Cheryl Day Transcript

 Cheryl Day Transcript

Kerry Diamond:
Hey everybody, you are listening to Radio Cherry Bombe. I'm your host Kerry Diamond. It's Thanksgiving week so we're going to talk with one of my favorite bakers Cheryl Day about her plans for the days ahead. Cheryl is one of the most beloved bakers down south. Her shop, Back In The Day Bakery is a fixture in Savannah, thanks to Cheryl's cupcakes, pies and other treats. Also, Cheryl has a brand new book out and it is a significant contribution to the world of cookbooks, I don't say that lightly, titled Cheryl Day's Treasury of Southern Baking. It clocks in at 400 pages and features more than 200 recipes from Cheryl's famous biscuits to gathering cakes, scones, cobblers, jams, preserves and sweet and savory butters. Cheryl and I talk about the pies they're making at her bakery this week, her three bread stuffing and whether she's doing a turkey or not. I'd like to thank today's sponsors, Kerrygold and Modern Sprout.

Kerrygold of course is the maker of beautiful butter and cheese with dairy from Irish grass fed cows. Their butter cheese are the perfect products for all your holiday baking, making and cooking and snacking. Thanks to Kerrygold. We'll be bringing you special conversations with some of our favorite bakers like Cheryl throughout the holiday season. Our baker friends will share tips, tricks and inspiration for making beautiful baked goods for all your celebrations. We'll hear a word from Kerrygold in just a minute.

And let's talk Modern Sprout. If you have a plant lover on your holiday gift list, you need to know about Modern Sprout. The folks who have made indoor gardening easier for you and your loved ones. They have an amazing offer for this upcoming Black Friday. All Modern Sprout products are 30% off on Black Friday so don't miss it. And the in 25% off on Cyber Monday. So this holiday weekend is the perfect time to purchase one of their glow lights, gift sets or plant accessories. Shop for your planty friends, your favorite college student, the teachers in your life or even yourself. If you have someone on your gift list and no idea what to get them, Modern Sprout is especially great because, and you know this is true, everybody loves plants.

A few other ideas, check out Modern Sprout's Bright Side seed balls. Each box comes with five assorted seed balls that channel the spirit of the season offered in grow peace, grow comfort and grow love. They make a great host's gift or party favor. Modern Sprout also has seasonal bulb kits for paper whites, my favorites. You know paper whites. They are those beautiful, delicate flowers that smell as gorgeous as they look. This Black Friday at modsprout.com, 30% off and Cyber Monday, 25% off. Please note everybody, these discounts cannot be combined with any other offers.

Some Cherry Bombe housekeeping. If you live in or near Washington, DC, Cheryl Day and I are doing a special live event with Bold Fork Books on Tuesday, December 7th, it's taking place at DC's Past Tense Studio. Tickets are $40 and come with a sign come of Cheryl's new book. I would love to see you if you're in town. Visit boldforkbooks.com for tickets and more details. Also, thanks to everyone who joined us for a very Cherry Bombe Friendsgiving. It was so much fun. If you missed anything, you can catch all the demos, talks and panels on Cherry Bombe's YouTube channel. Now for quick word from our friends at Kerrygold and then we'll check in with Cheryl Day.

Kerrygold Ad Read:
Kerrygold is delicious, all natural butter and cheese made with milk from Irish grass fed cows. Our farming families pass their craft and knowledge from generation to generation. One fifth generation goes back over 250 years. This traditional approach is the reason for the rich taste of Kerrygold. Enjoy delicious new sliced or shredded Kerrygold chatter cheese available in mild or savory flavors at a retailer near you. Find your nearest store kerrygoldusa.com

Kerry Diamond:
Cheryl Day, welcome to Radio Cherry Bombe.

Cheryl Day:
Hey, thanks for having me Kerry.

Kerry Diamond:
Thank you for being on the show. You're a busy lady right now.

Cheryl Day:
I am busy, but I will always make time for you.

Kerry Diamond:
Oh, you have this gorgeous new cookbook that's out right now, Cheryl Day's Treasury of Southern Baking and the word treasury is like really literal because this is a heavy book.

