She did not cook.

Andrea LeTard hardly stepped foot into the kitchen in her twenties. Her grandmother gave her a cookbook with some family recipes, but she never looked at it. Now, in her thirties, LeTard makes a career out of cooking.

“I started cooking and loved it,” says LeTard. “I had this cookbook with my family’s recipes and I started by cooking them. That led to me modifying those recipes and creating my own.”

LeTard loved cooking so much, she quit her job as a pharmaceutical sales representative to start Andrea’s Cooktales. It started as a cooking blog and evolved into a full-service cooking business. LeTard is a personal chef for some of Memphis’ well-known residents, hosts cooking classes and caters parties and events. Her recent accomplishment is her “next generation southern” cookbook, Andrea’s Cooktales, named after her blog and business.

LeTard grew up just south of Memphis in Hernando, Mississippi. Her family, like many southern families, would sit around the kitchen table, eating, laughing and swapping family stories. When she went to college at Delta State in Cleveland, Mississippi, she would go eat with friends and talk about their week or assignments that were due. After LeTard moved to Memphis, she met her now husband, Tres, at a co-worker’s birthday dinner. She was a picky eater, so Tres helped her expand her palate. Their vacations consist of numerous places to eat and drink. All of these experiences, plus many more, helped Letard shape her cookbook.

“The recipes in the cookbook come from different stories and experiences in my life,” says LeTard. “All of these recipes are staples in my kitchen.”

LeTard knew she was destined to cook when she auditioned for MasterChef, the reality cooking show where chefs compete against each other for $250,000. She was writing her blog and doing cooking spots on Local Memphis Liveon WATN when auditions came through Memphis. LeTard advanced to the final round of auditions in Los Angeles along with 99 other cooks and given the title of one of the “Top 100 Cooks in America.”

“I had no kitchen experience and everyone I competed against had experience working in a kitchen,” recalls LeTard. “After I auditioned for MasterChef, I went and interned at Porcellino’s (a former restaurant in East Memphis). I wanted as much experience as I could get.”

A journalist by trade, LeTard took all of her stories and recipes, wrote them down, and complied them into her new cookbook. But the prep work did not stop there.

“I tested these recipes at least five times each before I put them in the book,” LeTard laughs. “I also made sure the ingredients are similar so you aren’t buying a random spice for one recipe.”

LeTard is not stopping at this cookbook. She is already testing recipes and working on another cookbook. LeTard does all of this by herself but may need to expand soon.

“I need an intern or an assistant,” she jokes.

All aspiring cooks apply.

LeTard’s cookbook, “Andrea’s Cooktales,” is available at www.andreascooktales.com or amazon.com.

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Photo Credits: Nicole Cole