0:00

This episode of Tin Foil Swans from

0:02

Food and Wine is courtesy of Justin

0:04

Vineyards and Winery. Welcome

0:14

to season two of Food and

0:17

Wine's Tin Foil Swans, a weekly

0:19

podcast serving up inspiring, touching, hilarious,

0:21

and revealing conversations with some of

0:23

the biggest names in the food

0:25

and beverage world and beyond, and

0:28

giving you plenty to savor even

0:30

after the episode is over. I'm

0:33

your host Kat Kinsman, executive

0:35

features editor at Food and

0:37

Wine, and I am eternally

0:39

fascinated by how successful and

0:41

creative people become themselves. What

0:44

are the moments, influences, missteps, pep talks,

0:46

and decisions big and small that got

0:49

them where they are today? I've been

0:51

a journalist for a pretty long time

0:53

now, and a couple of questions I

0:55

love asking people are, who

0:58

is the person you absolutely would not

1:00

be able to keep yourself together in

1:02

front of, and what

1:05

living musician would you want to cook

1:07

for? The answer to both

1:09

of these frequently has been

1:11

Dolly Parton, and she is way

1:13

up on that list for me too. Dolly

1:16

Parton is an American icon

1:18

for all the right reasons.

1:21

Not only is she one of the

1:23

most revered performers working in any genre,

1:26

she has always been so

1:28

unabashedly herself, and used

1:30

that true authenticity and work ethic

1:33

and humor and grace to make

1:35

deeply enduring art. And

1:37

she also uses her hard-earned platform

1:39

and cash to support her community,

1:42

children's literacy, and so many

1:44

other causes dear to her heart. Just

1:47

recently in the wake of the devastating

1:49

storms across the south, but after we

1:52

recorded this episode, she pledged a million

1:54

dollars of her own money to help

1:56

with recovery efforts. She is

1:58

a legend and a superstar. superstar, but

2:01

she's also just a really good person.

2:04

One who came from humble beginnings where

2:06

she and her sister Rachel Parton George,

2:08

who is an incredible woman in her

2:10

own right, grew up together in a

2:12

very large family where they made the

2:14

most of what they had, especially at

2:17

meal times. In fact, these meals played

2:19

such a large role for them. They

2:21

wrote a cookbook together recently called Good

2:23

Lookin' Cookin'. I am still completely in

2:25

shock that I got to sit down

2:27

with the two of them for a

2:30

joyful sometimes emotional and truly delightful

2:32

conversation about being proud of

2:34

where you're from, eating bear

2:36

and squirrel meat, sometimes

2:38

feeling insecure at restaurants, yet even

2:40

Dolly, taking care of cast iron

2:43

and the joy of

2:45

chosen family. Welcome to season

2:47

two, episode 22, Dolly Parton, Rachel

2:49

Parton George and the dumplings that

2:51

could save the world. Here

3:09

we are. We're excited to be with you today.

3:12

The cookbook is a joy and

3:15

I was privileged enough to read an

3:17

early copy of it and

3:19

I loved the entire messaging of it

3:21

because just food is good and

3:23

it makes you happy and it brings people

3:26

together and I'm so proud of you too.

3:29

We're proud of each other. We had a real good

3:31

time doing it and we've been working on this for

3:34

quite a while and we've enjoyed every bit

3:36

of it and now we're beginning to get

3:38

real excited thinking, okay, now everybody's going to

3:40

be able to share it with us. And

3:43

I know that Rachel, for you, this has

3:45

to be a dream come true because you

3:47

are a notorious collector of recipes and cookbooks.

3:50

Okay, I'm actually going to scoot it back

3:52

to when each of you were 10 years

3:54

old and if you would have ever imagined

3:56

anything like this happening. Well,

3:59

not for me. but I have loved to

4:01

cook all my life even before 10. I

4:04

love to be in the kitchen and

4:06

this was a dream come true and

4:08

we have enjoyed every bite of it.

4:10

Well yeah, every bite, every bit, every

4:12

title we come up with, we've had

4:14

a real good time, but Rachel has

4:16

been cooking ever since she was little,

4:19

like she tells the story about cooking

4:21

with mom in her early days. And

4:23

of course, we both have memories of growing

4:25

up in a family where all the women

4:28

cooked and cooked really good. So we've just

4:30

done a lot of stuff together and we

4:32

thought, well, why not do a cookbook? Cause

4:34

we know all about food and love it.

4:37

No one would want my family's recipes, but

4:40

I'm thrilled to have yours. And is your family

4:42

adopting? Because I would love to be part

4:44

of it now. We'll adopt

4:47

you. We'll adopt you. We'll take you. Always

4:49

a room. We'll just take anything. So

4:53

I ask all of my guests and if you would each

4:55

answer this, who were you when you were 10 years old?

4:58

Who was I? Smaller version of who

5:00

I still am. Love to

5:02

cook, love to eat, love to be seen

5:04

and love to get attention. And

5:07

who were you? Running after

5:09

you. I

5:11

was the younger sister that was always

5:13

underfoot and couldn't wait to

5:15

go. We'd always think, oh, can I go? Can

5:18

I go? I hope I can go. I

5:20

know. We traveled a lot together through the

5:22

years actually. We've not only cooked a lot

5:25

together, we've been in a lot of great

5:27

restaurants all around the world together. And that's

5:29

one of the reasons we thought, well, we

5:31

should do something to do with food since

5:34

we enjoy it so much. And as you

5:36

mentioned earlier, Rachel loves to collect cookbooks and

5:38

recipes and of course, I love to eat

5:40

and she's the best cook I know. So

5:42

this worked out great for us. Well,

5:45

so growing up, did you have cookbooks

5:47

and recipes? Who was doing the cooking most of

5:49

the time? Tell me about those meals, because that

5:51

is you are two of 12. So

5:54

that had to be a complicated affair, I imagine. Well,

5:57

it was mostly mama. And then of

5:59

course, our sister,

6:01

Willa Dean, is a great cook, and

6:04

our sister, Stella, is a fantastic cook,

6:06

and our sister, Cassie. So we all

6:08

would just get in the kitchen, and

6:11

Mama would just give us, you know,

6:14

do this or do that, and we

6:17

all just jumped in and did our part. Yeah,

6:19

we had all these wonderful grandmas, too,

6:22

that were great cooks. It's all

6:24

passed along through generations, all these

6:26

country meals that we love, like

6:28

the meatloaf and dumplings and potatoes

6:31

and cornbread and beans, all that

6:33

kind of stuff. But actually, Rachel

6:35

had mentioned, all of our sisters

6:37

cook. We all love to eat.

