AdminAfter enjoying the American Thanksgiving Parade with her family, Shawn Clayborn has to run to a hot kitchen shortly afterwards. And the native Detroiter says she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Turn stainless steel pans into non-stick with the Leidenfrost effect
The Leidenfrost effect, also known as the “mercury ball test,” is a technique used to ensure that your pan is hot enough for cooking.
Problem solved
When chef Shawn Clayborn describes with verve the meal she’ll cook for Thanksgiving dinner, the list reads like an all-star lineup of classic comfort foods: turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, collard greens, cornbread and mashed potatoes, finished with savory sauce.
And providing comfort to the more than 300 people at two locations who will receive her meals on Thanksgiving is something that drives the native Detroiter all year long.
“It’s an honor to cook for the people I serve,” said Clayborn, chef and kitchen manager at Pope Francis Center, a nonprofit that serves nutritious hot meals to homeless people in Detroit six days a week. “I fell in love with the center and the course, and I don’t think I’ll ever leave them.”
Clayborn, a 2000 graduate of Detroit East Catholic High School who grew up near Eastern Market, joined the center in 2023 and quickly embraced the challenge of preparing and serving full meals to more than 200 people a day from a cozy kitchen in the day center next to Saints Peter and Paul Jesuit Church – the oldest church building in continuous use in the city of Detroit.
This summer, Clayborn’s responsibilities increased significantly when the Pope Francis Center opened a 60,000-square-foot Bridge Housing Campus – a first-of-its-kind facility built to transition people from “homelessness to hope.” For the betterment of residents who are expected to stay between 90 and 120 days before transitioning to permanent housing, the campus includes a 40-unit furnished residential apartment complex; a free medical and dental clinic; a library and classrooms; a chapel; a barber shop; room for family gatherings and special events, and another room where Clayborn is most often found. That would be the large commercial kitchen, equipped with two convection ovens, two regular ovens and a tilting skillet that allows Clayborn to make soup for 300 people at a time.
From the sparkling new kitchen, Clayborn wasted no time in setting up a new operation, working with a dedicated volunteer staff to regularly prepare 350 servings of a complete meal that are shipped to the PFC day center. At the same time, her kitchen prepares and serves three meals a day for the first residents of the housing campus, which officially opened in June.
“I’m on the ground floor, in the thick of things, and I can see the program growing,” Clayborn said on the afternoon of Nov. 20. “And it’s great to see it going exactly as they planned. ”
Travel to help others
Perhaps just as amazing is the path that led Clayborn to the Pope Francis Center.
When Clayborn graduated from East Catholic, she enrolled at the University of Detroit Mercy with her sights set on eventually attending dental school on her way to becoming an orthodontist. Clayborn would later work as a dental assistant for ten years, but when the dental office where she worked closed, Clayborn faced a crossroads in her career.
And that’s when the proud daughter of Eddie and Veronica Clayborn began turning her attention to the lessons she learned from her father, a Detroit autoworker who learned the art of Southern cooking from his grandmother in Ft. Deposit, Alabama.
“My dad was always the head cook at our house, and if he wanted turkey and dressing in the middle of July, he would make it and it would be delicious,” says Clayborn, who in 2012 called on everything her father had taught her as a student in Dorsey College’s Culinary Arts program. “My father gave me the basics and culinary school allowed me to learn food safety and develop a range of skills.”
But, as Clayborn explained on Nov. 20, about an hour after serving lunch to Bridge Housing Campus residents, good cooking can’t really be learned from a book or even in a classroom. Clayborn believes that the art of cooking requires extensive practice.
And over a several-year journey, she mastered that practice—and gained many admirers in the process—at places across Detroit, like the Roostertail, the former St. Ce Ce’s Food and Spirits in Corktown, the Westin Book Cadillac, the Detroit Receiving Hospital. and more.
“At the hospital, we served meals to patients in 350 beds, so that helped me a lot with planning,” explains Clayborn, who relies heavily on community partners like Gleaners Community Food Bank – a provider of 2,500 pounds of food every two weeks every day. kitchen at the Pope Francis Center – and Panera Bread, as well as food contributions from community groups and individuals to prepare dishes for its twelve-week rotating menu, which is subject to change based on donations. “I also bring my restaurant and pastry experience: that means all of our meals are well-rounded, with 4 to 6 ounces of protein, 4 ounces of starch and 24 ounces of fresh vegetables.
“And just like in a banquet hall, we want our food to be presented in a beautiful way. In our salad bar you can see our cucumbers look like flowers because you eat them with your eyes, and as long as the food is visually colorful, people will try it.”
In addition to bringing a lot of dining experience, Clayborn says she also comes to work every day with a lot of genuine respect for the people she serves.
“I’ve been educated on the inside of homelessness,” said Clayborn, who also teaches cooking and life skills classes to residents of the housing campus. “So often people say things like, ‘Why don’t you get a job;’ or ‘You chose this life.’ I have to admit, I’ve had thoughts like this about people who are homeless in the past. But when we say things like that, it’s like we’re not giving someone credit for being human. I have learned that homelessness has so many levels and layers. It could be mental illness, or a house fire, or the loss of a mother, or some other trauma. …
“We have people in our program with a food service background, and in our classes I ask them to teach others. And after the meals are served (at the Bridge Housing Campus) I love to sit at different tables and to talk to the residents, because we all need to get to know each other and help each other.”
On the afternoon of November 20, Clayborn, a devoted mother and grandmother, also revealed that she is a fan of traditions like the American Thanksgiving Parade, which she has attended “all her life.”
Clayborn is also a fan of the Detroit Lions. But, she said, her eyes won’t be on the Thanksgiving action when the Lions host the Chicago Bears, as she and a team of volunteers will be taking care of their own important business.
“I will give up the game to ensure the holiday meal is a success,” said Clayborn, who expressed her excitement about the first holiday meal that will be presented to residents of the Bridge Housing Campus in a family atmosphere. “I couldn’t do any of this without our volunteers, and I hope all the residents we serve stay on the trail because everyone seems to be doing well.”
Scott Talley is a native Detroiter, a proud product of Detroit Public Schools and a lifelong lover of Detroit culture in its various forms. On his second tour with the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network, he is excited and humbled to report on the city’s neighborhoods and the many interesting people who define its diverse communities. Contact him at stalley@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @STalleyfreep. Read more stories from Scott at www.freep.com/mosaic/detroit-is/. Please help us grow great community-focused journalism by becoming a subscriber.
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