Tamron Hall Talks About Writing a Cookbook, Finding Confidence in the Kitchen, Honoring Her Dad and More (Exclusive)

The juggle is real for Tamron Hall. One prime example: When we chatted with her about her debut cookbook—A Confident Cook, which is out today—she hopped on the call from her iPad in her car that was parked outside of her son’s summer camp. 

The Emmy-winning journalist, talk show host and author likes to lean into real, authentic moments, whether that be with her guests, her audience or the folks she’s making dinner for at home. And it’s the latter that inspired her to write a cookbook, which she co-authored with her dear friend Lish Steiling, a chef, recipe writer, food stylist and a James Beard Award and Emmy Award-winning culinary producer.

Recently, Parade caught up with Hall to talk about her culinary journey. Her book reads more like a conversation than a prescriptive list of steps that get you from the grocery store to the dinner table, which we found intriguing. “People want to see the real deal,” she said. “They want to see your real life. And the cookbook is my real journey, learning to cook, and I think that’ll really connect with people, which is awesome.”

During our chat, she shared her favorite recipes, tips and tricks and also gave us a glimpse into her home kitchen and how and why cooking is so near and dear to her heart. 

Related:

This is the First Dish to Disappear at Tamron Hall’s Cookouts

Your book is called A Confident Cook. What does confidence in the kitchen look—and maybe even taste—like?

Okay, that’s a great question. Last night it looked like me debating what to prepare for dinner and going to my own cookbook. And that is not a plug. I was really torn about what to cook. I didn’t have a lot of time. My son’s in camp right now, and he’s also in Taekwondo and other things, and he didn’t want takeout and I didn’t feel like going to a restaurant. So what did I do? I made the chicken thighs with dates and olives from the cookbook. 

It’s a one-pot recipe—chicken, parsnips, celery, onion and za’atar. When I finished it and I took my first bite I was like, ‘Oh, this is good.’ I’m like shimmying around my home. And to make things better I gave my husband, who isn’t a fan of chicken thighs, a bite to test and he was like, ‘Oh, this is really good.’ 

So being a confident cook feels like when you take on this challenge, really born from needing something convenient, and it turns into this delicious meal. It feels great.

I mean you were dancing in your kitchen, so that’s always a good sign. 

Oh, I’m not kidding. I knew it would be delicious, but it was something with the dates and the olives. It’s very, Mediterranean—it has the Greek feta, and it just was this contrasting blend—but also joy out of relieving myself of the pressure. I don’t like that feeling, of ‘What do I cook?’ And I certainly don’t like to feel pressure to do takeout or go out to dinner when I just want to be at home. And so I ended up with this delicious one-pot meal at home.

Related: Tamron Hall Talks Writing What She Knows, Parenting in Her 50s and More

I noticed that your dad is mentioned in the book quite a bit. I know he was a big inspiration for you. Can you share how you remember his passion, love and confidence around cooking?

My father was the dad God meant for me to have. He was not my biological father, but he married my mom when I was eight years old and he really showed his love through his cooking. He was in the Army—a career military man, a Master Sergeant—and on holidays, on any day really, my dad was always in the kitchen. And in the summer he was always grilling if it wasn’t too hot in Texas. It was like a backdrop to my life and something that I didn’t realize, not that I was taking it for granted, but I didn’t fully understand what cooking was giving him. It was giving him this chance to really take care of us while also raising a strong independent daughter who didn’t fall into these norms. 

I remember being at the Today Show and they did a Mother’s Day segment and they said, ‘We want all of your moms to come and cook their favorite recipe.’ And I’m like, ‘My mom can’t cook. My dad cooks and he can show up, but he is not going to fit the bill on Mother’s Day.’

He was this giant figure of a person, this loving dad who would deliver my lunch some days to high school and middle school. I’d say, ‘Dad, I don’t want what they have.’ And he’d run up something that he’d made. I underestimated what a great hole and sadness would come over meals once he was gone. I had no perspective on it before my father passed away.

After he died I suddenly realized why he loved cooking. When I looked at photos of my dad in the kitchen or thought about his response to having us test out what he was cooking I got it. And that’s what I set out to capture in this book—that joy that he had around cooking.

If you could go back and ask your dad any cooking or recipe question, what would it be?

You’re going to make me cry. 

My dad passed away between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. His favorite holiday was Thanksgiving and he got sick right after Thanksgiving, and I was here and I just started out at MSNBC, and I was kind of low on the totem pole, and I couldn’t take off for Thanksgiving.

He walked me through his sweet potato pie recipe and mine was a disaster. And I’ve tried it a couple of times since, and have tried to recall how he made it, but it’s not the same. 

I mean it’s something so simple and there are so many recipes out there and I’ve tried different ones and it never actually tastes like my dad’s, and I think it’s because it’s my dad’s, but that’s what I would do. I’d say, ‘Dad take me through your sweet potato pie.’

Yeah, there’s nothing like being in the kitchen with someone. Speaking of, I know that you and Lish have done a lot of texting about food and recipes, but it’s so different when she’s physically in the kitchen with you, right? 

It is. Especially when it comes to technique, right? Because she would walk me through, and much of this really did start via text message where I’d say, okay, what do I do now? And she’s like, ‘a glug of olive oil’ because she’s doing her thing and I’m doing my thing and we’ve got our own lives and can’t be in the same room. But I really got the techniques when we were able to cook together in the kitchen.  

