Photography - Stephen Hamilton, Food Stylist/Artisan - Mike Mech, Prop Stylist: - Melanie Francis, Story & Design - Judith Mara
Mike Mech is not your typical chef. He doesn’t work in a restaurant or in a commercial kitchen very often. Yet he prepares hundreds of dishes every week to feed demanding crowds. He’s also no stranger to being on TV or demonstrating the recipes he is excellent at preparing.
"Great Grandma Rose taught me to make pie crust while listening to John Phillips Sousa marches." -– Mike Mech
Cherry pie: "Grandmother Esther showed me how to pit cherries using a bobby pin!"
Mike excels at his day job as a commercial chef—appearing at culinary expeditions and food shows all over the country. He has worked with storied food companies such as H. J. Heinz, Levy Restaurant Group and currently for the Filo Factory. And if that’s not enough, he is also a Confiseur (a chef who works with chocolate).
Impossible Pie: "This is a very old recipe that's impossible to screw up. It makes its own crust! "
As the Bungalow Chef, Mike’s mission is to share his classic and updated family recipes on his blog (of the same name). What makes them even sweeter is there’s a story baked into every one of them.
Blueberry pie: "Every summer we drove to Michigan to buy berries. Nothing could be better."
Dutch Apple pie: "A rare treat that brings back so many memories."
Every recipe tells a story.–– Mike Mech, the Bungalow Chef
If you are interested in applying for Images for Artisans email us at artisans@stephenhamilton.com
Young Mike grew up cooking alongside of his mother and grandmother who were devoted home cooks. By the time he was seven he could bake an apple pie from scratch and by the time he was ten, he was the family’s official pie baker. When Mike was chosen to make his pies as part of the Images for Artisan series, he showed up with 10 different pies, yep, ten.