6:39

There's six of us girls, and I

6:42

have five sisters, obviously, and they're always

6:44

cooking. Sister Stella has had cookbooks out

6:46

as well, and so has Willa Dean

6:48

that she mentioned. So we all do

6:51

love to cook. Oh, my

6:53

goodness. How many books are on that shelf now,

6:55

I have to ask, that are just written by

6:57

members of your family? Well, quite a few, actually.

7:00

Our sister, Willa Dean, has had a couple

7:02

of books out, and our sister Stella is

7:04

a vegetarian, actually, but she's had things done

7:06

through the years. So we're not new at

7:08

this, so food is a big part of

7:10

our family. We just thought, since we're together

7:12

all the time, we live in Nashville, we

7:14

don't live far from each other, so we

7:17

thought this would be an easy thing for

7:19

us to do. So

7:21

much of what I love about these recipes,

7:23

too, they're so achievable and they're welcoming, and

7:26

I know that a lot of families grow up,

7:28

and it's hard to put food on your table,

7:31

but the thing that has always come through in

7:33

your story and very much in the cookbook is

7:35

that you've always made the most out

7:37

of what you have. So could you talk a

7:39

little bit about some of those meals of feeding

7:42

a giant family when you're trying to make the

7:44

most out of absolutely every ingredient and trying to

7:46

get so much flavor and joy out of it?

7:49

It was a lot, and our

7:52

mama, she did have modest recipes

7:54

and ingredients, but she could cook,

7:57

and I guess just with her

7:59

telling. and talking

8:01

about food and us singing. By

8:04

the end of the mill, we were so fed

8:06

with love. I think that's a lot of what

8:08

came to the program. Yeah, I think it is

8:10

too. And we also grew up in

8:13

the country on the farm. So we

8:15

grew so much of our own food

8:17

and canned a lot of our own

8:19

things. So there was always things that

8:21

all through the winter, making a pie

8:23

or making something out of something, some

8:25

soups and out of things that we

8:27

had actually canned through the summer. So

8:29

you do make the most of everything

8:31

you've got, and especially country people, and

8:33

especially poor people. And you learn to

8:35

make food really good. You know how

8:37

to make it taste good. And that's

8:39

just one of those things that twice

8:41

other food is so important

8:43

and so loved. And why we're so proud

8:45

of our little good looking cooking. I

8:49

swear, I'm singing every time I hear that. It

8:51

makes me so happy. And you talk about canning.

8:53

I brought in some watermelon rind

8:56

preserves for my boss today that I

8:58

had made a couple of

9:00

weeks ago. I love canning. It's my favorite thing.

9:03

It's amazing how you can just

9:05

take anything and make something out

9:07

of it, even the rind of

9:09

something. We were always doing that

9:11

too. Pickling everything, stuff that you

9:13

wouldn't even think that you could

9:15

pickle or can. You can

9:17

can. You can can. We can can. You

9:20

can. You can. You certainly

9:22

can. There's that

9:24

particular sound when you hear the lid pop, when

9:26

you've been canning things, and it just feels like

9:28

you got it right. You see all that thing.

9:31

Actually, what is your favorite thing to pickle, either

9:33

to make or to eat pickled? Well,

9:36

we pickle everything. Of course, everybody loves

9:38

the real pickles, you know, the cucumber

9:40

pickles. And we were always big on

9:42

that because everybody always loved momma's pickles

9:44

too. A lot of people make pickles

9:46

that pop. Some of them are little

9:48

mushier, some of them are whatever. Everybody

9:51

has their favorite, your sweet pickles and

9:53

your and your sour pickles. So I

9:55

think bread and butter pickles. Yeah, bread

9:57

and butter. So I think cucumbers, probably

10:00

that vegetable. that most people can't mostly

10:02

for pickles. Although we

10:04

pickled a lot of stuff. Okay,

10:06

do you tell me what else you have pickled?

10:08

I gotta know about this. Yeah, we pickled all

10:10

sorts of things. Pickled eggs? Pickled eggs, yeah, we

10:13

did that too. Well, they used to keep those

10:15

down at the general store. They

10:17

used to go down to the store and they

10:19

always had a big jar of pickled eggs, you

10:22

know, that you could get a real pickle and

10:24

a pickled egg to go along with whatever you

10:26

bought for your lunch at the general store down

10:28

there. But actually, like you were talking about the

10:31

rinds, you know, your watermelon rind, you can pickle

10:33

all that sort of thing too. I

10:35

love it so much. And so I grew up in

10:37

Kentucky. And when I left Kentucky,

10:39

a lot of people had a lot

10:42

of notions and feelings about what

10:44

they assumed I must have grown up eating.

10:46

And they weren't so kind about it. And

10:48

they made fun of me saying like, oh,

10:50

you must be such a grits eater. Do

10:52

you like, you know, eat squirrel and stuff?

