Meredith Hayden , the culinary powerhouse behind some of your favourite food tendency , dishes on everything from her upcoming cookery book — and what she ’s unrestrained for longsighted - clip fans to see — to her first mega - viral videos .
Swamp soup , tomato galettes , sungold tomato alimentary paste — name a mega - viral food movement from the last few long time , and you may probably draw it back to Wishbone Kitchen , aka Meredith Hayden .
With a combined 3.7 million followers across her accounts — TikTok is her largest platform , with 2.3 million followers — and a steady track record of millions of video recording views , Hayden ’s societal medium credentials are beyond verified , but her real - world credentials are equally impressive . Hayden is an Institute of Culinary Education - trained chef who spent years lick as a individual chef ; she spend her childhood shadowing her mother in the kitchen and once daydream of a calling in food media . Now , with a cookbook ( The Wishbone Kitchen Cookbook , out May 6 ) on the way and a passionate fanbase ( just ask them about how one might spend a day in the Hamptons as a individual chef ) , Hayden ’s dreams are a little larger , and she ’s laborious at employment making them all happen .
Credit:Annie Schlechter
For ourMay cover shoot , we spend the day with Hayden at theHôtel Barrière Fouquet ’s New York , nestled in the same informal TriBeCa neighbourhood as her new apartment . ( Tragically , her housemate Poppy , a heart - steal Bernese Mountain Dog name for Hayden ’s best-loved flowers , had a anterior date . )
We talked about her self - proclaim flop geological era , first viral television , and hottest hot food take ; we lionise the destruction of a successful photo shoot with two of Hayden ’s favorites , Diet Coke and caviare , with the caviare serve in Wishbone Kitchen style : a generous dollop of crème fraîche and a scoop of caviare on tater chips . ( The cow chip , of course , were Bonilla a La Vista , a Spanish brand useable at Citarella , one of Hayden ’s most - shop grocery computer memory from her days as a private chef . )
Read on for snipping from the convo we had with Hayden on shoot twenty-four hours , and be sure to check out our May cover story sport Meredith Hayden for more about social media ’s favorite chef .
Credit:Annie Schlechter
The Early Days
Your mom inspired the name Wishbone Kitchen; did she also inspire your love of cooking and hosting?
I have really affectionate memories of weeknight dinners , and she was always slap-up about making delicious meal for us every single Nox . It made me really apprise home cooking and that house facet of get together around the board every nighttime to have dinner .
Tell us about your first “Day in the Life” video.
I shoot my first Clarence Day in My Life as a weekend in my spirit as a private chef in the Hamptons . I filmed it October 2021 , and I did n’t post it until February or March 2022 because after I take it and edit out it , I was like , “ Who cares ? This video is so zany . What am I go to do with this ? Why would I ever post this ? No one ’s going to care . ” So I did n’t station the video for five months . And when I in the end posted it and it initiate doing really well , I was like , “ Oh my God , I could have been doing this the whole time . ”
What made you finally post the video?
I was bring out , and I had to bear the bills . I heard people were get a lot of money on TikTok , and a circle of my catering clients were scrub because of the Omicron discrepancy . A lot of outcome were getting canceled . multitude had just started hosting again after the pandemic , and then there was this blip of , OK , waitress , we all postulate to go back indoors and blockade dumbfound together . I was like , “ Oh my gosh , I need to make money fast . ” And I thought the humiliation of being vulnerable on the internet was deserving potentially being capable to pay off rent that month .
Annie Schlechter
Tell us more about that challenging time in your life. Would you call it your flop era?
My flop geological era was crucial for me because it transfuse a storey of desperation that encouraged me to go outside my consolation zona and take the bounce and be vulnerable on the cyberspace . Without that despair , I do n’t get it on if I ever would have had the trust to do that .
How did it feel, going viral on social media like that?
I was really frantic , because I ’ve always loved social medium . I ’ve always loved creating content , and so when I saw my first few videos go viral , I started opine a future with this being my job , and I come really excited to potentially have that opportunity to keep realize food television and make a living off of doing that . It seems to have worked out pretty well so far !
