Creasey News

NEW PRODUCT

"John Boy's Honey Habenero Mustard" is now served exclusively at The Hill House Pizza Pub & Sprts Bar located on Emerson Ave. in Parkersburg, WV.

“You haven’t had pickles like this since your grandmother died.”

Creasey’s gourmet pickles -
from his garage to your kitchen
By Michael Lipton

Q. How do you know you’re in West Virginia?

A. When you pull up to a locally-owned pickle company and the owner, dressed in red suspenders, a funky T-shirt and shorts, is standing outside his garage/kitchen, leaning against his cream-colored ‘79 Caddy and holding a pot full of freshly-cooked quail eggs.

Yeah, I know it sounds weird. But it’s the real deal. Last year, with more than 30 years of prominent cheffing under his belt, Parkersburg native Steve Creasey set his sights on producing a top-shelf line of family-cooked and packed pickled products. To add some "country charm," he named the various pickles, okra and peppers in his new line after his mother, daughter, grandson and, fittingly, the longtime friend whose pickle recipe served as his inspiration.

But at the moment, Creasey’s deep in thought, debating whether or not to add a line of pickled quail eggs to his roster.

"They’re big in Louisiana and other places down south," he says. "And they’re expensive - they sell for about $8 a half-pint. But I’m not sure I want to fool with them."

I snatch a couple of "peeled" ones from the pot. A little larger than robin eggs, they’re tasty - like bite-size hard-boiled eggs.

"The farmer wants a quarter a piece for them," Creasey says to no one in particular. "I don’t think so ... well, maybe if he cooks and peels them. They’re really a pain in the ass to peel."

Welcome to the world of Creasey’s Classic Country Cuisine, located (for the time being) about 10 feet off of Dudley Avenue on Parkersburg’s North End. The kitchen, a converted garage barely large enough for a pair of golf carts, is teaming with the sweet ‘n’ sour smell of the chef’s homemade pickle brine.

While the pungent brine simmers in large pots and the latest Jimmy Smith CD fills the room, Tom Deegan, Creasey’s "chief of production," is busy stuffing bright orange habanero peppers into pint Mason jars. "Cousin Jonah’s Pickled Habaneros" is named for Creasey’s grandson Jonah Smith.

"These habaneros will hurt you," Deegan said, his hands protected by yellow rubber gloves. Creasey has been teaching Deegan the nuances of pickling since Creasey began production last February.

"He needed some help and needed someone who would be there and not quit," said Deegan. "I think it’s a good thing and I think it will get bigger."

Quietly, Deegan revealed his ulterior motive: "I want to be part of the pickle empire."

So does Creasey’s daughter Rose, the namesake of "Rose Ellen’s Bread and Butter pickles." She even made business cards that jokingly proclaim herself "heiress to the pickle empire."

Rose, 28, said she was "shocked and thrilled" when she discovered her father appropriated her name for a line of pickles.

"It’s much cooler than having a bridge or even a sandwich named after you," she said.

***

For Steve Creasey, the path that led him to professional pickling was both long and strange, inspired by the coming and going of wives, happenstance and an instinctive knack for rolling with the punches.

After heading up kitchens at Pipestem and North Bend State Parks, Bridgeport Country Club and Glade Springs Resort, his diabetes caused him to be hospitalized while working at the Clarksburg Sheraton.

"I had surgery and I was very sick," he said. "Then my wife left me."

On the mend, Creasey called an old friend, musician Mike Morningstar, who was living in Gassaway, and set up housekeeping in his garage.

While working at a local bar, he walked into the office of The Braxton County Democrat and offered to write an outdoors column for free.

One day, he realized he had written every story on the front page and asked to be paid. For the next 10 years, Creasey caused quite a stir. He helped bring down former Braxton County Sheriff Jay Barnette. Barnette was indicted on counts of embezzlement and obtaining money under false pretenses but, after a change in prosecutors, the case was dismissed. He also endeared himself to the Army Corps of Engineers when he discovered they had buried PCB-laden power transformers under a picnic area at Sutton Lake. The transformers were uncovered and moved to a landfill in Ohio. In his 10-year stint with the paper, Creasey racked up 18 awards from the WV Press Association.

"When I put on the journalistic robe, I saw exposing corruption as part of my job," he said.