10:54

And I was thinking, well, I actually do

10:56

really like squirrel. And

10:58

it took me a while to be proud of, you know,

11:00

sort of the food of Kentucky and where

11:03

I'm from. Did you ever have to get

11:06

to a place where you felt more proud about

11:08

where you're from and the kind of food you

11:10

have, or felt like you had to defend it

11:12

against anybody who was being snotty about it? Good.

11:17

Well, actually, I've always been proud of who

11:19

I am, where I'm from, and what I

11:21

hate. And to me, it's like

11:23

fun to tell people, you know, my

11:26

dad and my brothers used to go out

11:28

into the woods and bring home rabbit and

11:30

squirrels and all sorts of things. And we

11:32

knew how to cook it, we knew how

11:34

to prepare it. But we did eat things

11:36

that people think, oh my God, you ate

11:38

that. But when you live in the country,

11:41

you make do with what you've got. And

11:43

you're also a good cook, so you can

11:45

make almost anything taste good. Some things we

11:47

did not eat, like possum, but I guess

11:49

we got hungry enough, you can do that.

11:52

But there were certain things we did not

11:54

eat. That was more like a rodent, but we

11:56

did, you know, have ground hog and certain

11:58

things and bear meat. Every now and then

12:00

a bear would come down and you know, where

12:02

we would not go hunting for bear, but

12:05

in that part of the world. So that's

12:07

a gamey kind of meat, but yeah,

12:09

you can eat almost anything. And

12:12

so I'm not ashamed of anything we've ever

12:14

done. In fact, I still like some of

12:16

that today, if we can find it. We

12:18

don't have many, many things in our cookbooks

12:20

like that. But that's all

12:22

because we thought, well, maybe somebody like you

12:24

said might make fun of us. We

12:27

didn't know how to cook it. I had

12:30

to get a friend's husband to get me squirrel

12:32

meat when I cooked it last time because you can't

12:34

go to the grocery store and get it. We actually

12:36

had to do a handover. He had to hand me

12:38

a bag and I had to carry

12:41

it on the plane and explain what was in

12:43

the bag. That's when

12:45

where you're from kind of catches up with

12:47

you. What you got in

12:49

the bag? Well, it's just a squirrel. Can

12:52

I check that in? Do I have to

12:54

check that? Through security.

12:58

I'm thinking about the things, the foods that I've gotten

13:01

through security, pimento cheese through the security. They did not

13:03

want to let me have that through there. They

13:06

wanted it. They wanted to have that.

13:12

You sound like us though. We try to

13:14

carry food with us, pack it in our

13:16

suitcase, whatever. It's so

13:18

much fun because you get to share things you love

13:20

with people and you've done such a beautiful job with

13:23

that in this book. I want to go back to

13:25

a second. You said you'd love to go to restaurants.

13:28

Going out with a family of 12 siblings

13:31

and stuff had to be difficult

13:33

growing up just logistically. I'm thinking, what

13:36

was your relationship with restaurants growing up? Did

13:38

you go out or what kind of occasions?

13:41

We didn't go out as a family to

13:43

restaurants. There were too many of us. We

13:46

didn't have enough money for that. We

13:49

had to carry our squirrels with us. So

13:52

most of my stories and memories

13:54

of going out to

13:57

restaurants is when I'll be tagging

13:59

along. with Dolly and

14:01

my sisters. We would

14:04

venture and go to restaurants, but no, mom and

14:06

daddy didn't take us all to a restaurant.

14:09

Can you imagine that? No, I had

14:11

never thought of anybody thinking that we'd

14:13

have a country family going to restaurants.

14:15

Restaurants, like Rachel said, mostly happened after

14:17

we got grown and kind of moved

14:19

away, where we could afford to go

14:21

and try to build a little class

14:23

and try to make it seem like

14:25

we'd know how to go to a

14:27

nice restaurant in Aksu-Wol. It

14:30

was a special treat. It was

14:33

a treat. Still is. I

14:35

mean, I work at Food and Wine, and I

14:37

still get nervous going into restaurants sometimes, because

14:39

I think they're going to know I'm a girl

14:41

from Kentucky. But I have such a vivid memory

14:43

of kind of the first kind

14:46

of fancy restaurant meal. It was for my,

14:48

I think, first communion. And

14:50

we went to this place. It was a

14:52

French and Jewish place. We went over the

14:55

river into Cincinnati, and I thought it was

14:57

the fanciest thing in the whole world. I

14:59

had matzo ball soup, and I thought it

15:01

was the fanciest thing. Do you remember your

15:04

first fancy restaurant meal? Well, I remember feeling

15:06

awkward for a long time being from the

15:08

country when I first came to Nashville and

15:10

having to go have meetings, like in restaurants,

15:13

because we didn't go to restaurants.

15:15

And when we did, it was just a

15:17

little hole-in-the-wall country thing where

15:19

they'd serve the same kind of food we grew

15:21

up in. But I was always so nervous because

15:23

I didn't know how to use the

15:26

right fork or the right spoon or

15:28

the right glass. And even to this

15:30

day, I'm not sure I know how

15:32

to do all that. So I just

15:34

remember being uneasy, trying to watch other

15:36

people see what they were doing so

15:38

I wouldn't make any big mistakes. But

15:40

for country people, when you're not used

15:42

to that, it's very uneasy

15:44

with that. I still

15:46

have a tendency when I'm at big bank, which

15:48

is tough to be sure I'm watching, I've

15:51

got the right thing at the right time,

15:53

the right fork and all that. The

15:56

thing is, I bet everybody at that table is watching to see what

15:58

you're doing and then they're trying to copy you. And

16:00

I have to say, I've had the

16:02

pleasure of eating at Granny Ogle's Ham

16:05

and Beans at Dollywood. At Dollywood, yeah.

16:07

That's my best friend Judy's mother, Blanche,

16:09

would name that after her. Everybody called her

16:11

Granny Ogle, but that's good to eat, nae

16:13

nae. I cried. I was so,

16:16

I was so emotional that day in general. And

16:18

I sat and I had my ham and beans,

16:20

and that cornbread in the skillet was...