Your following grew really quickly; did you feel like things changed equally quickly for you after you started posting regularly?
It ’s funny because a destiny of my life stay the same for two years . I was really just videotaping myself at work , and it was really exciting to see people respond so well to the video recording . It gave me hope that I could make something out of this in terminal figure of posting contentedness online rather than being a private chef . It was very much an out - of - body experience , in some ways .
Meredith Hayden
It ’s funny because a fate of my life rest the same for two age .
What was it like, going from private chef to viral video and recipe creator?
I went into private chef work sleep with it was temporary . My end finish had always been to do cookbooks and content , whether it was recipe blogging or working for a food cartridge clip . I always knew that was the direction I wanted to go in . The second my first video rifle viral , I was like , “ OK , we ’re go to make this piece of work . ” I had my blog up with recipe long before I had any sort of following . I had like 200 followers on Instagram when I started posting recipes , so it was kind of always the destination .
Cookbook Corner
Did you run into any surprises while creating your cookbook? You’re not new to recipe development.
I ’m surprise at how fast time go by . You believe , “ Oh , we ’re go to make this book in a year and a one-half . That ’s lot of time . ” Oh my God , I would have doubled or tripled the amount of time I had to make this ledger if I could have . I think that was a big surprisal for me , how big of an undertaking it was .
What are you excited for fans to see in the cookbook?
One thing I ’m emotional to see that I ’ve never posted about and never talked about online , that people do n’t bang , is in the record book are all of these gorgeous water-color house painting between chapter . They ’re all inhale by different part of the Hamptons and unlike parts of the dinner party company cognitive operation . We hired this incredible creative person who did these picture , and they ’re just so whimsical and so cute . I wanted the leger to be fun for people who were n’t even planning on cookery , so they ’re just these really cute , fun prints sprinkled throughout the playscript . It ’s really almost like a photo Quran .
In the Kitchen with Meredith
What’s your hottest take about cooking right now?
Normalize not meal prepping really big container of land meat and rice and reheat them for five days in a words . There are other pick . We do n’t have to be doing that .
So what do you suggest instead?
Make soup that you’re able to put in the Deepfreeze and not give yourself food poisoning . You could also batch out your food prep , so you prep ingredients instead of in full cooking your meals all the fashion through . Like hack up an onion in the get-go of the week to use throughout the week so you do n’t have to get out the cutting board . I call up that ’s sometimes the time - saver that you require or else of just rely on fully cook everything to culmination and microwave it . It ’s a good trivial hacker .
Once you accompany recipes and measure recipes enough , you ’ll get prosperous enough to confuse out the measuring spoonful .
Do you measure as you cook?
I never appraise . I go off of vibraharp . Tasting as you cook is much more important than measuring . But I will say that if you ’re just set out out in the kitchen , it ’s really great to valuate , to get familiar with the proportions of certain ingredients . And know this is a standard amount of garlic for this amount of tomato sauce , for example . And then eventually you ’ll start to pick up on the small pattern of preparation , because it ’s all really the same , just different combinations of the same techniques . Once you keep abreast formula and measure recipes enough , you ’ll get comfortable enough to throw out the measuring spoons .
Do you allow animals in your kitchen?
Yes , animals in the kitchen . Because I get laid dogs .
Pretend it’s a cozy night at home: Are you ordering takeout or cooking?
There are certain moments where I ’m really enthralled with the mind of gain a certain recipe , and I can not go to sleep until I make it . If that ’s the case , I ’ll cook . And I like to use my cozy nights in to do those play , data-based recipes . But honestly , I ’ve been on a pretty serious takeout carousal late .
Swamp Soup, Birria Tacos, and Chicken Salad, Oh My
Your swamp soup has been one of your most popular recipes—how did you come up with the recipe?
