,” she says.
Sheri’s career as a chef has included stops at fly fishing lodges in the summer and ski resorts in the winter, catering for countless events and weddings, and working as a private chef for nine years. Today, she is the executive chef of her own catering company, We’re Schmokin’ Now, which she operates from her home in rural LaMoure on Dakota Valley Electric Cooperative lines, but travels across North Dakota to cook for corporate events, weddings, family dinners, co-op meetings, reunions and farm shows.
“I like to do farm shows, just because farmers aren’t sure if they should trust me or not,” Sheri says. “I kind of like that, changing someone’s mind about something.”
Since moving to North Dakota, Sheri’s found her niche in gourmet comfort food.
“Because these are the prairies, we have lots of meat and potatoes. Well, why can’t you up a meat and potatoes dish?” she says.
Sheri has a large smoker at home and smokes a lot of her meats, including her customer-favorite brisket. Plus, she stays true to her farm-girl roots, using the produce from her own gardens and remembering all the lessons she learned from her mother, including a well-rounded, colorful plate.
“I don’t eliminate any food types. I just include everything,” Sheri says. “My mom always taught us to have a colorful plate that would bring all the vitamins. We always had to have our vegetables. So, it was always well-rounded food.”
“My biggest thing is I’m a service-oriented person,” Sheri says. “By serving you, I touch every sense in your mouth. I want to touch the bitters, the sours, the salty, you know, all that. And I want someone to pull away and say, ‘I don’t know what that was, but that was really good.’”
LIKE HER MOTHER
When Sheri married Bruce, she married into a big family like her own. Bruce has seven kids.
“If you ask the kids about me, they’ll say, ‘Well, we learned a lot about food,’” Sheri says. “I have a really good relationship with the kids, and I think it’s from probably doing a lot like my mother would have done: Just feed them, and then we’ll be fine.”
Sheri’s brothers and sisters tell her she’s a lot like their mother, and she agrees.
“We had breakfast, lunch and dinner, and we all sat down at the table and ate together. And so, our table was huge, and I just remember it was one of the most fun times of the day. Lots of laughing,” Sheri says. “If I can go home and cook for my family, that's one of my favorite things to do.”
Just like her mom, Sheri shows her love through her food.
Whether cooking for her family, her clients or community, Chef Sheri’s desire to connect with people through food is a drive she can’t explain.
“It’s not a job, it’s a journey,” she says. “And how much fun is a journey?”
To book Sheri for your event, email sherihuyser@gmail.com or call 701-709-0195
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Cally Peterson is editor of North Dakota Living. She can be reached at cpeterson@ndarec.com.
TIPS FROM A PROFESSIONAL CHEF
Sheri Shockman is a professional chef who owns a catering business, We’re Schmokin’ Now. She lives in rural LaMoure, but travels across the state to cook for corporate events, weddings, family dinners, co-op meetings, reunions and farm shows.
Chef Shari shares these tips and tricks for home cooks:
• Aim for a colorful plate. This ensures you have a diversity of food and food groups, and color often comes from fruits and vegetables.
• Choose well-rounded meals over elimination. Sheri doesn’t eliminate foods altogether and opts for locally raised, locally sourced ingredients whenever possible.
• Invest in good utensils and cooking equipment. It will save time and help you make better food.
• Clean as you go. No one wants to do dishes after a meal!
• Don’t forget to season. In culinary school, Sheri learned the importance of salt. Salt equals flavor. Many cooks under-season food or avoid salt for dietary reasons, but that results in flavorless food.
• Allow meats to come to room temperature before cooking. This ensures the muscles don’t clamp up. And rest meat after cooking before carving, so the juices don’t run.
• It takes practice. Learning cooking temperatures and cooking times takes practice. Be patient and keep going.
• Butter makes everything better!
