Karen Depp

Karen Depp began cooking in the 4th grade, making applesauce with her best friend in the backyard, using a candle, tart tin, and paring knife. She advanced to cakes and cookies by the 6th grade and continued to hone her skills as she grew up. She likes to say that the highlight of her culinary career was being admitted to the hallowed halls of LC Testerville. Alas, her first recipe attempt wasn’t so hallowed and resulted in her setting her oven on fire. (We have it on good authority the conflagration had nothing to do with us; her oven was limping along on its last BTU.) Depp modestly claims that her success in the realm of cooking comes from her relationship to good cooks—her mother, two chef brothers-in-law, and a Culinary Institute of America-trained nephew who’s worked with Emeril Lagasse.