Cheryl Day:
It is heavy. It is heavy and I'm so proud of it.

Kerry Diamond:
Oh, you should be. How long did you work on it? I feel like you've been working on this forever.

Cheryl Day:
I know. I feel like it seems like forever. I would say probably five years. I mean, it seems like my whole life in some ways, but five years I would say.

Kerry Diamond:
Yeah, I was going to say that. I think this is also the kind of book that represents a lifetime.

Cheryl Day:
Totally. Totally.

Kerry Diamond:
I want to ask, you made an interesting family discovery that informed this book in a lot of ways. And I don't know the timetable. I'm talking about going through your mother's journals.

Cheryl Day:
Right. Right.

Kerry Diamond:
And discovering something about your family didn't necessarily know. Which came first? Were you going through your mother's journals as research?

Cheryl Day:
I was, but I have to say, so my mom passed away when I was 22. So I've had this journal and it seems that every time I looked at it at different points in my life, something of value would just pop out at me every time I looked at it. And this time I was looking for obviously doing family research for the book and I discovered that or rediscovered I should say, that my great-great-grandmother Hannah Queen Queen Grubbs was born enslaved, which I knew, but what I didn't really remember is specifically, I knew she baked, but then certain things my mom talked about like she was known for her biscuit. She was the best biscuit baker in her whole county and she was making small cakes tinted and delightfully colored frosting. And of course, as you know, that's something that I'm known for, both of those things. So it was definitely a aha moment, a moment of clarity and purpose for me when I realized that I am literally doing my life's work.

Kerry Diamond:
When did you find this out?

Cheryl Day:
So this was when I started researching the book and I started delving into that more and then every page just was so vibrant and important to me at that time. So that was about five years ago when I really started looking at every word that my mom wrote. As you can imagine, having lost her, sometimes I would look at it and it would be very joyful and other times it was just very emotional and difficult to go through. But when I started reading more about Hannah Queen Grubbs and my mom was such a great storyteller, Kerry, that it just really did become a joyful time.

Kerry Diamond:
I can't even imagine the jolt though to discover just the bridge back to her with what you're doing today. Did I read correctly that you have some of her handwritten recipes?

Cheryl Day:
I don't have her handwritten recipes. I have my mom's handwritten recipes.

Kerry Diamond:
Okay. Okay.

Cheryl Day:
And then my grandmothers, but I wish. Yeah.

Kerry Diamond:
They're both named Hannah, right? I think that's-

Cheryl Day:
They are. They are.

Kerry Diamond:
I think that's what I confused.

Cheryl Day:
Yeah. They are both named Hannah. And as you know, there's a lot of Queens, we've talked about this with before in my family and somehow they skipped over me and I'm still a little salty about it, to be honest.

Kerry Diamond:
Oh gosh. That's funny. Okay. So that discovery informed a lot about this book?

Cheryl Day:
It did. It did. I wanted this book to be very definitive and I wanted it to be not just my personal experience and it is, but those types of discoveries for me just really made it very personal. And to be honest, I don't think I could write a book and it not be personal to me in some way.

Kerry Diamond:
Well, your previous two cookbooks are very personal, but this one is such an interesting blend of you and the history of Southern baking.

Cheryl Day:
Right. Exactly. Yeah.

Kerry Diamond:
The head notes are great for those of you-

Cheryl Day:
Oh, thank you.

Kerry Diamond:
... out there who like reading head notes. There's so much interesting information in your head notes like red velvet cake. I never knew how red velvet cake had come about.

Cheryl Day:
Right. Yeah. I just wanted to have that historical content and then I also have quotes from different women that have shaped Southern baking throughout the book and in black culture. And that was just another way to pull this book together for me.

Kerry Diamond:
Yeah. It's a wonderful read of a cookbook and obviously-

Cheryl Day:
Oh, thank you. Thank you.

Kerry Diamond:
... a wonderful book to bake through. You also talk about your grandmother. You spent a lot of lovely time with your grandmother. Tell us about her.

Cheryl Day:
I did. I'm from Los Angeles. I grew up in Los Angeles so I'm a Southern California girl.

Kerry Diamond:
Which shocks everybody.