I have a especial relationship with swampland soup . I was n’t even go to post that recipe television . It was literally me scavenge out my fridge and using leftover to make something that I could rust for lunch . And I was like , I guess I ’ll film this . I require to post something this calendar week . And it finish up being my most pop formula . So I ’ll always love her , but I think my preferent soup of all time is the ribollita soup in my cookery book . But I ’m not just saying that to plug the cookbook , it really is so well . It ’s tomatoes , veggie , white beans . I blend it up so it ’s a silky puree consistence with these thyme sourdough croutons on top . It ’s really good .
What has been your favorite viral TikTok food moment?
Birria greaser . I feel like we forget , in 2021 , those were drink down off , and I had never heard of them before . I ’m from New Jersey , we do n’t have smashing Mexican cuisine up here , but I made birria tacos , and my life has changed forever . They ’re so skillful .
I ’ve just been a busy daughter , making a portion of chicken salad .
What dishes are you making the most right now?
I ’ve been making a bunch of crybaby salad . Normalize it ! I ’ve just been a fussy miss , making a circle of chicken salad . A lot of oatmeal , blueberry rolled oats . Again , boring , but this is life . And — oh my God — these chocolate-brown butter pecan cookies I acquire in December . I made the recipe so many clip that I did n’t terminate up deciding on the terminal recipe before the holidays , so it has yet to total out . But these cooky are serious , and I ’m addicted to them , and I have one every morning when I walk the dog .
You posted about celebrating the holidays with a caviar, potato chips, and crème fraîche combo. Will you be serving this high-low pairing all year long?
I be given more towards serving this during the wintertime months , when seasonal produce is at a lull , and there ’s nothing super fun and exciting at the farmer ’s market or at the grocery store . It ’s a very easy , fun , exciting appetiser . But in the summer , I am grabbing for caviar less , because I ’m usually foaming at the mouth for a tomato or a beautiful squash .
Hosting + Homemaking
What does hosting mean to you?
grow up , we always had really over - the - top Thanksgiving weekend with my family unit and my cousins . My daddy ’s the Old of five , and we have so many cousins , and I just loved having those extended weekends at my cousin ’s house with all of us running around , all the sleeping over . And I think that ’s where I fell in love with hosting in a menage setting alternatively of go somewhere . It just feels well-off , and it feels really personal . And I think that ’s my favorite part about bringing masses to your nursing home : You ’re able to just relax and do your thing .
There are a ton of different depictions of homemaking out there. What does homemaking mean to you?
Homemaking for me is just within me : I experience this urge to cuddle at all times , and I ’m not preparing for a baby . I ’m not nesting for a man , I ’m not nuzzle for a family . I ’m doing it for myself . That ’s the boeuf I have with trad wife subject , I guess . It ’s always through the lens of , “ I ’m doing this for my hubby . ” And that makes me feel icky , because if you ’re not doing it for yourself , you should n’t just do it for your husband . That ’s not right . So I like to approach hosting , homemaking , home cookery , with a lens of , I ’m doing this because I enjoy it . It make me happy . And this is how I wish to pass my fourth dimension , menses . close of word .
On Decorating and Design
You just bought a new house—how is the decorating process going?
There have been a lot of learning moments as I set off furnishing my house . I really like pass water it up as I go , and there have been some failure for sure , but it ’s been a lot of fun .
I really like make it up as I go , and there have been some nonstarter for sure .
What’s your approach to decorating?
I think it ’s really just , I see something , I like it , I see a different thing , I care it , and I hope they go together . Sometimes they do n’t .
How do your personal style and your decorating style overlap?
My personal way and my home style are similar in that I wish a jeans - and - a - ashen - top moment , but a footling second dissimilar , whether it ’s structurally unlike or a pop of colour . That ’s kind of how I ’ve approached all of my unlike design epoch . It ’s been a passably evident base with either pops of colour with stroke pillows or texture or whatever , but when you trim it down to what the factual base of the elbow room is , it ’s very simple . It has a dungaree and a white T - shirt feel to it . I feel like that ’s my signature approachable approach . But also , I know that it ’s malleable : As my taste sensation and my pursuit change , I can trade out stroke pillow for a whole different room .
This interview has been edited for length and clarity .
Credit:Annie Schlechter
Credit:Annie Schlechter
Credit:Annie Schlechter
