The Burns brothers have a love for cooking

By Published On: August 19, 2020

“The boys (Rusty, Kirbye and Colley) grew up with me in the kitchen,” said Marcia Shipp Burns. “Not every man knows how to cook. I’m proud that they can.”
When her sons were young, she would make meatloaf and include finely chopped peppers and onions.
“As so many young children, they always spotted the items and didn’t eat much of it. I finally started putting sliced peppers and onions on the top and bottom so they could be easily removed. As they got older, I continued to do the same but now they will eat them. Now my boys love it,” she said.
When preparing fried chicken for them, she would first fry a tray of drumsticks.
“They would all run through, grabbing one at a time, and consume the whole tray before the meal was ready,” she said.
Marcia loves to cook “when she doesn’t have to”, likes to can and make jelly, and and she enjoys eating what her boys cook.

Rusty Burns

Her favorites include Rusty’s Spuma and Ragu sauce; anything Kirbye cooks on the grill, and Colley’s curry chicken salad and especially the smoked bacon and meats. “He loves to use the smoker,” said Marcia.

Rusty
“I guess my interest in cooking and food in general started standing alongside my mom in the kitchen when I was a child,” said Rusty, a retired Navy chef who now lives in Savannah, Ga.
“Getting to lick the spoon with cake batter on it was the best part.
“Some of my favorite things she cooked were meatloaf and all of the vegetables from the garden. I also really love her tuna salad. She put diced up apples in it, probably so us kids would eat it,” he said.
“He once called me from the ship to ask me how I make tuna salad,” said Marcia.
“When I became a cook in the Navy, I found a whole new world of food, mainly because of places I was stationed. Living in Italy so many years definitely gets the creative juices flowing.
“I always had a deep love of American barbecue. I love smoking meats and making my own sauces and rubs.
“One high-profile duty station that stands out was while stationed in Naples. I was exposed to many different types of cuisine, largely in part because of the people I worked with. These were men and women who had all worked and very prestigious positions like for the Secretary of the Navy, vice president, and other admirals and generals. Getting to prepare fine dining style meals for Congressional delegations, the Secretary of Defense, and even foreign dignitaries was a highlight.

“My interest in cuisines of other cultures has always driven me to learn and experiment more. I don’t really use recipes very often unless it is baking, but I mainly cook to satisfy my own taste.
“I’ve always had a knack for recreating dishes that I saw being prepared on YouTube or other cooking shows simply by watching how they do it. I wouldn’t say I have a photographic memory when it comes to that, but usually I can watch a video one time and am able to mimic what is being prepared.
“One of the most challenging environments I ever had to cook in was Sarajevo, Bosnia. We had a kitchen, but not all of the necessities to be able to prepare meals for the admiral who I was working for at the time. Even in that war zone he was hosting foreign dignitaries for lunches or dinners, so we had to provide high quality meals.

“One thing that stands out the most is he wanted lemon meringue pie for dessert. Obviously in a war-torn country, we couldn’t go right out and buy any pre-made mixes, so everything had to be made from scratch. Once I made the filling for the pie, I realized we didn’t have ice to cool it down quickly, so since there was three feet of snow, I just took the pot outside, placed it in the snow and cooled it that way.
“I think one of the greatest attributes of any good chef is to be creative. Whether that be in the recipe itself or obstacles you have to overcome to be able to create it. I still really enjoy cooking, not as a profession, but a passion,” he said.
Rusty cooks with his mother when he’s here and “he will actually clean up after himself,” she said.
“When Rusty is home he wants all the vegetables I can cook, especially fried okra, corn, peas, butterbeans and cornbread,” she said.

Kirbye Burns

Kirbye
Now retired from the Air Force, Kirbye lives in Orlando, and is a “self-taught cook” who will find a recipe and “go for it” according to Marcia.
He has recently started cooking with an Instant Pot and his favorite dish to make in it is Pot Roast.
Apricot Glazed Chicken is something he also started making using a Hello Fresh recipe that he tweaked.
Kirbye also makes his mother’s meatloaf often.
He likes sweets, especially banana bread. And when he is here, Marcia says she can make two cakes, banana bread and four chess pies and “Kirbye can eat it all.”
Marcia says he didn’t cook as much when he was younger, but did make pancakes and skillet ham sandwiches.

Colley
Colley of Clinton, is a chef at Whole Foods, went to culinary school at The W, and he and wife, Holly, opened a catering business several years ago. He handles the food science and cooking at Colley’s Catering, while Holly, a self-taught cake decorator, handles all things baking and most of the desserts.
Since the start of their venture they have catered many different events. “There is truly nothing we have been challenged with that Colley wasn’t able to create. It is very hard work but we make a great team. We do anything from southern barbeque to south of the border authentic Mexican,” she said.
Flat iron steak is a catering favorite, according to Marcia, as is Biscuit and Gravy Casserole for breakfast events.
“Most married people would find a stressful environment like a catering detrimental to their marriage, but for us each event just proves more each time how great we are together,” said Holly.

“We have goals and dreams for the future and would eventually like to have a facility where we can do cooking classes. We would like to do date night cooking classes, children’s cooking classes, and cooking parties.
“Food is a vital part of the Burns family’s daily life, more than just having a meal to tame our hunger. Our first date was focused around where to eat and that has been a theme in our lives since then,” she said.
“We have spent time with all our children in the kitchen and continue to foster a love for cooking the ‘old fashioned way’ with each of them. They have learned to cook lots of basic and simple things like biscuits, pigs in a blanket, sugar cookies, and homemade pasta.
“John Robert, our oldest, seems to be taking after his father and loves to venture out on his own following recipes and experimenting. The most recent thing I have been teaching him is how to make old fashioned sour dough bread from a starter. He has made his first batch and was quite successful,” said Holly.
“I eat well when I visit them,” said Marcia.

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