Traveling Chef passes through Monroe County, stops at Cranfest

118-year-old Veteran-owned Wisconsin-based company promotes healthy cooking and eating

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With the crown jewel of Monroe County festivals now appearing in the rearview mirror for 2024, memories of the three-day adventure festival have been made and stored in cerebral spaces. The very entertaining and heartfelt evocations of these recollections will arise in future conversations, over hot teas and coffee, or invoked through spirits, and they will amass momentum in the collective of Monroe County’s energy bank, moving forward into future Cranfest celebrations.

While some will recall the amazing selection of food items, other attendees will embellish the remarkable uniqueness of the crafts they bought, giving more credence to their purchases, allowing their spouses to better wrap their heads around the monies that were spent to attain them.

One of the coolest characteristics at Cranfest, one that ads greatly to the ambience of the festive weekend, which festgoers adore but probably recognize in less regard than other happenings over the weekend, is the entertaining salespersons that bark out hilarity, to draw in passersby and transform them into customers.

One such professional entertainer was Chef Jim Evans, who pulled passersby in by the dozen with his smooth-flowing perfectly rehearsed spiel on Kitchen Craft Waterless Cookware. Chef Evans impressive presentation skills are backed up in full by his soulful belief in the healthy eating and well being of all people, and that it is possible to retain the full nutrient and vitamin value of vegetables and meats through the use of proper pots and pans and a bit of education on how to prepare these food items to near perfection.

In the Beginning - 1906

The beginning for Kitchen Craft Waterless Cookware began 118 years ago, in 1906. It will not come as a shock to the citizens of Wisconsin that the business started in a barn. The barn sat in the lush green of West Bend, and two farmers, actual brothers who were skilled creators of metal work, hand-crafted waterless cookware. They designed a water seal rim around the edge of the utensil, which would eventually change the way the health-conscious cooks of America prepared meals for friends and family.

The two-brother team engineered fasteners on the cover that would seal in the natural flavors and nutrients of the fresh, organic vegetables, which they grew on their farms.

From their website, Hutchen Craft states, “Frying without grease reduces calories, cholesterol, and artery clogging plaque. The waterless and greaseless method is the healthiest method of cooking ever because the cookware’s even heat distribution does the cooking instead of the water and grease distributing the heat.”

The Chef and the Interview

Although Jim Evans has been a South Dakota resident for many years, for the past five years he has been spending a great deal of time on the road for his work. “I have 170 show days on the road, so I stay quite busy. I winter down in Florida because, well, Florida is awesome,” Evans informed the Herald.

A single reply from Evans, on a question relating to what he did prior to working for Kitchen Craft, laid a foundation of integrity down for what he is doing now. When posed the question, Evans stated, “Before I started hitting the road, I was an organic produce farmer.” Evans exudes a strong sense of healthy eating and a determined effort to protect people from lower grade products that invite toxins and unwanted chemicals into our bodies. 

A Warning from the Chef

In the Herald interview, Evans iterated and reiterated, “You should stop using coated cookware. It is truly harming us. Like I said in my show, we are just never taught that what touches our food matters. This is a quality made American product that you buy once, or you buy the poisonous junk pots and pan forever.”

When pressed on the process of how these high-quality pots and pans are made, Chef Evans explained, “All of this cookware is handmade; it is not made on an assembly line. There are 61 individual hand processes they all go through. I am not saying that we don’t use machines, but there are 61 processes that a human is touching, to make sure it stays a high quality American product. These can actually be handed down from generation to generation — They are that good.” 

The Owner – Vietnam Veteran

The owner of Kitchen craft Waterless Cookware is Dave Hurley, a Vietnam Veteran. To honor the armed forces and local heroes, Hurley’s company came up with pot and pan knobs that represent each branch of the military, as well as law enforcement and fire fighters. These high-quality knobs can be personalized.

“This is my first Cranfest, but my company has been working this for the past 30 years,” Evans remarked. To contact Chef Jim Evans, he told the Herald that you can call or text him on his personal cell, at (630) 936-0675, or email him at jim.evans@cookforlife.com You can also order through the website, where he will receive credit for the sale, at www.waterlesscookware.com/jimevans  He reminds people that it is the only appliance that is guaranteed forever.

 “If people go onto my site specifically, or contact me directly, I am going to save them money on whatever they purchase, versus them going to the site by themselves, without my influence or assistance.”

As soon as Chef Evans left Cranfest, he headed down to Bridgeton, Indiana, for the Covered Bridge Festival.

The Mission of Kitchen Craft

From their website, Kitchen Craft’s mission statement states, “We believe that healthy families grow around the kitchen table. Our collections are timeless heirlooms that are handcrafted in our historic West Bend, Wisconsin factory to feed your family for generations. We want you to harness the power of waterless cookware designed to help you transform the way you and your loved ones cook and feel.”

You can find out more about the history of the 118-year-old Kitchen Craft company, by going to their website, at

https://waterlesscookware.com

Benny Mailman, Chef Jim Evans, Dave Hurley, Finding 42, Editor, Adventurer, Kitchen Craft Waterless Cookware, Cranfest,

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