Sandra DeBoard Vorpahl’s homemade potato salad is legendary among family, friends, and community members. If she made macaroni and cheese every single day, her grandchildren would eagerly devour it. But her favorite thing to make for herself is roast chicken.
“First off, I love to cook. People will say, ‘Oh my gosh, you’ve been in the kitchen all day,’ but I’m not upset about it,” she said. “Some would say, ‘You should be a chef,’ “ but it wouldn’t feel the same, she said.
“My style is comfort food — food that makes people happy, that’s what I like to make,” she continued. “And I like to try new things that I think people will like.”
When she posts pictures of her culinary creations on Facebook, the likes and comments pour in — one modern metric that an accomplished home cook can use to gauge success. But the real measure of popularity is the frequent requests she gets from her five grown grandchildren and two “bonus grands” (her nickname for the children of her future daughter-in-law).
“They all have their favorites of what they like,” Ms. Vorpahl said.
Because of that, about three years ago, she began compiling her recipes into a homemade cookbook, a simple white binder bearing the title “Simply Delicious Food From Nana’s Kitchen.” Her intention is to make copies for her grandchildren — no doubt a future family heirloom in the making.
In addition to the aforementioned potato salad, mac and cheese, and roast chicken, its contents include her own mother’s sweet potato pie, cornbread, egg casserole, peach cobbler, tomato sauce with Italian sausage, and chicken and dumplings, among other recipes. The latter was featured in Newsday’s “Who’s Cooking” column in 2016.
Ms. Vorpahl inherited the cooking gene from her father, Sam DeBoard. “My father was a very good cook. He did a great pig roast every summer,” she recalled. “My mother liked to cook, but my father was excellent. His mother was a great cook. His sisters were all great cooks. And on my mother’s side, Aunt Bertha from Brooklyn. They cooked and I’d watch or help.”
The magic all happens in the kitchen of her cozy Springs-Fireplace Road house, where she proudly displays her grandchildren’s artwork, where wine and martini glasses of every size and style line shelves on the walls, and a collection of some 50 cookbooks signals you’re in the presence of a dedicated home cook. Among them are 23 vintage volumes of the Woman’s Day Encyclopedia of Cookery, the go-to guide of a bygone era.
“It’s my happy place,” Ms. Vorpahl said. “It’s what I like to do.”
The cabinets and drawers are filled with “gadgets” — a garlic press, a chopper, herb scissors, a mandolin, and an immersion blender, just to name a few. “My son gave me a KitchenAid mixer right before Covid,” she said. “I don’t know how I survived without it for so long.”
The only cooking style she shies away from is anything flambé. Her kitchen prowess extends to baking as well, especially around Christmas, when she bakes dozens and dozens of cookies to give to friends and family. And while she enjoys making birthday cakes, wedding cakes are too much. “Once I took a cake-decorating class,” she recalled. “I bought all the stuff to do it, but it turns out I’m not a decorator. The flowers just didn’t look right.”
Sweet or savory, it all comes down to a way to express her affection for her loved ones.
“I like to sit down and have a good meal with friends and family, so I think it is a show of love,” Ms. Vorpahl said. “When you make it and give it to someone, it’s even more special.”
Sandra Vorpahl’s Pasta and Fettuccine Alfredo
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup half and half
1 stick butter
1 clove (or more) garlic
3/4 to 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
Cook the pasta according to package directions. Melt the butter in a pan big enough to hold all the pasta. Add garlic and sauté for a minute or two on medium.
Add heavy cream, half and half, salt, and pepper. Stir until it starts to thicken. Add half a cup of cheese and stir, keeping the pan on medium to low heat.
Add pasta to the mixture and stir to combine. Add more cheese to taste.
Optional: You can add a little pesto if you like.
