Roger Bindl
Mustard Museum founder Barry Levenson and filmmaker Roger Bindl pose with the chipotle mustard used in the winning recipe.
Comfort food like shepherd's pie is a classic menu option for the cold heart of winter, particularly in the face of post-holiday leftovers, but any recipe could do well with a bit of a kick. That's what Madison filmmaker Kraft Cooking Channel on YouTube, with cooks encouraged to demonstrate both their cooking chops along with plenty of personality. Bindl offered each in his entry for the shepherd's pie recipe, and was named winner for the dish two days before Christmas.
His recipe differs from the original, though, replacing ketchup with a chipotle mustard from in Mount Horeb and a visit with its curator and condiment guru Barry Levenson. This ingredient alteration and accompanying slice of Americana was doubtlessly a factor towards success in the contest.
Bindl created as a part of the "My first thought was to change the recipe, and it was a natural switch from ketchup to mustard," says Bindl about his plans for the video after learning the theme for the Kabaret on its opening night. He subsequently set up a shoot at the Mustard Museum with Levenson, who recommended the Wisconsin-made mustard featured in the dish, and proceeded to the cooking portion of the video at a friend's kitchen in Mount Horeb before wrapping up editing in time for the Kabaret screening less than 48 hours later. Bindl submitted it into the contest a few days hence, and after about a month of waiting, was awarded with the $1,000 top prize and title of Kraft Cooking Superstar. His video recipe follows. The original video screened at the Wis-Kino Kabaret was almost 90 seconds longer, and featured a poem recitation by Levenson along with a little animation. These segments, cut for the version entered into the challenge, can be viewed in a supplemental clip titled "The Leftovers." Bindl also submitted a video entry for the molten chocolate cakes recipe, which he described as even more fun than that for his main course selection. Bindl and his wife Jacalyn Schultz have been among the most active participants in Wis-Kino Kabarets and other regular screenings for several years now. This win in the online contest marks a milestone for Bindl, as his first creation as part of the local filmmaking group was a cooking video for its Fall Kabaret in 2004. "Had Wis-Kino not been there, I don't know that I would have kept making videos over the last four years," notes Bindl, who is now a prolific short filmmaker and proponent of online video with ViodiTV. "The fact that this outlet for filmmakers is around really is significant." If you have a video about Madison or by Madisonians, please consider adding it to the Isthmus YouTube group or send a message.