16:22

Oh, took you home. It was such

16:25

a beautiful thing. The whole was super

16:27

emotional, and I appreciate that so, so

16:29

much. And I'm very

16:31

curious about how then... Well,

16:33

first of all, Rachel, there was a little dangling

16:35

thread that I read in the intro that I

16:38

couldn't find in the book. How

16:40

did you end up making too much gravy when

16:42

Thanksgiving? Because my turkey didn't

16:44

turn out the way I thought it

16:47

would. Like I had dreamed it would

16:49

come out of the oven. And

16:52

I thought, now I've got a house

16:54

full of people, what am I going

16:56

to do? So I took the dark

16:58

meat and I made extra gravy and

17:00

extra bread, biscuits, and that's

17:02

just how it came about. And I

17:05

didn't say much. Everybody just thought that's

17:07

what I had planned all along. You

17:10

might do. That's right. Holidays

17:14

are full of a whole lot of

17:16

emotion and people come in with their

17:19

expectations of what

17:21

is supposed to be. But the

17:24

thing that you've done in the cookbook is really,

17:26

first of all, you start out with a champagne

17:28

cocktail. I believe you wrote, make the champagne cocktail

17:30

and then invite the people in? Well,

17:32

get on your own first and they'll think the

17:34

food is good. First have your

17:36

champagne cocktail and then invite your friends

17:38

and family to have one. But don't

17:41

forget your dirt road cocktail. Wait,

17:44

what's the dirt road cocktail? It's

17:46

iced tea and bourbon and it's pickled

17:49

vegetables. And so it's

17:51

not a sweet drink. It's more of

17:54

a little spicy and it

17:56

turns out great and it's really great

17:58

for summer. and with a

18:00

little ice. I call it martini. Yeah.

18:02

Dirt road martini. And that's right.

18:07

You just changed my life here. And

18:10

it's vodka. Maybe it was when

18:12

I had too much of the bourbon. Oh, the

18:15

orange and pink. Orange and pink. Or

18:17

the squirrel. Oh, yeah. Let

18:20

me tell you a fun about me and Rachel.

18:22

It's when we were talking about going in restaurants

18:24

to eat. First time we ordered off the menu,

18:26

corned beef and cabbage. And when they

18:28

brought it, we said, well, where's my corn? So

18:34

we got to get told she said,

18:36

you didn't order corn. I said, well, is

18:38

that corn, beef and cabbage? Could

18:40

you bring us some corn? Anyway,

18:43

we're getting goofy now. We'll

18:48

be back with more from Dolly Parton

18:50

and Rachel Parton George after the break.

18:58

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Learn more at americanexpress.com/with Amex. Welcome

19:34

back to tinfoil swans. Today I'm

19:36

chatting with Dolly Parton and Rachel

19:38

Parton George. What

19:40

do holidays look like? Do you still get to

19:42

have them together? That's a lot of folks.

19:44

What do holidays look like now for you, for

19:47

both of you? She's great at holidays. You

19:49

take that. Well, I

19:51

love holidays. And sometimes if we

19:53

can't celebrate the actual holiday, we

19:56

will make a time gear in

19:58

that season. we do

20:00

all the same cooking, we spend

20:03

time together and that's how we

20:05

do that. But for holiday, I

20:08

usually have a large grouping, my family

20:10

is big and I plan

20:12

my dinner and I think I

20:14

have in the book

20:16

just different steps to make it easier

20:19

if you're hosting and if you're the

20:21

main cook, how to step by step,

20:23

kind of how that works and it

20:25

will be easier all around for you,

20:27

you can enjoy it as well as

20:30

the cook. So that's the thing, I'm

20:33

somebody who struggles with anxiety and I love

20:36

to host though too and sometimes those things

20:38

are at odds, so I've had to figure

20:40

out all these tricks throughout the years to

20:42

make myself not nervous because I realize if

20:44

I'm nervous, that's translating out to the rest

20:46

of the guests. Okay, you've

20:48

got the cocktail, you've got the cocktail

20:50

going, you've got a cheese ball out

20:53

there by all accounts. Cheese

20:55

tree, a tree is a

20:57

crowd. A Christmas tree, which

20:59

we love that. We had fun naming

21:02

all of our our dishes as well.

21:05

Oh it comes through and there's

21:07

so many good just like jokes

21:09

and warmth and all that and

21:12

it feels like you've picked up recipes along

21:14

the way and I'm so curious about were

21:16

there cookbooks or like

21:18

food tv or any of that that were

21:20

in your home growing up or was it

21:23

very specifically like things that had been handed

21:25

down by your family, were there any like

21:28

what did that shelf look like because again Rachel I know that

21:30

you are a collector of these things. My

21:32

collecting really started with cookbooks

21:35

and recipes after I

21:38

was grown and had my home and

21:41

that's when I started collecting and then I

21:43

had my kitchen where I could try

21:45

different recipes and what worked. I

21:47

would write a note or tag

21:49

the page in the book saying

21:51

I want to remember this tag

21:53

this I'll go there again so

21:55

that's when it started but I

21:57

don't remember mama having recipes and

22:00

and books and that was just

22:02

something that I love to do.

22:04

I love to read cookbooks. That's

22:06

my favorite read, is

22:08

to read cookbooks and through the

22:10

reading of the book, then great

22:12

recipes. So that's- It gave

22:14

us a good structure too for when we got ready to

22:16

do a book. Rachel knew more about that than I did.

