Army vet looks to set Guinness cooking record

Slinger  — Hamburgers sizzle on a grill as chicken wings are tossed into a mesh basket before plunging into boiling oil.

Susie Fortman moves quickly brandishing a spatula and tongs. It's the middle of the lunch rush at Sheryl's Club 175 and hungry customers are waiting to be fed. On Friday, Fortman, an Army veteran who served a tour in Iraq, will begin feeding many more people as she attempts to break the Guinness World Record for the longest cooking marathon.

If all goes according to plan, Fortman will cook for 48 straight hours, finishing Sunday at 6 p.m. The current record of 40 hours was set in 2014.

Fortman will cook for customers at her workplace, Sheryl's Club 175 in Slinger, and when the bar/restaurant is closed she'll prepare 800 meals for the homeless, including homeless veterans.

"There are people put in unfortunate situations where they end up homeless," said Fortman, 28. "I love cooking and I love helping people who are less fortunate."

According to the Guinness record rules, she must be filmed continuously and can take only a 20-minute break once every four hours. She has a class Friday morning at Milwaukee Area Technical College where she is a culinary student, then plans to take a nap before starting the marathon. To stay awake for so long, she won't drink any caffeine for the first 24 hours and then it'll be lots of black coffee to help power her through, Fortman said.

In addition to the Sheryl's Club menu items, she'll make two recipes for the meals destined for St. Ben's Community Meal in Milwaukee — meat loaf and chicken alfredo.

The idea for the Guinness record attempt came in May when Fortman participated in a benefit for the Milwaukee Homeless Veterans Initiative with other local chefs.

"I've always been a competitive person. One night I went online to see what the record for longest cooking marathon — I saw the record and I thought, I cooked way longer than that in the Army," Fortman said.

The Hartford native joined the Army in 2009. Shortly after enlisting, Fortman deployed to Iraq in October 2009 with the 1st Infantry Division. She spent most of the next year working in public affairs since most of the kitchen duties at U.S. bases in Iraq and Afghanistan are handled by third-country nationals.

While stationed at Fort Riley, Kan., she was selected to compete in military culinary competitions. Though she loved the challenge of cooking for large groups, Fortman, like other military cooks, could only prepare recipes approved by the Army.

"I love working here," she said of Sheryl's, "because as long as I keep food costs down, I have creative reign with recipes."

Sheryl's general manager, Ashley Shafer, and other employees will help Fortman by calling out orders and serving the food, but only Fortman can cook, according to the Guinness rules. The restaurant is paying for the ingredients to be used for the meals destined for St. Ben's, around $500.

"She has so much ambition and drive. I said, 'Hey, we're here to support you,'" said Shafer.

Eventually, Fortman would like to run her own catering business or have her own cooking show.

"I want Rachel Ray to work for me!" she said.