Jen Hatmaker on the perfect Super Bowl spread (and, yes, it requires Velveeta)
Jen Hatmaker on the perfect Super Bowl spread (and, yes, it requires Velveeta)
Our Q&A with Jen. Plus we've got recipes for Jen's Garlic Butter Italian Sausage Subs and an epic Green Chile Chorizo Queso.
Happy Monday! We’re heading into a week of food marketers’ dreams, with the Super Bowl (nachos! wings! ~*beeer*~!) and then Valentine’s Day (steak! molten lava cake! bubbles!).
We’re starting things off by checking in with prolific author & podcaster Jen Hatmaker, who’s out with her first cookbook, Feed These People: Slam-Dunk Recipes for Your Crew. Jen is the author of New York Times bestsellers Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire; Of Mess and Moxie; and For the Love, and the host of the popular podcast For the Love.
We talked with Jen about her debut cookbook, where she draws inspiration, and her perfect Big Game spread. Plus, paid subscribers get Jen’s recipes for Green Chile Chorizo Queso and Garlic Butter Italian Sausage Subs. Read on for our Q&A with Jen Hatmaker.
Our Super Bowl chat with Jen Hatmaker:
Salt + Spine: You taught yourself to cook as an adult, later in life, after having kids. What advice do you have to home cooks who want to feel more confident in the kitchen, and how can your cookbook support them?
Jen Hatmaker: Cooking is not nearly as precious as we think. It’s not that hard. It’s not that finicky. It’s not that rigid. And even if something goes off the rails, who cares? It’s just food.
Some skills are beyond our capacity: running marathons, brain surgery, remembering passwords. But literally every single one of us can learn to cook. Feed These People is a cookbook for normals, and not a single recipe is too hard or overly fussy. This is real life food for regular home cooks. Dive in, crew!
You write in your book that you "bought cookbooks like you were single-handedly bankrolling the industry" when you were learning to cook. Are there cookbooks or authors that have been most meaningful to you as you learned to cook and wrote your first cookbook?
I cooked virtually every recipe in Ree Drummond’s first cookbook. I needed those step-by-step pictures and stuck to them like a sacred textbook.
Because I am a credit to my childhood, I bought my own copy of Joy of Cooking and learned a ton of basics and staples. Ina taught me flexibility and Rachael Ray taught me knife skills.
I also learned that I shall only be eating at Gabrielle Hamilton’s restaurant “Prune” not cooking out of her same-named cookbook because I didn’t understand half the instructions. Sure is pretty on my shelf though!
The Super Bowl is just around the corner—a time when a lot of home cooks are looking for crowd-friendly food like we see in your book. What's your ideal Super Bowl spread?
Oh don’t think I didn’t include my favorite football food in Feed These People. Hell, that is an entire genre in my family.
My perfect Super Bowl menu includes Diner Cheeseburger Sliders with Hot Trash Sauce, and anywhere from 4-31 dips. If there isn’t a crock pot with a trough of Green Chili Chorizo Queso, is it even the Super Bowl? Give me dips or give me death. I want chips, naan, veggies, crackers, and crostinis as far as the eye can see.
Your book is titled "Feed Your People," and you write about how you're always feeding loved ones—friends, family, and more. What tips do you have for making a gathering like a Super Bowl party successful?
One, share the load. Super Bowl parties should ALWAYS be pot luck. Furthermore, ask everyone to bring their award-winning, crowd favorite best appetizer. Weed out the lame, dry, store-bought cookies!
Two, disposable everything. SB parties are supposed to be fun, and what is not fun is two hours worth of dirty dishes after everyone goes home.
Three, read the room. At every Super Bowl party, some want to actually watch the game, and some want to eat the snacks and maybe watch the commercials. Have two designated spaces! One for the hard core watchers, and one for the “go...sports” crowd.
And lastly… Chiefs or Eagles?
I was born at Wesley Hospital in Wichita, Kansas on August 7, 1974. Both my parents and one sisters graduated from Wichita State University. My other sister graduated from Washburn University in Topeka where, coincidentally, my Grandpa King was the court reporter for Brown v Board of Education in 1954. I am not trying to brag, but I was a Kansas Honor Scholar (stop asking me about it, you guys!).
Chiefs or Eagles??? I can’t even with this question.
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For more, check out Feed These People by Jen Hatmaker.