Cooking With a Country Music Star
18th July 2023
A few years ago, I came across a delightful bit of Americana in Hobart Book Village in the Catskills: Naomi’s Home Companion, a 1997 cookbook/ scrapbook from Naomi Judd, the late matriarch of the famous country music family. Because I’m not a country listener and I don’t eat a lot of meatloaf, I didn’t buy the book, its kitsch appeal notwithstanding. Nineties fashion may be back, but its nutritional standards are permanently out of style. Right?
I thought of that old Naomi Judd book when a new cookbook landed on the New York Times bestseller list: Y’all Eat Yet? Welcome to the Pretty B*tchin’ Kitchen by country music star Miranda Lambert. The book purports to share recipes from Lambert’s downhome roots and humble upbringing in East Texas. Though I was unfamiliar with Lambert’s music, I am a Texas transplant. It’s only right that I honor those who lived in this great state before me. So I queued up a Lambert playlist on Spotify, starting with the title track “Pretty Bitchin’,” and cracked the book.
The premise of Y’all Eat Yet? is similar to the old Judd book’s, though the hairstyles are lower and the tablescapes less gilded. Recipes for humble country food like chili and cornbread, with Tex-Mex additions like enchiladas and migas, mix with photos, memories and tips for entertaining. Lambert frames the book around her grandmother, “Nonny,” her mother, Bev, and her mother’s three best friends. Because Lambert herself “love[s] eating way more than cooking,” she lets her elders shine through fond anecdotes and featured recipes.