Baking For Business Podcast
The BFB podcast is a no fluff, no BS podcast dedicated to helping bakers, treat makers and cottage food entrepreneurs build and grow in business, life and everything in between. Chef Schonberg is devoted to sharing tips, resources and conversations tailored to those in the baking industry. With her tough love perspective and passion for marketing Chef Schonberg makes it her mission to uplift and educate those in the baking profession.
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Baking For Business Podcast
#Ep : 86 Behind The Cookbook With Tamron Hall And Lish Styling
Ever wondered how an Emmy Award-winning television host and a James Beard Award-winning culinary producer team up to create kitchen magic? Join us for an episode filled with laughter, empowerment, and culinary adventures as we welcome Tamron Hall and Lish Styling to the Baking for Business podcast. From the roots of their extraordinary friendship, this dynamic duo shares their journey of creating "A Confident Cook: Recipes for Joyous, No Pressure Fun in the Kitchen."
Their collaborative spirit and passion for making cooking and baking accessible resonate through their personal stories and practical advice, ensuring you'll come away inspired to explore new techniques and make the most of what you have on hand.
Celebrate the power of collaboration and the joy of cooking as Tamron and Lish recount their humorous mishaps and triumphs in the kitchen. From setting off fire alarms to mastering the art of spatchcocking a chicken, their experiences provide a relatable and encouraging guide for home cooks and bakers at all levels.
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Hey, sweet friends, my name is Chef Schaumburg. I started my baking business with a bottle of DeSerono and one Bundt cake pan. Fast forward to today, from news to magazines, speaking on national stages and more. I can truly say that baking has changed my life. So now, as a bakery business coach, I get to help others have the same success. I've helped hundreds of my students across the world in my global membership program six-figure businesses, mainly from home.
Speaker 1:The Baking for Business podcast is an extension of that, from actionable tips to valuable tools and resources that can impact you as a business owner. I truly believe y'all. We would never have been given a gift if we couldn't profit and prosper from it. So come on, darling. What are you waiting for? What's going on, you guys? And welcome back to the Baking for Business podcast.
Speaker 1:There is a new cookbook which is hitting the shelves soon, and I have a feeling you guys are really going to fall in love with this one because the style of it is so unique. But before I get into the goods, I have to tell you who it's by. So, Tamron Hall, Emmy Award-winning television host and executive producer of the syndicated talk show Tamron Hall. She's also a veteran journalist and best-selling author, along with Lish Styling, who's a James Beard Award and Emmy Award-winning culinary producer. She's a chef, she's a food stylist, she's awesome sauce herself, and the two of them both have a book titled A Confident Cook Recipes for Joyous, no Pressure Fun in the Kitchen. And it really is no pressure. You guys. I've had the privilege of reading this. I don't want to give it all away, but y'all are going to love it. So, ladies, welcome to the podcast. How are you guys doing today? We're doing great, Thank you, we're happy to be here with you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, awesome. So before we dive into the book, I know it's filled with some amazing storytelling elements of the friendship between the two of you guys. So for our listeners, how did you guys cross paths together?
Speaker 2:Well, I was actually at the Today Show and you know we always did great food segments at the end of the show. And one day I was walking, my office happened to be next to the kitchen which was lucky me and I saw one of our staffers and there was a radish and a carrot tattooed on her arm and I said anyone that has a tattoo of a root vegetable must know what they're doing. In truth, I was also grieving the loss of my father and my father had been the cook my entire life and my father had been the cook my entire life. And at the same time I met this really interesting person. I was starting out on this journey to just a love letter to my father and learn to cook, and I walked over to Lish with her two tattoos and I said I really would love to hang out and learn to cook. And she opened her heart and opened her experience to me and the journey was set.
Speaker 3:I said, the only way we can become friends is if you come to boot camp with me. Oh, yes, that part, and we roll around in Central Park and do some burpees.
