Theresa Carle-Sanders is a professional chef and cookbook author who has crafted delicious recipes from the fictional worlds of Outlander and from the oeuvre of Stephen King. 

Castle Rock Kitchen: Wicked Good Recipes from the World of Stephen King was published in 2022 by Ten Speed Press and includes recipes that reflect and embrace a wide range of King’s fictional worlds, drawing on an impressive selection of short stories, novellas, and novels. Opening with a foreword by King with his thoughts on Maine food traditions, Castle Rock Kitchen features sections on Breakfast, Dinner, Supper, Fish and Shellfish, Vegetarian, Side Dishes, Baking and Sweets, Drinks and Cocktails, and Basics (which includes recipes for components of larger dishes like dressings, pastries, stocks, and sauces). Carle-Sanders’ recipes emphasize fresh, local ingredients and the foodways traditions that reflect the unique nature and identity of Maine. The cookbook is accompanied by gorgeous photographs by Jenny Bravo of both the food and Maine locales, further underscoring the powerful connection between food and place.

Carle-Sanders blurs the lines between fiction and cookbook with Castle Rock Kitchen, not only creating dishes from fictional places but doing so through the narrative voice of Mama Garraty, mother of The Long Walk’s (1979, as Richard Bachman) Ray Garraty. Mama Garraty becomes an emissary from that imagined time and place, a developed character who offers real-world insights through the recipes, advice, and observations she shares.

On Exploring King’s Maine, we will cook our way through the Castle Rock Kitchen as we dive into the connections between King’s fiction and these delicious dishes, combining the close-reading and analysis approach of Grady Hendrix’s The Great Stephen King Reread (Tor.com, 2012-2017) with the hands-on exploration of Julie Powell’s Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously (2009). Let’s get cooking!

Learn more about Theresa Carle-Sanders here: https://outlanderkitchen.com/about

Check out ‘Castle Rock Kitchen’ here: https://outlanderkitchen.com/castle-rock-kitchen