22:19

And so I said, well, yeah, well, since

22:21

you know all about books, I

22:23

know this will be good for us to

22:26

have one of our own. But Rachel is

22:28

such a serious cook. She really takes it

22:30

serious. But getting back to what you're talking

22:32

about, recipes in the country, I don't think

22:34

anybody ever kept the recipes. Sometimes if something

22:37

was really good, you'd beg somebody, please, you've

22:39

got to write these down. I

22:41

don't know what I put in it. Put a

22:43

little bit of it in a little dash of that, like

22:45

Rachel always saying. But you don't, you just

22:47

have to kind of think about it. And

22:49

then it usually doesn't turn out exactly the

22:52

same way that they did it. Cause there

22:54

was always something a little extra in

22:57

the food that you loved the most and the people you

22:59

loved the best. And

23:01

I will say also some people are guilty

23:03

of a recipe, where

23:06

it's like their thing that they're famous for and

23:08

then they leave out one ingredient. So yours is

23:10

not going to turn out as well. I

23:13

don't like that. I

23:15

want everyone to be so

23:18

happy and successful when they make

23:20

any of these recipes. I

23:23

want it to be fantastic. And

23:25

I know people like that. Well, I do

23:28

hold back on a couple of things myself.

23:31

That recipe is not even in the book. I have

23:33

a few little things that I make that everybody wants

23:35

me to give them the recipe. I said, I am

23:37

not doing it. They said, well, you have to do

23:39

it before you die. I said, no, you're just going

23:41

to have to miss me and say, God, I wish

23:44

you were still here. Don't you

23:46

wish I had this or that? So

23:48

you just have to remember me if you

23:50

don't know exactly what it was. But I

23:52

didn't even try to put those, I didn't

23:54

hold back on that. Rachel wouldn't

23:56

let me do that. She's too serious about all

23:58

this. I have to say, like. I love

24:00

the intros to all the recipes and a

24:02

thing that really bugs me,

24:05

and this is maybe an internet thing where

24:08

people get mad that they have to read a

24:10

whole story before they read the recipe. And

24:13

to me, getting to read somebody's

24:15

story of why a recipe is important

24:18

to them is getting to know them. They're

24:21

giving you a gift. So

24:23

when you went about doing these

24:26

stories that go along with the recipe, talk to

24:28

me about that and what that meant to you to

24:31

have this record. Well,

24:33

I think it's a journey, and I

24:35

wanted people to go through the book

24:37

and learn more about us, learn why

24:39

we like to make a recipe or

24:42

why it's in the book. I

24:44

think, to me, I love to

24:46

read cookbooks. So I wanted it to be

24:48

a good read and

24:50

a good cookbook. And I think

24:52

that's what we did. Yeah, we did. And

24:54

I love the pictures. We took pictures of

24:56

all the festivities and used a lot of

24:58

our family and a lot of the grandkids.

25:00

And so we love doing that. But when

25:02

you're cooking in the kitchen, if you've got

25:05

the book, while you're waiting on something out

25:07

of our book to cook, you can read

25:09

the stories. You don't have to. You can

25:11

go right to the recipes. But I think

25:13

most people are interested in, like

25:15

Rachel said, in how we got here and why.

25:18

And if not, they're going to look at the pictures. And

25:20

we just enjoyed doing it in hopes that

25:23

other people would enjoy getting

25:25

out of it what we really felt that we

25:27

were putting into it, just to be

25:29

enjoyed all the way, not just the food, but

25:31

the stories and all. That's why

25:33

I love cookbooks. They are storytelling. And

25:37

again, it's a gift to have that part of somebody's life.

25:39

Do you mind if your cookbooks are

25:41

messy, if there's stains on them? Do you

25:44

mind if somebody gets your cookbook and

25:47

it gets some margin notes,

25:49

gets some stains on it? Is that OK

25:51

with you? It's

25:53

OK with me. It's a little point.

25:57

I just can't trash my book. Rachel's

26:00

a little neater than I am. I

26:02

mean, even books that I'm reading that

26:04

ain't got nothing to do with cooking,

26:06

I'm always eating while I'm reading. And

26:09

even a good book that I'm reading

26:11

is got, I got tomato sauce here,

26:13

pizza sauce here, grease, you know, thumbprint

26:15

of grease on it. So

26:17

yeah, I'm a little messer than Rachel.

26:20

But you don't mess with her cookbooks. She

26:22

collects those. Oh, man.

26:24

What's the favorite cookbook? Well, a

26:28

friend of ours, Tricia Yearwood, has

26:30

one, well, she has many cookbooks,

26:32

but her books are a go-to

26:35

for me. Her recipes

26:37

always turn out great. And I

26:39

love how she

26:41

tells a little story. It's a

26:44

wonderful thing. And I love her

26:46

books. So she's one of my

26:48

go-tos. And I love

26:50

all the great old cooks, you know, like

26:52

Martha Stewart is one that we bought. Martha

26:54

Stewart. We've been doing some work with her

26:56

talking about our book. But I mean, we

26:58

love reading some of the stuff, you know,

27:00

the arts and the crafts and all the

27:03

other things she does and how to prepare

27:05

for that. But even those great old books,

27:07

The Betty Crocker, all of those things have

27:09

a moment from the crafts. Yeah, it's like

27:11

those are kind of like treasures. And if

27:13

you like to cook and eat, there's great

27:15

stuff in those. But there's a lot of

27:17

reading, you know, in a lot of those

27:19

books, too. So getting back to what you

27:21

were saying, people love to kind of read

27:23

about how to prepare for this and why

27:26

you like to do this and

27:28

doing it this way or that way.

27:30

So they're just fun. I think cooking

27:32

is fun. Eating is more fun. And

27:34

writing books has been a lot of

27:36

fun. It has. So

27:38

much of your book is about family and

27:41

things. But family is all different kinds of

27:43

things. So much of my family, they're not

27:45

blood family, but they are my chosen family.

27:47

And that's so important to me at the

27:50

holidays is to be with people I love.

