When he’s not selling degreasers and other chemicals to the folks in the oilfields, he’s cooking.

J.P. Cassata, a sales representative for Chem-Serv Inc., in Kilgore, Texas, started cooking as a favor to his wife, Lois, who owns a club called “Diamonds and Denim” in Liberty City, just outside of Kilgore.
On Thursday and Friday nights, J.P. cooks at the club — as a volunteer.

J. P. built a back porch at the club that serves as his kitchen, complete with grill, screens, exhaust fan and a wood-burning stove. He’s famous for his steaks: 14-ounce ribeyes, almost an inch thick. “The best you can find,” says J.P. “I get the steaks from ‘Mr. Truman and Miss Bobbie’s’ meat market. It’s the kind of place where the steaks are hand-selected and then carefully wrapped up in white paper. I don’t shop anyplace else.”

About 50 to 75 steaks come off of J.P.’s grill on Thursday and Friday nights. On Sundays, he fires up “the big pit,” a permanent barbecue pit about 8 feet long and 4 feet across. (J.P. said he could probably get 40 or 50 steaks on that grill at a time.) On Sundays, however, they don’t sell food at the club. They give it away.

“I grill wild hogs that we’ve caught in a trap, elk, boudin (Cajun sausage), brisket, ribs, chicken, and smoked fish on the big pit,” J.P. said. “If I don’t grill the Sunday food, I might cook some rice and beans, taco soup or gumbo in a big pot.”

J.P. and Lois — fondly known as “Mama Lois” to her clientele — are especially gracious during football season. “We like to give food to the retired bachelors who come in on Sundays to watch the football games on television,” J.P. said. “Lois even sends food home in empty butter tubs with the bachelors.”

Charity runs in the Cassata family. It happened that some of J.P.’s customers from the oilfields came into the club and saw J.P. behind the grill, ate the steaks, and asked J.P. if he’d cater their Christmas parties. He agreed.

Serving food in the middle of the oilfields during the holidays paved the way to cooking for fishing tournaments. Before long, those oilfield folks asked J.P. if he’d be willing to donate his time and services to help with a special project for kids. J.P. said “yes” to that request, too.

So, about four years ago, J.P. started cooking in a Kilgore-area fundraiser that helps medically fragile kids in a residential center. According to J.P., “These kids are really needy. Some are autistic; some have been abandoned and have nowhere else to go; and some need care 24 hours a day. We do what we can to help these kids.”

This year, the group’s cookout raised more than $20,000. “There are a lot of people in this part of the world with really big hearts,” said J.P.

About 32 people cooked at the last fundraiser. “We set up our cookers and our tents next to the local rodeo arena, and charged $5 per person for all the food they could eat,” J.P. said. Almost 1,200 people feasted on local favorites, including barbecued ribs, brisket, ham, chicken, fajitas, roasted pig, gumbo and calf fries with gravy.

I’m not going to explain that last item to you (it wouldn’t be ladylike), but I’ll try to tell you about the eight gallons of gumbo J.P. and his son, J.P. II, made.

Gumbo is a traditional Louisiana stew that uses secret herbs and spices. J.P.’s recipe includes sausage, chicken and Cajun spices and seasonings. He learned his Cajun cooking secrets from friends when he lived in Louisiana.

It sounds like J.P. could be sought after as a professional chef. Not so, he says. “Cooking relaxes me. I love my regular job and the company I work for, and wouldn’t want to cook full time. If you have a restaurant, it’s a seven-day-a-week obligation. Now, I can really enjoy cooking and look forward to doing it,” said J.P.

Gretchen Roufs, a 15-year janitorial supply industry veteran, owns Auxiliary Marketing Services of San Antonio. To suggest someone you think should be featured in “freetime,” contact her at (210) 601-4572 or via e-mail.




POSTED ON: 11/1/2002