A Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free Journey with Danielle Cochran from The Salty Cooker
With a passion for crafting mouthwatering recipes that cater to diverse dietary needs, Danielle has garnered a loyal following on her website, The Salty Cooker.
The Beginning
When I started on Instagram, we were living at the beach, and most people would name their beach houses. Our house name was The Salty Hookers (because we fish a lot). Our close friend/neighbor nicknames everyone. The first time we hung out was on the beach, having a few cocktails, and she was like, man, you’re salty and cracking up. Ever since then, she called me Salty. When we were naming my social media handles, my husband (Joe) said what about The Salty Cooker? He said this way, you can add a little bit of your sense of humor into cooking.
I’m self-taught, although cooking does run in my blood. My grandma and mom were amazing cooks! They always asked me to cook when I was younger, and I rebelled, haha. My mom always asked how I would eat the foods I love? My response was, “I will marry a chef”! Well, that didn’t happen, haha! Joe doesn’t cook at all. But he makes a killer Manhattan & what I call his fancy coffees (using the Breville to make lattes/iced coffees), making me happy!
I didn’t really get into cooking until I was living on my own at 17. I’ve always enjoyed all the cuisines. When we moved to northern MI, I quickly realized the winters were long, so I tried to find a hobby. I started watching Food Network and loved Ina Garten, Tyler Florence, Paula Dean, and Emeril. Their food looked amazing, and the closest bar/restaurant was 30 mins from us, and the food was not great. We lived in the middle of nowhere, so I started to experiment with cooking, baking, and grilling. Joe has pics of me grilling in -20 degrees, haha! I bought the book that you need to buy when you attend culinary school and studied it. The techniques, flavors, everything! Cooking quickly turned into therapy for me. I started to submit recipes to local magazines, and every month, I would get new gadgets and certificates for winning. It was really cool that other people were enjoying my recipes, too. It was a great outlet; I was able to escape and create. From there, we have moved several times, and my style has changed through the years.
How to Start Incorporating Gluten-Free/Dairy-Free Dishes Into Everyday Life
I would start with small ingredient changes. If you’re doing a breaded chicken or pork chops, switch to gluten-free panko crumbs/bread crumbs. Pasta is a good one, too; Jovial is my fave! It’s a brown rice-dried pasta.
For dairy-free products, I would start by switching butter and milk. We started slowly. The first change was our coffee creamer, and any time I used butter, whether cooking/baking or grilling. Then, cream cheese and sour cream to dairy-free cream cheese. You’ll also always find honey, 1.1 Gluten-free flour, and dried great northern beans in my pantry.
The Challenges of Creating Gluten-Free/Dairy-Free Recipes
When we made the switch to GF/DF, baking was a massive challenge! The goal was to create recipes that no one would know are gluten-free and dairy-free. But the rise/taste/texture, everything was so off it was crazy! I had been working on different recipes for over a month, and everything was going in the garbage. Joe would say,”It’s okay but not quite right,” and in the garbage, it went. One of my favorite sayings is, “It’s worth the calories.” To fall into this category, it needs to be delicious!
One day, I was so fed up; all I wanted was chili and cornbread. The craving was real, lol! I made eight batches of cornbread in one day, and finally, it clicked what I was missing, and out came the most perfect cornbread. I remade it to make sure it wasn’t a fluke. This was the first gluten-free & dairy-free recipe that turned out. To this day, it’s one of my favorite recipes.
The second victory was cheesecake. Getting the consistency and flavor right was so hard! It took dozens of tries. The day that it came out perfect, I did a major happy dance!
Advice for starting a Gluten-Free/Dairy-Free Journey?
Start slow, and don’t be too hard on yourself. Joe and I slowly started to change little things out in the house, and eventually, the pantry and fridge were stocked with all GF/DF ingredients/products. Gluten-free & Dairy Free products have changed a lot over the years! The quality is so good now, and pretty much anything is available. Also, reach out to people in the gluten-free & dairy-free space and ask what their fave products are for what you’re looking for, like cookies, milks, cakes, etc.
Danielle is the owner/founder of The Salty Cooker. She lives in North Carolina with her husband, Joe, and her two dogs, Stich and Tank. For outrageously delicious gluten-free/dairy-free recipes, head to her website. You’ll find recipes like glazed blueberry sweet rolls, chicken parmesan, and chocolate cake! You won’t be disappointed!