27:52

Doesn't matter if I share DNA with them

27:54

or anything. So can we

27:56

talk about the importance of like getting

27:58

folks around the table? and who's around

28:00

the table and what celebration looks like

28:02

to you. She's great at that. Well,

28:04

I love that. We have a large

28:06

family, my husband and I. We have

28:09

a blended family, so we have our

28:12

children. Now we have grandchildren, and then

28:14

we have friends that we want to

28:16

always include. Or someone maybe is not

28:19

able to be at home with their

28:21

families. We, you know, come on over,

28:23

we'd love to have you. And that's

28:26

what it is for me. That was a good

28:28

term you use, choice, family of choice, you know,

28:30

to choose the people that you want to be

28:32

with you. They feel like family, and you're comfortable

28:34

with them, and you enjoy their company. Because a

28:36

lot of your own family, you can't say that

28:38

about. Some of them are

28:40

not always fun around the table. You

28:43

know, people are talking about stuff you don't want to talk

28:45

about. But when you choose your,

28:47

you know, your group of friends that

28:49

you know you're going to have a

28:51

wonderful day and enjoy the food and

28:53

the camaraderie. It's

28:56

really special. Those are the moments they take

28:58

with me in my heart. And you know,

29:00

I just think it's so special anytime somebody

29:02

writes a cookbook that there's a potential that

29:04

a recipe in their cookbook and now in

29:07

your cookbook could become a regular holiday thing

29:09

or just in the regular rotation of

29:11

somebody else's home. That's

29:14

an extraordinary thing. You're making future

29:16

heirlooms. It's such a beautiful, beautiful

29:18

book. And I realized that it

29:20

had been photographed by Aubrey Pick,

29:22

who was such a special human

29:24

being, a special photographer who sadly

29:26

passed a little while ago. And

29:29

that book is such a tribute to all of you

29:31

who worked on it. It's a really stunning thing. And

29:33

I imagine it's going to make a great holiday present

29:35

for folks. Oh, yeah. We're

29:37

going to sign a lot of books this Christmas. We're not

29:39

even going to get to have Christmas because we're going to

29:41

be signing books. We're going to be signing,

29:43

I think. Do you know what you're getting for Christmas? Yeah, books.

29:46

Signed books. Okay. I'll sign one

29:48

to you. You sign one to me. But

29:51

you also have a lot of other products that are out there

29:54

now, too. And I think that's a really special thing. I've

29:56

got some of the cake mix at

29:58

my house. I believe

30:00

there's some wine now. Yeah, we

30:02

got accolade wines. We got all sorts of wines

30:04

to serve with all the good food that we've

30:07

cooked in the book. And we've got makeup, so

30:09

we're going to look pretty when

30:11

we show up at our dinner. So

30:13

we got some of everything. And

30:16

there's pet stuff, too, for childless dog ladies like

30:18

me. And

30:21

I deeply appreciate that as well. I'm also

30:23

so curious. I'm so fascinated by how people

30:25

eat while they're out on tour. Because

30:28

you don't always have a choice when you're traveling around,

30:30

like how and what you eat. Do you go to

30:32

local restaurants? Do you eat on the bus? How

30:35

does that all happen when you're doing a giant tour? Well,

30:39

both. Both, yeah. We cook

30:42

on the bus, have

30:44

a kitchen, and so we love to

30:46

make meals. But we also love to

30:48

go to restaurants. We know the city

30:51

by the restaurant. That's very true. So

30:53

we want to make sure that we

30:55

go to that restaurant. And I

30:58

think it's all of it. Yeah, I

31:00

do, too. We know every greasy spoon

31:02

and every truck stop from here to

31:04

yon. And like Rachel

31:06

said, sometimes there's a restaurant. You just

31:08

have to go to this steakhouse

31:10

in Kansas City if you're going through there.

31:13

But a lot of times, we just cook

31:15

up a bunch of stuff at home and

31:18

put it in containers and put it on the

31:20

bus. So at least if we're not getting what

31:23

we want, or if it's not exactly satisfying,

31:25

we can always go drag it out of

31:27

the freezer and put it in the micro.

31:30

I have such a food

31:32

memory, actually, associated to my

31:35

friend Lisa Townsend Rogers, longtime music critic. And

31:37

she lives in Vegas. And she emailed

31:40

me one night many years ago. It was about 11

31:42

o'clock at night. And she said, I have seventh row

31:44

tickets to see Dolly Parton tomorrow. Wouldn't it be fun

31:46

if you could come out? I

31:48

was at lunch on the Vegas Strip by

31:51

the next day. And I just

31:55

remember sitting at this restaurant across from

31:57

where those fountains are at the Bellagio.

