- CNN's documentary series The Stories of Martha Stewart chronicles her career.
- Former catering staff claims to have invented cranberry nut tart recipe
- “Who knows if she'll remember that it was my recipe,” Sarah Gross says.
Martha Stewart is accused of taking credit for recipes she didn't create early in her career as a home life guru.
In a new CNN documentary series about her accomplishments, Martha's former catering staff member Sarah Gross, 82, is featured in Martha's groundbreaking 1982 cookbook, Entertainment. He claims to have been the brain behind one of the popular dishes.
On Sunday night's first episode of The Many Lives of Martha Stewart, Sarah recalled bringing “cranberry nut tarts” with her when she applied for a job at Market Basket, Martha's first culinary business venture. .
Sarah spent years making tarts for parties catered by Martha, and not only did her recipe appear in Entertainment magazine, but while promoting her book on television, Sarah was credited with creating the tart. When I praised him, I was not very impressed.
“I don't know if she even remembers that it was my recipe because it became part of her repertoire,” Sarah said.
In an excerpt taken from a promotional television appearance at the book's launch, the host asked Marta where her cranberry nut tarts and all her new recipes came from.
Martha replied, “Many of these are recipes that I've been making all my life, and many of them were made specifically for this book.''
In fact, Martha has since mentioned that she takes inspiration from Sarah's recipes, and gave credit for some of her work during a March 2023 episode of her podcast, “In The Kitchen With Martha.” I even remember why I missed it.
Speaking with Thomas Joseph and Sarah Carey, Martha talked about how “Alexis' Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies” came to be.
“Forty-five years ago, when Alexis developed a recipe for me, it was an evolution,” Martha began.
“Sarah Gross, she worked in my catering business. She had a recipe for this delicious cookie and I asked her for the recipe and she wouldn't give it to me. .”
She continued, “So I gave Alexis the cookies and said, 'Here, make this recipe.' And in two tries, she had the recipe.
“That could have been Sarah's famous chocolates. Sarah, I'm sorry, but they're Alexis's.”
In this episode, photographer Michael Scott, who took the images used in Entertainment, said: [Martha] Martha worked hard at it and she was driven too, but it was all a team effort and when I was involved with Martha, a lot of people who worked with Martha came up with ideas. Ta.
“How did you end up with Martha's idea?” Well, that's another story. ”
While with Martha, Sarah said she eventually managed Martha's catering business while the celebrity chef's star began to rise on a national scale.
However, Sarah said their business relationship ended when she demanded that he give her proper recognition for her work within the business.
She explained: “I worked for Martha and her hourly rate was up to $8-10 an hour. I don't think I ever got paid more and she did a lot for her. I've been doing this.
“So I set up a time to talk to her. When I got there, Andy Stewart was there, so I asked Martha…I told her, 'If you're going to give your heart and soul, and then… I said if you feel that way at this point, you need a title.”
Sarah continued: “I needed something to call my own, related to this business that was growing before my eyes.
“And Andy said, 'Martha's is going to be as big as McDonald's, and we're not ceding that.'
The disgruntled caterer concluded: “That was Martha. She had a vision of where she wanted to go, and nothing was going to stand in her way.”
After breaking up with Martha, Sarah started her own catering company named Cabbage's & Kings Catering.
In 2019, a recipe for nut-crusted cranberry tart was shared on marthastewart.com.
The description simply said, “Martha made this recipe on episode 701 of Martha Bakes,” referencing the episode that originally aired in July 2016.
Since starting her catering business in the basement of her home in 1976, Martha has famously gone on to become a countless business mogul.
In fact, when Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia went public in 1999, its success made her America's first female self-made billionaire.
The New Jersey mother of one is the author of 48 books, several television shows, has built a highly successful website, writes newsletters, and It reportedly has 12 million readers.
DailyMail.com has contacted Martha's representative for comment.
The final two episodes of “The Many Lives of Martha Stewart” will air on CNN on February 4 at 9pm and 10pm.
