Boston - October 14, 2005

Root Cause

Beets Cookin’

Ours is not a world for the cooking-impaired.

These days, the question isn’t “Do you cook?” but “What do you cook?” And if your answer isn’t a four-course masterpiece, you’d better have a charming specialty — your grandmother’s retro casserole, perhaps — committed to memory.

Or, just as easily, the number of Lorraine Burke, a catering-industry veteran whose personal chef company, Beets Cookin’, is saving the palates of culinary incompetents all over town.

Starting at $200 for five dinners for one person, up to $410 for eight dinners for a family of four, Burke will pop in before suppertime and whip up mouthwatering menus — beef daube Provençal, quinoa stew, and coq au vin, to name just a few. Then she leaves simple instructions for reheating, so you can still end your day with the smell of a home-cooked meal.

Hey, just because you’re cooking-impaired doesn’t mean you’re not eating-inspired.

Beets Cookin’ (617-460-2966 or beetscookin.com).