32:00

and thinking, I have made all the best choices

32:02

in my life. They're leading

32:04

to me having oysters and champagne on

32:06

the Vegas Strip and then going to

32:08

see Dolly Parton that night, so. Do

32:10

you enjoy the show? I

32:13

once again, I sobbed. It is

32:15

one of the greatest memories of

32:18

my entire life. I was so

32:20

happy. And I bought

32:22

a little sweat cuff thing that I

32:24

still have. And

32:27

I usually drink my morning coffee out of my Dolly so

32:30

you're with me at a lot of meals. Yeah, I'll

32:32

be selling some stuff. Well,

32:36

see, I do want to talk about also Lodge Cast

32:39

Iron and what you all have done with

32:41

Gatlinburg because I think it's such a special

32:43

thing. Gatlinburg was a place where growing up,

32:45

people would go on vacations from. So I'm

32:48

from northern Kentucky. People go to Gatlinburg for

32:50

a little getaway. And you all

32:52

have done so much, especially after the fires. And

32:54

it's been a really important thing. And I know

32:57

you have collaborations with Lodge. So

32:59

if we want to talk about community for a second and

33:01

getting involved in all of that, it's

33:04

just such an important thing to me to talk

33:06

about. Yeah, well, it is important. And we were

33:08

very proud to be part of that whole thing

33:10

when the fires did come. And of course, everybody's

33:12

got to have an iron skillet. So whether

33:15

it's at my Lodge, my new hotel, or

33:18

if it's a skillet that we're going to

33:20

make cornbread, and whether or not it's going

33:22

to help somebody else. So if you can

33:24

do things and represent things and endorse things

33:27

where it really helps everybody, that makes

33:29

you feel even better. And of course,

33:32

nothing better than a good old iron

33:34

skillet, right? And nothing better than Gatlinburg

33:36

also. Also, would

33:38

you mind? And you can answer this

33:40

separately or together. Talk to me

33:42

about how you take care of your cast iron. Because that

33:44

is such hot debate. Well,

33:47

we both do it the same, but you're going to have to

33:49

tell it, since I've talked way too much. Well,

33:52

cast iron skillet, for me, is

33:54

so special. No

33:57

one really touches wash. or

34:01

cooks with it in my house. That

34:03

is mine. And

34:06

then when the food is finished and dinner

34:08

is over, I

34:11

take the iron skillet and I just

34:14

gently wash the skillet and

34:16

then I dry it and I put it away.

34:19

Don't leave it out. Don't put a

34:22

lot of soap or detergents or

34:24

scrubbing. That's how I

34:27

take care. Don't you scrub no water on it?

34:30

Well, I do before I cook. Before

34:34

I cook. I remember back when I was

34:36

growing up, mom always cleaned her

34:38

skillet and she'd take a rag, like

34:41

with the lard and smooth it out cause she

34:43

knew she needed it on the wall. And I

34:45

remember one time I had a friend that had

34:47

stayed over and we really take that series

34:49

about the iron skillet growing up, you know, you

34:52

did learn that. And I had a friend stay

34:54

over and put my iron skillet in the dishwasher.

34:57

And then it's like, it just takes all

35:00

that. And then you just got that little,

35:02

that brownie rusty thing. And it's like, I

35:04

don't think, I never

35:06

got it then back to my house. My

35:13

skillet, I found under an old

35:15

chicken shed in the mud and

35:19

we had bought a place and it came

35:21

with this chicken shed and I found it

35:23

and I brought it back to life. It's

35:25

a hundred years old. I named it Selma

35:27

after my grandmother. And that thing

35:29

gleams and it never leaves my stove top cause

35:31

I love that thing. And I keep

35:33

it shiny with bacon grease. People waste

35:35

bacon grease. What are they thinking? Well,

35:38

you have to recondition, you

35:40

know, your skillet. Just keep them conditioned.

35:42

And I use mine so much, I

35:44

don't have to condition

35:47

them every time. There's an old country

35:49

song called Keep My Skillet Good and

35:51

Greasy all over town. So, I'm serious

35:53

about it. I'm

35:56

serious, it's like a song, look it up. And

35:58

it's just a bad song. you know, just

36:00

keeping the home fires burning and keep the

36:03

food on the table and do whatever. So

36:06

that's kind of how we are. So keep my

36:08

skin good and greasy. I

36:10

love that. And I think the recipe I keep coming

36:12

back to in the book, like in addition to the

36:15

cheese tree, I'm such a cheese person, is

36:18

there's a green beans recipe

36:20

in there that is

36:22

so simple and so beautiful.

36:25

Can you just describe that to folks? Because

36:27

I just think it's such a pure and

36:29

lovely recipe. We have two

36:31

in the book. You're talking

36:34

about southern green beans. Yeah. They're

36:37

fantastic. They're smothered children. They're

36:39

smothered children and pulled down.

36:42

Remember how when we grew up,

36:44

you'd put a pot of beans on. I

36:46

remember us killing the beans, growing beans, snapping

36:49

the beans, cooking the beans and letting

36:51

them cook all day in that bacon

36:53

grease or fat back or whatever.

36:55

Put in there to season. And when it

36:58

would cook all day in there, there was

37:00

no taste like that in the world. And

37:02

we wanted to try to duplicate that as close as we

37:04

could in those country southern beans

37:06

in our book. So I think we

37:08

got pretty close. We got pretty close.

37:11

Yes. And I know it's

37:13

so hard picking a favorite. Do

37:15

you each have a favorite recipe from

37:17

the book or something that you really

37:19

think, like, obviously all the recipes

37:21

show who you are or else you wouldn't have put

37:23

them in there. But is there one thing more than

37:26

anything else that really just feels like this is me

37:28

on a plate in a glass? All

37:31

of it. We're big on meatloaf and chicken

37:34

and dumplings. So those are two things that

37:36

we always think we got to

37:38

have that at least once a month, you

37:40

know, so once

37:42

a day, I had my choice. Almost

37:46

good hardy, simple things

37:48

that are just satisfying, good comfort

37:51

food, soul food, as they say.

37:54

Well, we're running up on time, but I do want to

37:56

sort of close out on the chicken and dumplings, because

37:59

when And my husband and I,

38:01

in January, will have been together for 20 years. And

38:05

we, he's best tell

38:07

him every day he's my favorite person in the world.

38:10

And for our wedding, we wanted to serve food

38:12

that we had grown up eating and we

38:14

made his grandmother's chicken and dumplings. And it's

38:17

a very simple recipe. And

38:19

he's from North Carolina. And it's

38:21

just, it's something we both really treasure. And

38:24

I wrote about this. And somebody

38:26

wrote back, and the

38:28

commenters are always going to comment, and

38:30

saying, like, you know, don't you care about your

38:33

guests? Why are you serving them cheap slop? And

38:36

thinking, how dare you? This is

38:38

a gift. Like chicken and dumplings is such a

38:40

pure and beautiful gift. And I would love if

38:42

you would tell me about your chicken and dumplings

38:44

in the book and why they're so important to

38:46

you. Well, we love chicken

38:48

and dumplings and we often have

38:50

them every holiday, no matter what

38:52

else we cook. As always, we

38:55

try to have a pot of

38:57

chicken and dumplings. Dolly makes

38:59

great chicken and dumplings. In

39:02

the book, someone

39:04

does a chair recipe of- She's

39:06

talking about me, of course. This

39:10

one in the book is mine that

39:12

I use and I, through

39:14

the years, have, this is what

39:16

I cook and my husband loves it.

