Stephen and Evie Colbert Release Their First Cookbook \ Newslooks \ Washington DC \ Mary Sidiqi \ Evening Edition \ Stephen and Evie Colbert have co-authored their first cookbook, “Does This Taste Funny?: Recipes Our Family Loves,” inspired by their time working together during the pandemic. The cookbook shares family recipes, personal stories, and their love of Southern cuisine, featuring dishes like Spicy Lemon Chicken Thighs and Red Rice. The book offers a heartfelt glimpse into their lives, family traditions, and favorite meals, while mixing humor and culinary passion.
Stephen and Evie Colbert’s First Cookbook Quick Looks
- Pandemic Project: Stephen and Evie Colbert decided to collaborate on a cookbook after working closely together during the pandemic while filming “The Late Show” from home.
- Family Focus: The cookbook, titled Does This Taste Funny?, features family recipes like Spicy Lemon Chicken Thighs and Panfried Spot Tail Bass, combined with personal stories and memories.
- Southern Flavors: Many dishes reflect their Southern roots, including Lowcountry classics like Pickled Shrimp and Red Rice, which Stephen says is his favorite to cook.
- Collaborative Spirit: The cookbook includes contributions from extended family members, such as four versions of fudge from Colbert siblings and recipes passed down from parents.
- Humor in the Kitchen: The couple shares funny kitchen anecdotes, including the “spoon story” where Stephen gently corrected Evie’s use of a metal spoon on a nonstick pan, much to her dismay.
Deep Look
Years into their marriage, Stephen and Evie Colbert found themselves becoming unexpected co-workers during the pandemic. As Stephen’s “The Late Show” was forced to pivot from a studio setup to broadcasting from their South Carolina home, Evie became an essential part of the show’s production. Serving as Stephen’s crew, audience, and guest, the experience revealed that they worked together quite well.
Reflecting on their newfound professional partnership, the couple began brainstorming ideas for a shared project. “We’ve always wanted to do something together. I think the thing to do would be a cookbook,” Stephen recalls. And so, “Does This Taste Funny?: Recipes Our Family Loves” was born—a family cookbook filled with personal anecdotes, favorite dishes, and heartfelt memories that open a window into their lives.
The Colberts’ cookbook is a celebration of family and food, featuring dishes they’ve cherished over the years, such as Spicy Lemon Chicken Thighs and Panfried Spot Tail Bass. Stephen emphasizes that the collection had to be personal because neither he nor Evie are professional chefs. Instead, the book highlights their experiences with food, centering on what they love to cook and share with family.
Recipes in the book range from easy, weeknight dinners, such as a teriyaki-flavored pork loin, to more extravagant options like Beef Wellington, a classic dish involving fillet steak, mushrooms, and prosciutto wrapped in puff pastry. This diverse selection reflects the Colberts’ own lives—sometimes simple and practical, other times rich and celebratory.
The cookbook also touches on travel and inspiration. One example is a clam chowder recipe inspired by a memorable trip to San Francisco in 2007. “I don’t even know if the soup was as good as I remember it,” Stephen admits with a laugh, recalling that they were young parents enjoying a rare moment alone, enhanced by frosty glasses of sancerre. “Everything was tasting pretty good,” he quips.
Contributions from friends and family add to the charm of the cookbook. Evie’s father contributed his deviled eggs, while Stephen’s mother shared her recipe for chicken l’orange. The book also includes photos and stories of their three children, who have largely remained out of the public eye due to the Colberts’ desire for privacy. However, creating the cookbook brought family into the spotlight in a meaningful and personal way.
“How do we feel about involving family?” Evie recalls asking herself, as they pondered how much to share. Ultimately, the project felt like a collective celebration of family, making it a warm and intimate tribute.
Food from the South plays a big role, which is unsurprising as both Stephen and Evie grew up in Charleston, South Carolina. Their Southern heritage is represented by recipes for pickled shrimp, pork belly sliders, and red rice—Stephen’s personal favorite to make. “This recipe comes closest to the jammy, salty, smoky red rice I grew up with,” Stephen says, recalling how the dish was a staple at his elementary school.
One of the oldest recipes in the book is Stephen’s Kindergarten Soup, which he learned while helping the cook at Martin Luther Kindergarten. The simple soup calls for celery, carrots, onions, tomato, okra, corn, butter beans, green beans, peas, and beef, and a photo of 5-year-old Stephen’s hand-drawn recipe is featured in the book. “It’s the first recipe I ever learned,” he says, laughing at its modesty, describing it as a product of a time when iceberg lettuce and salt were the height of flavor.
While the Colberts’ tastes have evolved since then, including more sophisticated dishes like duck breast with fig-orange sauce, they still hold onto their culinary roots. “People are afraid of duck,” Stephen says, offering a tip: “Start in a cold pan, render it out, and save the fat for roasting potatoes.” The recipe, he adds, is “fantastic.”
In making the cookbook, the couple rediscovered not only their favorite dishes but also the people and places behind them. Evie’s mother referred to recipes as “receipts,” a term Evie adopted while collaborating on the project. One of Evie’s treasured recipes is for flounder stuffed with crab meat, a dish she grew up eating but had forgotten until the cookbook brought it back. She was thrilled to rediscover it and made sure to get her mother’s approval before finalizing it in the book.
As with any couple, working together in the kitchen wasn’t always without its challenges. Stephen and Evie both recall a now-infamous incident early in their marriage—the “spoon story”—when Evie used a metal spoon on a nonstick pan. “I really thought he was going to say, ‘I’m sorry, we have to get divorced,’” Evie says, laughing about Stephen’s reaction. “I believe I offered you a wooden spoon,” Stephen counters. Though this small kitchen mishap became a joke between them, it’s clear that their time spent cooking together, like their marriage, has been one of partnership and humor.
The book ends with a chapter on breakfast recipes, which Stephen sees as a reward for a successful dinner party: “If the party goes well, hopefully, you’re spending the night,” he says, adding that breakfast is “the reward.”
Through it all, “Does This Taste Funny?” is more than just a cookbook. It’s a reflection of the Colberts’ love story, family traditions, and adventures, wrapped in humor and heartfelt storytelling.