Cheryl Day:
I know. And that has shaped me in many ways, just my personal style and a lot of things. But those summers that I spent with my grandmother shaped me in an entirely different way. She was the queen of Southern hospitality. I learned so many things about putting up vegetables and fruit and baking. And also the community that was a big part and how she would bake for her entire community and also the way that she set tables for dinner. And I just was so... I was like I thought that was so cool. I thought, when I first started visiting, I thought it was because I was visiting that there was this big display and I realized after year after year that that was just her way of life and she'd pull out her table cloths and this was just how she... It was just her way. She just had a really special way of Southern hospitality and comforting elegance that I just really loved.

Kerry Diamond:
Tell us a little bit more about that table. What else was on the table?

Cheryl Day:
So always lots of sweets, but the first thing that always, I talk about this in the book, the first thing that always hit the table was hot bread. And so that was biscuit or rolls and there would always be jams that she put up and there was just this big display of everything made with care and I just really loved that.

Kerry Diamond:
So as a Southern California girl, how did you wind up down South?

Cheryl Day:
Well, my mom was from the South obviously. And so it was really important to her. I think part of it too, I've been thinking about this a lot. She had me when she was 42 and of course back then, that was unheard of. And I think a lot of it was my mom's way of wanting me to be able to pass on this heritage, make sure that our history was not forgotten or erased. And so she started sending me down South every summer from about the age of eight and it was definitely time that I looked forward to every year and I would come back with all sorts of treasures in my suitcase things that we had put up and, but most of all the family stories and I just really feel privileged that I am able to share these stories.

Kerry Diamond:
And then what brought you back South full time?

Cheryl Day:
There's a part in the book I talk about that because I thought long and hard about that. I think the fact that my mom was part of the great migration, she was a World War II vet. And I think the fact that she worked hard to sure that this would be a safer place and the fact that she left, I think it really gave me the ability to return because she was a part of so many things, part of civil rights, just so many things that she did to move life forward for me, that it gave me the ability to be able to return and I really love being here

Kerry Diamond:
And you're so closely associated with Savannah, especially in my mind.

Cheryl Day:
Yes.

Kerry Diamond:
You are Savannah and your beautiful bake shop, Back In The Day.

Cheryl Day:
Aw, thank you.

Kerry Diamond:
Tell everybody A little bit about Back In The Day. What kind of bakery is it?

Cheryl Day:
Oh gosh. So Griffin and I decided to open up Back In The Day Bakery, as you know, in an underserved neighborhood in Savannah. We chose that 20 years ago because I wanted to, as a black woman, create a business that would encourage self pride and community. And I wanted it to be a place that was a gathering place and a place that would just really be a part of the community, but also to make people proud of where they lived. And that's exactly what we've done.

Kerry Diamond:
And what are some of the most popular items at the bakery?

Cheryl Day:
So the old fashioned cupcakes are still probably the number one, those delight tinted little small cakes that my grandmother was also known for apparently. Our biscuits are still quite popular, pies. Just really nostalgic treats that we make are cinnamon buns, honey buns that we give our kind of Southern spin to everything we do and also kind of a modern twist, I would say.

Kerry Diamond:
I never knew what a cat head biscuit was until I had one at Back In The Day.

Cheryl Day:
Yeah, those cat head biscuits are as big as a cat's head and they are in this cookbook as over 200 and some recipes are. I think there's four or so biscuits in the book, multiple corn breads. I just wanted to say okay, well, if I want to know about Southern baking, then I want to have this book.

Kerry Diamond:
Let's talk about some of those recipes. Which one would you say is the best gateway recipe to everything else in there?

Cheryl Day:
Ooh. Oh gosh. I would say the gateway is probably those cat head biscuits actually. They're very simple to make. They were quite popular during the pandemic. I was doing a lot of baking at home as we all were and the cat head biscuits are easy to make, they're very versatile. You can add whatever you have on hand in the fridge, cheese or bacon or scallions or... There's all. You can make them sweet, you can make them savory. So I would say those cat head biscuits are the gateway.

Kerry Diamond:
What would you say is the most sentimental to you?