39:19

Our kids loved it. And it's

39:21

just, and you love it. It

39:24

just turned out really well. It's a little

39:26

different than the chicken and dumplings that we

39:29

grew up with. And

39:31

that's because I first take the chicken and

39:33

then I fried a little bit in the

39:35

butter and then I just start the whole

39:37

process that way. The original chicken

39:39

and dumplings recipe is where you take the

39:41

whole chicken and you put it in the

39:43

pot and cover it with broth

39:46

and you cook that. But in

39:48

this book, it kind of, I

39:51

don't think it is as intimidating

39:53

as say, maybe

39:56

your chicken and dumplings or mama's

39:58

chicken and dumplings. That's

40:01

what I think. My dumplings are

40:03

intimidating. Well, they are. When

40:06

the way that you guard them, the

40:09

way that you don't let me in

40:11

the kitchen. I

40:13

want you to remember me when I'm gone. Oh,

40:16

I wish I had some of those chicken

40:18

in me. But seriously, getting back

40:21

to the dumplings, when we were growing up,

40:23

we always had our own chickens. Like we

40:25

had our own food, and we were talking

40:27

about canning and all. But we

40:29

always had a yard full of chickens. And

40:31

so that was just something, especially on Sundays,

40:33

when the preacher would come over, mom would

40:36

say, well, I guess the best thing we

40:38

can cook is just some good old chicken

40:40

and dumplings. So I just really think that

40:42

there's just something hearty about that, and something

40:44

sweet, and it is always good, no matter

40:46

whether it's your recipe or mine, or momma's

40:48

or yours. I think everybody kind

40:50

of has their own little take on it. And

40:53

I think now more than ever, we need

40:55

comfort. And you're serving that up

40:58

in this book. Could you each tell

41:00

me what comfort means to

41:03

you? Well,

41:05

I feel comforted just being

41:07

with my family. I start

41:09

having to get a chance to

41:11

do something great. And you're so right, this day and

41:13

time, families are

41:16

falling apart with politics, or this or

41:18

that or the other. And it's always

41:20

so wonderful. If you can find that

41:22

warmth and that love, and kind of

41:24

keep things together, and what can bring

41:26

families or friends together more than good

41:29

food. You can put your differences aside

41:31

if your dumplings are good enough. I

41:34

think that's your slogan, you're running for

41:36

everything, Queen of the Universe. Dumplings

41:40

are the solution. And Rachel, what does comfort mean

41:42

to you? Comfort is

41:44

family to me. My

41:47

family is my comfort, and I love

41:50

to cook for my family. And

41:52

I love it when you come to my

41:54

house, and then I love it when the

41:56

kids come to the house. And I

41:59

love it when they call. and say, can you

42:01

make this and this today? Or I'll

42:03

call them and say, you're coming over Sunday,

42:05

right? What do you want? You know, and

42:07

they'll say, I want this and this and

42:09

this, or something else. I'll say,

42:11

well, I got a new recipe. Are you ready

42:14

for that? Sometimes they'll say yes. Sometimes

42:16

they'll go, no, I

42:18

think I want the one that you

42:20

made, the one you always make. So

42:24

that's comforting to me. That's

42:26

really lovely. And I've got one

42:29

more question that I ask everybody. So

42:32

the name of this podcast is Tinfoil Swans.

42:35

Does that mean anything to you at

42:37

all? OK. The breast cream, that clip.

42:39

Of course that means something does. Every

42:41

fine restaurant needs to go to. We

42:43

had asked for food to go. Yeah,

42:45

and they said, oh, it's not kosher

42:48

to ask for food to go in a fine

42:50

restaurant. I said, to hell with that. I

42:52

paid a fortune for that. I'm going

42:55

to eat that for three or four days.

42:57

So no, that swan. I love it. I

42:59

love that swan. So yeah, that's a good

43:01

title for this podcast. I love that. So

43:03

much. Because we wanted people to have something

43:06

to take away later. And I'm

43:08

so grateful to you for your time. And I know

43:10

you're so busy. And this book has done such good

43:12

for my heart. And I just can't

43:15

wait for the rest of the world to see it.

43:17

So much care has gone into it. And I appreciate

43:19

you both so much. This is a

43:21

joy talking with you. Thank you. Very

43:24

sweet. You're like talking to an old friend. Thank

43:26

you very much. I'll cook you squirrel anytime.

43:30

All right. All right. Thank

43:34

you so much for listening to my

43:36

conversation with Dolly Parton and Rachel Parton-George.

43:38

Be sure to follow Tin Foil Swans

43:41

wherever you listen to podcasts. And we

43:43

would love your feedback. If

43:45

you could rate this podcast, leave us a

43:47

review. We would really appreciate it. I

43:50

would really appreciate it. And you

43:52

can also find us online at

43:54

foodandwine.com/Tin Foil Swans. And

43:56

when I say us and we, I

43:59

mean our fantastic. fantastic production

44:01

team, Lottie Le Marie, Jennifer

44:03

Del Sol, Michael Onufrak, Amelia

44:05

Schwartz, Ashley Day, Melanie Hunchy,

44:07

Sean Flynn, and Hunter Lewis.

44:09

Make sure to come back

44:11

next week to hear my

44:13

interview with actor, internet icon,

44:15

and brand new entrepreneur, Tom

44:17

Holland. Yeah, that Tom Holland.