Speaker 2:I conveniently said past that part, because you might ask how it ended, and let me just tell you how it started was not how it ended. I started fresh and ready and it ended sweating on the ground. So it was like a sitcom episode. But in exchange for falling down and humiliating myself in this boot camp, I then got a lifelong friend who is like my sister, who is my sister, and we set out on this journey, not honestly to create a cookbook. It was really born from Lish being so close to her own family and hearing my story and wanting to help and through that and over the years we said you know what there might be a cookbook in this, but it didn't start out as an idea of cooking, creating a cookbook. It really was two people who met in the most organic way and, as we all do in life, we need someone who's there to root for us and help us, and she was there for me.
Speaker 1:Yes, I love it. That's a wonderful tale of friendship as well as inspiration, and, tamron, you shared what inspired you. So, lish, when the idea came about, what was your inspiration? To take on this challenge and say, okay, let's do it.
Speaker 3:So I mean, even with our friendship, which we now are family genuinely, it started by Tamron like texting me one night saying what should I make for dinner? And I just responded with, well, what do you have? So she was able to say I have this, this and this. And I was like great, let's do this bronzino with a roasted root vegetable ratatouille, play on ratatouille kind of thing, you know, and walk her through step by step and she was able to ask her questions that so many people have when you just read a recipe, right All on text message.
Speaker 2:And, by the way, when she said ratatouille, I was like I love that movie. And so I was like that movie's great. But really I was always a person who had things in my refrigerator. I just didn't know. And so how many times have you come home and said what am I going to cook? Or I don't know what to cook?
Speaker 2:And so, through being in morning shows for all of my career, I always had the templates right. So I had apple cider vinegar, but I didn't know if you're out of certain things using that. I didn't know all of the mechanics. I didn't know. I had every cooking gadget in the world, but I didn't know how to use them or, better yet, I didn't know which ones I really needed. Liz took me to buy a fish spatula. I was like, what is a fish spatula? The best tool ever. Thank you, it's Haldex. The best tool ever, thank you, it's Haldex. And that's what we have in our book. I mean, down to what pantry things you should have, what tools we think set you up for success. You can always have what you want in your kitchen, but we want to set you up to be confident, and that's what she did to me and it started out on text.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I mean for me through this book, like I want to empower people to learn the technique behind cooking so that you can feel that emotion, so you're not so like stressed out about following a recipe. It's like you know how to sear a steak, you know how to clean a piece of fish, like all those little things just empower you. It's like learning those little details in life in general, right, like you walk through a little bit taller so you can walk into your kitchen going okay, like I have some idea of what I'm doing. You feel a little bit better about it.
Speaker 2:Lish make the great point. We start the book with like the pantry, what we feel you, you know can succeed with in your pantry the tools. And then Lish gives tips on how to sear a steak. I know it sounds so simple, but you build your confidence by starting at the foundation we have in the book. You know how to make the creamiest scrambled eggs People think they know until your eggs turn out crazy looking. I'm just going to be honest.
Speaker 2:And my cousin, who is a great cook I sent her the cookbook. She said I have been making scrambled eggs wrong the entire time. It sounds simple, but the technique that Lish demonstrates in our cookbook really was a game changer for me. And so we start with the foundation and we help you build on that confidence. The recipes are fire, I'm not even going to lie about that. But it's the additional element, things in the book that allow you to build your confidence. It's not just here's our steak recipe, which is delicious, it's here. Here's the tip on searing a steak to perfection, something that you might think you know. But through licious, trained culinary experience, we are giving you those tips that you don't often get in a book.
Speaker 1:Yep, absolutely. You hit it directly on the head, because what I was going to say was I know Lish and tell me if this was intentional or not. So many people, when we hear cookbook, we are used to recipes. Okay, this book is filled with recipes. When I read this book and finish, what I really liked was I said you know what? This book took an entire mise en place direction. It wasn't just the recipes you literally start from hey, that confidence has to start in the pantry. But then you went to the tools, because so many people that's normally what makes them feel intimidated I have to have this, I have to have that. But she went over hey, let's talk about what you really need and now let's go over the technique. So was that intentional to kind of give the book a mise en place feel for the beginner cook?