It’s one thing to watch The Bear. These are actors, and I love The Bear. I’m obsessed, but it’s another to watch a skilled chef and someone who loves doing this. Liz is from Wisconsin and started out in small restaurants, but she flows with a confidence. And when I tell people about the book, we’re not all going to be James Beard Award winners, but we can flow with a level of confidence in the kitchen. 

One of the biggest things that I learned, especially being in person with her, was don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. My dicing isn’t going to be as precise as Lish’s, but I can taste and feel and hear and smell and listen to the food as I’m going along. And the food will be as beautiful as what a world-class chef turns out because you did it.

It’s a conversation with you and the food. 

It’s a conversation and it’s recognizing that the sizzle, for example, of something will tell you that it’s releasing. And it’s also an escape. We’re all very, very busy. I really enjoy the process of cooking and I enjoy the response from my family, much like my dad did. You get that feedback. And of course, you’re sharing your passion and your love with someone you deeply care for.

The book is a celebration of community and family. We have snacks, we’ve got cocktails, we’ve got ice cream, fun things. I really wanted a full experience from breakfast to lunch to dinner and everything in the middle because it’s a story. It’s a story of food, it’s a story of cooking and it’s a story of family.

I love that. And in the book, as a fellow journalist, it was so nice to see what seemed like a transcript of you guys having that conversation in the kitchen.

Thank you for appreciating that because it’s a bit unconventional, but we’re unconventional. Many times I would have these questions about what I could substitute for something or what something was supposed to look, sound or taste like and I suspected other cooks would have the same questions too. 

So for me, having Lish create the recipes, send recipes to me and have me do them on my own and send my real response was really eye opening. That’s what you’re seeing in the book, my real questions. These aren’t staged. In one spot it says, ‘I can’t find pink peppercorn. What do I do?’

I love how Lish is like, “Forget it.”

Forget it. She’s like, forget it. I’m like, thanks, ma’am. But I mean, I get her saying there too, because there truly is nothing else like it. Some things you’re not able to substitute. And I shared with her that my grocery store in my hometown of Luling, Texas, may not have some of these things, but I don’t want people to feel left out of this party. So that’s why we do talk a lot about substitutes. 

One of the other things that was a big point that I wanted to make, I’ve had this happen, and perhaps you have as well, I get home, I decide I’m going to make this recipe, and then it says, oh, marinate overnight. I’m like, wait, what? I missed it. So we wanted those bold things to stand out as you are building your confidence because nothing is more defeating than believing you have it, you’re ready and then there’s some little side note that you missed about the recipe.

Another memorable part of the book was when you and Lish did a kitchen purge. What’s your favorite gadget or tool that remained after you streamlined your kitchen collection?

Honestly, my favorite gadget, this is so boring, but it’s my blender. I’m just team blender. I think it’s such a versatile tool and I love it. But I guess second to that, it’s just a good old food processor. I just think that having a great blender and a great food processor is a game-changer in so many ways. 

For me, the blender is also top of mind because I’ve probably made our tahini malt every other day this summer. It’s just heavenly. It is so unexpected and so delicious. So I probably keep my blender on the counter more than I should because I’ve been making the malt so often.

I also have a very special cast iron skillet that’s about 30 years old. My uncle, my father’s brother, loved cooking. He lived in Arizona and when I was a single woman in Chicago, he gifted me a cast iron skillet. And I moved that thing everywhere with me and never used it, but now it’s in heavy rotation. I laugh and smile when I think about these two men, my Uncle Lorenzo and my dad, who loved cooking and still live within me. These are the things that really get me mushy. That’s why I love eating at home and having friends and friends who are like family over. It just brings a smile to my face to be able to cook for them.

Related: Tamron Hall Turns to Fans for Advice After 5-Year-Old Son Sneaks In Massive Online Order: ‘What Am I Supposed to Do’

In the book, I saw that Lish mentioned that Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt is her favorite “white T-shirt ingredient,” so to speak. What’s yours?

That’s mine, too. It’s the best. Seasoning is one of the keys to becoming confident in the kitchen. What’s too little and what’s too much? And I learned very early on that often we feel that we’re over-salting food because we’re salting it at the end or we’re not tasting the food as we’re cooking.

For a long time, I thought all salts were created equal, but they’re not. And Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt allows you to layer. So the recipe I made last night, I seasoned the chicken and the parsnips and the celery and the onion and it all added up to a fully seasoned dish. 

What recipes from the book are the most requested from your family? 

Oh, the steak. My nephew and my husband, oh boy, they love, love the steak The chocolate chip cookies are also just divine. 

And the thing that I make when I’m really trying to impress people who stay over is the broiled bacon. All you do is put your rack in the middle of the oven and you broil the bacon, which is something my father always did. It turns out beautifully. 

Whenever I have folks over I make our baked French toast and I do the bacon trick. They’re always like, ‘Wait, what? I’ve been making bacon wrong my whole life.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, this is how you do it and it’s perfect.’

Up Next:

Related: The #1 Thing You Can Do To Improve Every Meal You Make, According to Viral Food Star Joshua Weissman