Chefs Still Stirring the Pot After All These Years

They stir soup by the gallons.

They fry chicken by the hundreds of pounds.

They boil vegetables by the vats.

Together, the "Three Wise Men of Cooking" at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital – Charles Womack, James Green, and Sam Hamilton – have been at it for more than 100 years.

Need a casserole for 1,000? How about stew for 4,000? Gravy for 2,000?

No problem!

Yes, the Three Wise Men know how to add a lot of this and a lot of that – without it seeming like too much of this or of that. They don’t shake salt; they pour salt. They don’t sprinkle sugar; they toss it. And yet it tastes like they just added a little of this, and a little of that.

Three Wise Men, indeed.

When fried-chicken-Thursday at St. Luke’s rolls around, mouths start to water throughout the Texas Medical Center. Employees wearing badges from The Methodist Hospital, Memorial Hermann Hospital, Texas Children’s Hospital, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine – every institution in the Texas Medical Center – has someone in the St. Luke’s cafeteria looking for a chicken leg to eat.

"It wasn’t too long ago that we were voted the best cafeteria in the entire Texas Medical Center complex, and there’s no secret as to why," says Green, who began working at St. Luke’s in September 1968. "We have pride in what we do."

Green says he, Womack and Hamilton, whose closeness was reflected in years of bowling together on a St. Luke’s team, are continually trying to outdo each other.

"It’s a friendly rivalry," he says. "But each of us will, say, try to make a better casserole than the other. We’ll have other people taste it and judge it. And we’ll taste it, too. We want to be the best."

Hamilton says he has put on about 80 pounds doing taste tests over the years.

Now a senior cook, Green, 59, took a few cooking classes in high school but never really thought about making a career as a chef until he came to St. Luke’s. He had worked in a department store cafeteria, at the Houston Club, and at other odd jobs before coming to St. Luke’s.

"I started here part time when a friend told me they had an opening," Green says. "I figured I’d probably go into auto mechanics because I also really enjoyed working on cars. But the people made me feel like family, and I was learning so much that I stayed. I’ve never regretted it."

He says he’ll never forget how the St. Luke’s community supported him when his mother died. Fellow employees took up an offering, sent flowers and food.

"People really meant it when they said they felt for you," he says. "They didn’t act like this was something they had to do."

A friend told Womack about an opening in the St. Luke’s kitchen in March 1964.

"I worked two weeks separating knives and spoons before I even filled out an application," he says. "Then I worked on the dishwashing machine. I did such a good job there, they asked me if I’d like to learn to cook. People at St. Luke’s have taught me everything I know about cooking. They’ve been really patient with me. They taught me really well and encouraged me to stay."

Womack says the happiest day of his life occurred in 1966.

"That was when I saw the woman who would become my wife," he says. "Dorothy was working on the tray line. It took me two weeks to get up the nerve to talk to her. We dated for two years before we got married in 1968, and we’ve been together ever since."

Chef Hamilton, who began working at St. Luke’s in 1965, also met his ladylove when she worked in the St. Luke’s cafeteria.

"We started dating in ’67 and got married the next year. To me, St. Luke’s really is a family place."

It’s no wonder their wives keep them around. Both Hamilton and Womack enjoy cooking at home. And, no, they don’t cook for the entire neighborhood – just their families.

While a student at Yates High School, Hamilton took a summer job at the hospital loading food trays. After graduation, he became a cook’s helper and two years later was promoted to cook. He now works directly under the executive chef, supervising menus and working assignments. His work is so coveted that Dr. Denton A. Cooley, president and surgeon in chief at the Texas Heart Institute and chief of cardiovascular surgery at St. Luke’s, has had him demonstrate heart-healthy cooking to the public.

A minor stroke in 1987 forced Hamilton to see St. Luke’s from the patient’s point of view.

"That experience made me more a part of the St. Luke’s family than ever before," he says. "People here care about what they do. That’s why I stayed here. That’s really why James and Charles and I work here. We know St. Luke’s has the right ingredients when it comes to food and family."

Three Wise Men, indeed.

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