Speaker 3:Oh, absolutely 100%, Because that's part of some of the text messages that T would send me is. It's like you know what rough chop, what the hell does that mean, like you know so. Or how do I dice an onion? Like all of those little things that set you up for success, lining up your mise en place, like that's what we wanted to touch on, because those are the things that boost your confidence and make you feel like a little bit more sure of yourself going into it. It's like I know how to dice an onion, I know how to sear a steak. I know how to dice an onion. I know how to sear a steak, I know how to you know, clean asparagus, like any of those little details. We want to empower the reader to actually feel good about it going in.
Speaker 2:We even say salting water, you know, but every time somebody says salt water, right, right.
Speaker 3:Salt is a taste in general. What does that mean?
Speaker 2:And so you have a pot of water. Even to make pasta, it's salt water. Lish takes us through what that really means. It's more than some advice on the back of a package, and we talk about what does salted water really taste like? Not how you measure it. What is that pot of water supposed to?
Speaker 3:taste like yeah, and that's a big thing that I think we kind of shoved down people's throat. It's like season as you go and taste, taste, taste, yeah, like people tend to get into a recipe and they're like they don't taste it until it's done yeah, at that point you can't tweak anything. And I was that person. I was that person.
Speaker 2:I was afraid to taste as I went along because I was so, you know, focused on the recipe, right? We all have seen recipes was. So, you know, focused on the recipe, right? We all have seen recipes. My aunt had her Betty Crocker recipes. I have my Barefoot Contessa. We all have taken out a recipe and tried to follow step by step. But really what we want is you to feel less pressure to be connected to that exact recipe for this to be experienced.
Speaker 2:I used to laugh at people when they said, oh, cooking was relaxing for me, and I'm like, not for me because I'm running around. But over time, what we have learned, through Lish helping me, is that really I can become confident in the kitchen. Anyone can. My father cooked every meal for me my entire life. My mother doesn't cook. So I'm two generations in my house of women, defying the stereotype of the mom in the kitchen. My dad was the person in the kitchen and sometimes folks, and even Lish, asked me why didn't you learn from your dad? My dad loved cooking and delivering the meal to us. That was his love language. So when I would walk in the kitchen, he'd say no, no, get out.
Speaker 2:So I'm at the table because that was his love language. And when I met Lish, she has this gift of food being her love language, but teaching being her love language, as well, and so with me being a compliance student, because I really wanted to.
Speaker 2:I was sick of. I moved to New York. My takeout bills was more than my rent and so you know it was an awakening for me. Starting out in New York I was like, listen, I can either buy this 45 delivery dollar burger or I can learn how to do it myself. You know, and now that I'm a mom, you know my son there we have great recipes that are family friendly but still delicious and amazing, and my son loves to cook.
Speaker 2:There are a lot of pictures of Moses with Liz in the kitchen. We just had Chef Danielle Balloud on and he talked about starting out as a 14 year old, not knowing what he wanted to do with his life, but that he loved to cook. And when I told him the premise of our book and I showed him the pictures of Lish and my son in the kitchen, he's beamed because he is celebrating the fact that we are building confidence in the kitchen. He just he's beamed because he is celebrating the fact that, you know, we are building confidence in the kitchen for you if you're single, for if it's a family, for a kid, it's all in there. We have a bucatini recipe that is divine and everyone in your family can enjoy it. Moses approved, moses approved, but it still has a delicious palate for an adult. But they still have a delicious palate for an adult. So we want the food and the journey in the kitchen to the table to be with whomever you want to celebrate. Sometimes it's a solo celebration and other times it's a family celebration.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and that journey is definitely felt and you said it so amazingly it's felt before the cook even walks into the kitchen, which is really the most important part, because that's really where that confidence begins. Ladies, what were some of your favorite memories while you guys were both writing this cookbook? Any funny or special memories? Oh boy, there's so many.
Speaker 3:I got a good one, I think. So I got a call from Tamarins saying I think it was a FaceTime actually you just set off my fire alarm, my smoke detector, and now the fire department's on its way and this is going to be the most expensive steak dinner I've ever made, because she was cooking the steak from the cookbook for her nephew and his girlfriend and it literally in the head note it says if you don't set off your fire alarm, you're not doing it right.