Cheryl Day:
I would say the most sentimental is the lemon meringue pie, for sure. Lemon meringue pie is the pie that I almost didn't put in the cookbook because it was something that my mom made that she was known for. I didn't think that I could get it as good as hers. I did. And when it happened, it brought tears to my eyes and it's definitely the most sentimental. It's a recipe that my mom was known for and her grandchildren, my nephews still talk about that pie. And so, yeah, definitely lemon meringue pie.

Kerry Diamond:
My mom and I have sat in a car behind your bake shop and devoured a piece of that lemon meringue pie. It is so good. And the meringue is so high.

Cheryl Day:
Yay.

Kerry Diamond:
And it just, oh my gosh. I still remember that moment. It was a heavenly moment.

Cheryl Day:
I love that. Tell your mom hi.

Kerry Diamond:
I will. I will. For folks who haven't made lemon meringue pie before, how do you make it?

Cheryl Day:
So this lemon meringue pie, it's very nostalgic. It's a little bit different than it's a cooked filling and the meringue is whipped and also it's not like a Italian meringue that gets torched. It's the meringue that's old fashioned and gets topped on the pie and then it goes back into the oven and gets that soft toasty top.

Kerry Diamond:
What recipe is the most Cheryl Day of all the recipes?

Cheryl Day:
Ooh. I would say the most recipe that is the most Cheryl Day is the chocolate church cake. The chocolate church cake, there's a great photo of it in the book too and it has edible flowers. That's exactly how my grandmother would've done it, picked straight from her garden. I would say it's the most Cheryl Day because I think everyone should learn how to make a chocolate cake. I think we could solve a lot of problems if everyone to make a chocolate cake. It is moist, it's delicious, it's just the perfect chocolate cake. It actually doesn't have butter in the batter. It's like an old fashioned Southern cake. It has oil, so super moist and then use the best chocolate that you can afford. And that makes it really delicious. It's got a buttercream frosting that's chocolatey and it's so good.

Kerry Diamond:
Did you like an American buttercream for the top?

Cheryl Day:
It's not your traditional American buttercream. The frosting for the cake for the chocolate church cake is very unusual. It's a really old timey recipe. It's you make like a roux out of flour and milk and it gets added into the sugar and it whips for a long time with the butter. And then it's the texture of a Swiss meringue, but people are always stopped in their tracks when they see that flower roux because obviously that part of it doesn't taste very good. But what it is, it's so old fashioned. This was something that would've been very thrifty to make because it doesn't have confection or sugar. It's granulated sugar and this would've been at a time confection sugar wasn't as widely available and very resourceful because Southern bakers are very resourceful. So yeah, it's a really unusual recipe.

Kerry Diamond:
All right. Let's talk about Thanksgiving because Thanksgiving is right around the corner and I know there are a few things that you can preorder from Back In The Day. Are you sold out yet on those pies?

Cheryl Day:
Right We are sold out. Yes. We're sold out. That's okay.

Kerry Diamond:
You're in Savannah. You're out of luck.

Cheryl Day:
Yeah. But we will have a few extra pies, so first come for serve. Come and get them.

Kerry Diamond:
Good to know. Good to know. What are the three pies on offer this year?

Cheryl Day:
So the three pie pie are famous, all American apple rose pie. There's a great story about that recipe in the cookbook. It's a double crusted pie and it uses rose, which is one of the original flavorings in American baking. And that pie is delicious. The apples are Georgia apples, three different kinds. They get macerated overnight in sugar. Sugar and all sorts of spices, cardamom, the rose water and nutmeg or whatever spices you like. Cinnamon of course. And so they macerate overnight and then what that does is creates a juice, which I then pour off, I put it in a sauce pan, cook it with a little butter and I make a caramel sauce that gets tossed back into the mixture and add it into the pie.

Cheryl Day:
And it's so this really kind of salty caramel rose, very floral, very delicious pie. So anyway, apple rose. There's a bourbon pecan pie that is so good. That bourbon, lots of bourbon in that pie. Also very caramelly. And then we have a pumpkin pie, which my personal favorite is sweet potato, I have to say, but we did a this or that, which of course everybody's doing now. And pumpkin won this year, so.