While he was living in Braxton County, a good friend, Marge Burke, who, at the time, was the WV House Majority whip, gave Creasey a jar of her "Million Dollar Pickles" for Christmas.

"I liked ‘em so much, I asked for the recipe," he said. "I started making them every year. Soon, my friends were asking if they could buy them."

But it would be another 15 years - and one more failed marriage - before Creasey would move back home to Parkersburg and start production.

Originally, Creasey went to the WV Department of Agriculture to get approval to make sauces, gravies and soups.

"They said I couldn’t do it," he recalled. "They told me I didn’t have enough money to build a kitchen to meet USDA requirements."

Creasey had a quick answer.

"I said, ‘Bullshit. I want to do something.’ They said, ‘How about acidified foods - you know, pickles?’ I thought, ‘Well, I do make some damn good pickles.’"

Creasey took the suggestion to a friend, and over breakfast last fall, the concept took shape. Creasey said the friend - who wishes to remain anonymous - provided spiritual and financial support, and will soon be immortalized with a pickle product.

Since February, Creasey has gone through 620 cases and his business is in the black. In addition to Jonah’s Habaneros and Rose’s Bread and Butter Pickles, his line also includes Grandpa Steve’s Pickled Okra (named for Creasey), Betty Joe’s Pickled Beets (named for Creasey’s mother), Uncle Ralph’s Piccalilli (named for Creasey’s grandfather Ralph Crimmel) and Aunt Marge’s Million Dollar Pickles (named for Burke). And, with four more grandchildren, Creasey said there are definitely more products to come.

Neither his quick success - nor the quality of the product - surprises his friends."He does well with whatever he puts his hand to," said Morningstar, who has known Creasey since his teens. "When he gets it in his head what he wants to do, he goes for it."

Morningstar admitted Creasey’s tendency to "buck authority" has caused him problems in the past.

"When he worked for the Sheraton he was winning awards for them - but he was also pissing off the country club crowd," he said. "He’s got a gruff exterior - he can be downright abrasive at times - but he’s a tender-hearted person."

As with any labor intensive, quality product, his expenses are high and production is slow.

"We could make it cheaper but we do it the painstaking, old-fashioned way," he said. "We use the best spices money can buy. You won’t open a jar of Libby’s pickles and see mustard seed, allspice and pepper corns.

"I hear comments like, ‘I haven’t had pickles like this since my grandmother died.’"

Creasey said that Aunt Marge’s Million Dollar Pickles - a sweet, candied variety with heady overtones of a variety of spices - are the most labor and ingredient intensive.

"It takes 11 days to make them," he said. "We start with 400 pounds of pickling cukes which we slice by hand. Each of the 18 five-gallon buckets takes 18 pounds of sugar."

The pickles are brined, drained, scalded with alum (to make them crunchy), soaked in the syrup and drained a couple of times.

Despite the hard, hot work ("This summer we suffered - the AC couldn’t compete with four burners on an institutional stove"), Creasey couldn’t be happier with his "job."

"Pickling is very rewarding," he said. "Preserving food has always been my favorite part of cooking.

"It’s a labor of love and a business I really enjoy," he added. "To go down in the cellar at the end of the day is a pretty sight.

Pointing at rows of empty Mason jars, he said, "When we leave this afternoon, all of those jars will be filled."

Creasey said part of the appeal in making pickled products is the fact that they have a shelf life.

"It’s not instantly destroyed like in a buffet line," he said. "You can spend all day cooking and the first guy to go through the line messes everything up."

He also admitted that, for him, not having to deal with a wait staff, dishwashers and customers was a big plus.

"It’s just us, the food and the jars," he said. "I can play the blues as loud as I want, there’s no waitresses to bug you and no assholes waiting for their food."

Creasey’s products are available at 19 retail stores, including Tamarack and Showcase West Virginia (in the Charleston Town Center), and two restaurants. For more information about Creasey’s Classic Country Cuisine or, if you have a store and would like to carry Creasey’s pickles, call 304/482-7540 or email: steve@creaseyscuisine.com

New Distributors

New distributors are constantly being added (like Rubin's Deli & Catering) so don't forget to check out the "About Us" section for the store nearest you!

Aunt Marge's Million Dollar Pickles now served at DaVinci's Italian Restaurant in Williamstown, West Virginia as well as The Court Street Grill in Pomeroy, OH.