Speaker 2:Well, she said, so my smoke detector is right above my oven, which I don't even know why they designed it that way, because of course I'm not going to set off an alarm in my kitchen. No, the steak recipe. It's a beautiful, delicious two and a half inch rib eye and you need that heat to really sear that steak. And it set off the alarm. But I thought she was going to tell the funniest story for me was spatchcock.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:And in the book we have dialogue, because we wanted to take you into our world. And so Lish one night said to me you know, why don't you spatchcock a chicken? And I'm like, I'm offended, I will not, I will not do that to a chicken. And she I'm calling her, we're FaceTime I am like so intimidated by the idea of spatchcocking a chicken. And for those who don't know, that is taking out the bone, the backbone of the chicken, so that it lays flat on the cooking surface. Think of it like butterflying the chicken. But it takes a little muscle, it takes some confidence. In the past I would have probably had the butcher or someone do that or just skip the recipe. But we take you through this and I can tell you I the first time said I'm not doing this, it's done, I'm not doing it, I gave up, I gave up and I was like I was all chicken.
Speaker 3:I was like, was like.
Speaker 2:I don't deserve this. I don't deserve this chicken, if this is what I have to do with it. But Lish walked me through it and last night and this is the truth last night I deboned the backbone of the chicken, aka Spatchcock Most beautiful chicken. It's a recipe in our book.
Speaker 2:My husband said to me my God, this chicken is so moist because it's marinated overnight, dry, brined in salt, lemon, black peppercorn. It is heavenly and it's from our recipe and we did deliberately include some of these things that are seen as more challenging. A whole fish One of our first big vacations together, we went away to the Caribbean. My family Lisha's family and I love whole fish. The idea of bringing in a whole fish and preparing it is terrifying to the Caribbean. My family Lisha's family and I love whole fish. The idea of bringing in a whole fish and preparing it is terrifying to some people. It shouldn't. It's so simple and we take you through what seems like a pressure cooker and release that pressure through great advice when you go to the Caribbean. Whole fish is something you see everywhere and everyone does it, but for us, we wanted people to have that same experience and we demystify, if you will, some of these things.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Again, with the whole fish, it's the technique of it right. It's not that complicated, it's just certain little isms that if you do properly it's actually quite simple to prepare.
Speaker 2:We're building your confidence. I mean she's saying it's not that difficult, not that difficult. She's also James Beard award winner, right For me. I saw it as difficult. I'm like, well, I don't know what you're talking about, but but once Lish walked me through it, it demystifies. And that's what we want. We want you to have fun, we want you to laugh, we want you to feel less pressure, we want you to feel confident so much of what we both do, and that's why we shared our.
Speaker 2:We start the book with our little pictures of us both at the same age, you know, in kindergarten, because we want everyone to feel welcome to this table. Even if you are an experienced chef, I think you will find celebration of food and family in this book. And if you're someone who's just starting out, who you know, you maybe want to cook. Just on Sundays, we have these stories and these techniques and this advice and these recipes, all with one intention to build confidence joy in the kitchen. It's the same as if she was in Milwaukee and I. She was in Milwaukee and I was in Texas, and we had the same hairstyle and I'm like a 100 years older than her.
Speaker 1:No way, and all the recipes sound so delicious. You mentioned some amazing savory ones, but, ladies, desserts are a favorite around here and, tim, I'm a huge lover of pound cake. So take us through just a couple of the amazing desserts that are in these books.
Speaker 2:Oh, listen. So I grew up in Texas. The sake tsumi cake was a big cake, you know, in my church every Sunday. So we were talking and each of us tried to bring something from our backgrounds and our past whether it's the chicken salad, in this case it was the cake and I said, ok, if we can impress my mom, my Southern mom, with this cake, we've won. And my mother, who's in the book, you see her. It was the first time she tasted, so we have a socket to them cake because we wanted everybody to enjoy it. We have a beautiful blueberry and this was new to me blueberry galette.
Speaker 3:I still don't know to say, but I know I eat it and I make it.
Speaker 2:Um, the blueberry galette is so, um, amazing. And when Lish first showed me this recipe, I again said how do you pronounce it and what is it? And when I tell you it is the most flaky, beautiful pastry that everyone will celebrate it remarkable. We also have the grasshopper, inspired by my love of Blue Bell ice cream, which is a winner, winner. We are sweet people and that's the thing about our book.