Kerry Diamond:
Oh, you let people vote? Where'd you do that? On Instagram?

Cheryl Day:
We did it on Instagram and yeah, it's really surprising. I think that pumpkin won this year, but I have to say the way that I spice my pumpkin, it is very similar to a sweet potato pie, so.

Kerry Diamond:
It doesn't surprise me too much. I feel like it's the one time of year we eat pumpkin pie.

Cheryl Day:
Yeah. That's true.

Kerry Diamond:
Yeah.

Cheryl Day:
That's true. Very true.

Kerry Diamond:
Do you use straight up pumpkin? Because I know some people swap in like some butternut squash, things like that.

Cheryl Day:
Yeah. No, we're swapping in butternut squash and I tell you what? This year, it has been really interesting finding ingredients. I've had long text with bakers all over, baker friends all over the country, weird ingredients that have been difficult to find like Graham cracker crumbs. Impossible. Yeah. Really crazy. Fortunately, I didn't need any, but.

Kerry Diamond:
You've got that port of Savannah down there where all those tankers are backed up.

Cheryl Day:
I know. I know, but.

Kerry Diamond:
Maybe some of the Graham crackers are on those boats, Cheryl.

Cheryl Day:
Maybe. As long as my books came, I was so happy that my books made it in.

Kerry Diamond:
So many authors we know had their dates change and-

Cheryl Day:
Yeah. Yeah.

Kerry Diamond:
Yeah. I'm glad yours wasn't affected. Okay. So you've got the pumpkin, the pecan pie. I do love pecan pie. Even though I to eat pumpkin on Thanksgiving, pecan pie is my fave.

Cheryl Day:
Honestly, I like a slice of all three.

Kerry Diamond:
Same. Same. I'm with you.

Cheryl Day:
With some ice cream in the mix.

Kerry Diamond:
A little ala mode action. So what are you and Griff up to for Thanksgiving?

Cheryl Day:
So we're going to have a small dinner. It's just going to be the two of us. I'm doing something a little different this year. I always have to have cornbread stuffing on the table. That's like if I only had one thing, I would have that. But this year, what we're doing is a roasted chicken. I got a big roasted chicken of some kind. And I'm going to pretend that that's our Turkey this year. So I've done, in the past, I've done a small... I've lucked out and found small turkeys in the past. I've found and sometimes we do a turkey breast, but this year I'm going for the chicken. Well, it's just going to be the two of us we're going to have that. We'll have some great roasted vegetables.

Kerry Diamond:
Yeah. What are the sides? Dying to know what in the sides you are.

Cheryl Day:
Oh yeah. It's all about the sides. It is all about the sides. So we'll have roasted vegetables. Griff does balsamic reduction for size, everything from, oh gosh, any kind of vegetables that we can find even like roasted garlic and all sorts of green vegetables that we'll find and throw in there. And then we do scalloped potatoes. I am stuck on this garlic scalloped potato recipe that's in an old Martha Stewart, that blue book. I love scalloped potatoes. There's nothing in there but salt, butter, heavy cream, potatoes and garlic. And it's so easy and it just cooks really slow. Love that. That's probably going to round out. And then we'll bring home two pies.

Kerry Diamond:
As you should. Go back to your cornbread stuffing. What's in the stuffing?

Cheryl Day:
Oh yeah. So the stuffing is we put biscuit croutons, we'll have some of Griff's rosemary ciabatta cut into cubes. And then I make a cornbread, the skillet cornbread that's in the book and those get all tossed to together with stock, giblets, all kinds of things. And the one thing that I learned from my research the past several years, because what I'll say is that I would have, Kerry, when people found out I was writing this book, I'd reached out my community and stacks and stacks of these church cookbooks, community cookbooks just literally showed up on my doorstep. And one thing that I couldn't figure out that was missing from my mom's recipe seemed to be in a lot of these church cookbooks in their cornbread stuffing. And it's boiled eggs that are chopped and folded in and they kind of really aren't very present, but they are present in flavor. And so yeah, that gets-

Kerry Diamond:
Oh, the secret ingredient.