Speaker 2:You know whether it's the low key lunch we talked about, as a journalist and and as two people who work in and out of our homes. Life changed with COVID and so many people found themselves eating lunch at home. And I said to Lish do you know what door dash bills are, or takeout, or how many times people just skip lunch because they were used to being in the office and walking downstairs or outside to grab and go? You have to be able to come up with something and we worked on it and we came up with these low key lunches so that you don't have to skip lunch. Life has changed. So many people are working from home and skipping lunch and we wanted to have a beat in the book that recognizes where we are in society right now. So that's where we came up with the lunch menu. We love brunch. Brunch is huge in our friendship and our family, so that's why.
Speaker 3:But, by the way, brunch is basically at one of our homes.
Speaker 2:At one of our homes. Yes, so like the like the pull apart sandwich, I just made our French toast casserole baked French toast the other day. It's with the cardamom, it's amazing. Or the mimosa buffet. Those are things. Everything in this book is authentic to how we live our lives and that's why, sweets, listen we're also not vegan. God bless vegans and I love you all. And we have. We have vegetarian recipes in there a carrot with harissa, that is out of this world. We have a a low taste style corn with pink peppercorn, with plenty of offerings for those who skip on protein sourced from cows or whatever else, but I don't. I'm going to have my burger. Wisconsin, texas. So we again.
Speaker 2:We weren't, you know we didn't want a book that fit into a trend, whether it's great or not, and we want it something that really spoke to our journey. Because what we both have learned, and I know you will agree when you are your authentic self, the masses come. Whether it's my talk show or Lisha's work with Giada and her great culinary career on her own, when your intention is to reach as many people as possible, it happens. When you are authentic, and this book is an authentic story of friends, of family, but also me trying to figure out how to boil water, it's legit.
Speaker 3:It's the story.
Speaker 1:The authenticity is definitely felt through the flavors and the amazing stories, and it was awesome going through this book. Ladies, before I let you guys go real quick, I do have a game of lightning round for you. Are you ready?
Speaker 2:We are ready, let's go.
Speaker 1:Let's do it. What is your favorite kitchen utensil?
Speaker 2:Fish spatula easily.
Speaker 1:Knife. Favorite color Green Blue. What is a dessert you cannot live without. We're going to wrap it, sorry. We're like, yeah, no worries. What is a dessert you cannot live without? No worries. What is a dessert you cannot live without?
Speaker 3:Ice cream.
Speaker 2:The blueberry. I fell in love with it. It's one of my favorite things in the world, and not just because it's in our cookbook, but it is one of my favorite things in the world.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, we've got to get our hands on it and I'm going to skip the last question, because the last question is what is your favorite book? However, I'm encouraging everyone today because I'm sure the book that is on you guys is mine. A lot is A Confident Cook, and so we want to make sure that you guys get out and pre-order A Confident Cook. From the bottom of my heart, lish and Tamron, thank you guys so much for stopping by the podcast today. It was amazing to hear your journey and I appreciate you guys both.
Speaker 2:Thank you, we appreciate you. Thank you so much. We're excited. You hold a special place now because this is our first together Zoom promoting the book, so thank you to you and your audience. I'm videotaping you on my phone right now. Thank you so much to you and your audience and you have set us up for success and we appreciate the love.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. You ladies are more than welcome. You know, one of the things I gather when speaking to Tamron and Lish is just what amazing things can happen when we come together as women and collaborate. Not only are we able to empower each other, but the confidence that we find along the way is always amazing, also when learning something new together. So special thanks again to Tamron and Lish for stopping by the Bacon for Business podcast. I'm honored to be one of the first that they record with, as they share, this amazing book which is filled with so much awesome delicious savory and sweet recipes, storytelling and just tips and tools to help you with your journey in the kitchen. You can find all of that information so that you can get your hands on a copy of their book A Confident Cook in the show notes below. I know you're going to enjoy it. Thanks so much for listening. Take care and bye for now.