Cheryl Day:
Folded in.

Kerry Diamond:
Okay.

Cheryl Day:
The secret ingredient.

Kerry Diamond:
So wait, this is a three bread stuffing?

Cheryl Day:
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kerry Diamond:
So it's biscuit croutons.

Cheryl Day:
Right.

Kerry Diamond:
The ciabatta that Griff makes and then the cornbread. Wow. This is a special stuffing, Cheryl.

Cheryl Day:
It's really delicious. And then of course, it's got onions and celery and all the good stuff.

Kerry Diamond:
I asked my mom for my grandmother's stuffing recipe last week because I wanted to make a sandwich. We did this really fun Thanksgiving leftover sandwich competition.

Cheryl Day:
Ooh.

Kerry Diamond:
I love a sandwich with stuffing-

Cheryl Day:
Me too.

Kerry Diamond:
... and turkey and cranberry sauce. That to me is as much fun as Thanksgiving day.

Cheryl Day:
Yeah, totally. Did you have a different memory, Kerry of it?

Kerry Diamond:
You know it's what you grow up on. You sometimes just love-

Cheryl Day:
Well, absolutely.

Kerry Diamond:
... what you grow up on.

Cheryl Day:
So true. Like cranberry sauce, right?

Kerry Diamond:
Oh, don't even get started.

Cheryl Day:
It was always a bit to pace.

Kerry Diamond:
On the cranberry sauce.

Cheryl Day:
Yeah.

Kerry Diamond:
I make cranberry sauce from scratch. It is so easy and so delicious and-

Cheryl Day:
Oh yeah.

Kerry Diamond:
When I first started making it from scratch, there was so much sugar in it so I think I swapped in orange juice and it still came out beautifully.

Cheryl Day:
Yes. I love it with orange juice.

Kerry Diamond:
And I just love it because it kind of cuts the richness of everything else you're eating on Thanksgiving. My family, they will not touch it. They love a cranberry sauce and can.

Cheryl Day:
With the rings.

Kerry Diamond:
They don't even mash it. They just put it up can shaped.

Cheryl Day:
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, honestly, that's what I grew up with too, but I don't like it now.

Kerry Diamond:
You have a jam line now?

Cheryl Day:
I do. Yes.

Kerry Diamond:
Which is amazing. Thank you for sending me those jams.

Cheryl Day:
Of course. So yeah. Janie Q Provisions, another queen. Janie Queen was my mom and we started a provisions. This was our big pivot during the pandemic. We closed our dining room as you know so that was our big pivot, the provisions line. And so we have three jams right now. We're actually adding some marmalades and pepper jelly hopefully in time for Christmas. And we're also doing a biscuit mix and some other fun things.

Kerry Diamond:
Tell us about the three flavors that you have right now because they're so beautiful.

Cheryl Day:
Yes. So we have strawberry chamomile, we have blueberry rose and we have peach lavender.

Kerry Diamond:
And how's the jam biz? Tougher than the bakery biz?

Cheryl Day:
No, the jam biz is great, but we're still making everything ourselves in house so people wonder why the bakery is closed during the week. Well, that's why because that's my side hustle and yeah, it's great. We actually have opened up a few wholesale accounts. It's available at Poppy's in Brooklyn.

Kerry Diamond:
I've seen it there.

Cheryl Day:
Yeah. Oh you have?

Kerry Diamond:
I'll just give shout out to Poppy's. That's right in my neighborhood. I had a cake there the other day that was so good.

Cheryl Day:
I cannot wait to go there.

Kerry Diamond:
Next time you're in New York, tell me because our neighborhood has turned into this baking Mecca. So we've got Poppy's and they have the most beautiful baked goods. And Ovenly opened a Mama opened.

Cheryl Day:
Oh wow.

Kerry Diamond:
There's a secret little bakery around the corner from my apartment, I think it's called ACQ. I ordered some bread from them.

Cheryl Day:
What? Secret?

Kerry Diamond:
Yes. It's one guy-

Cheryl Day:
I love it.

Kerry Diamond:
... who's running it and you have to order the bread online and you have to go pick it up and then you'll get a kick out of this. There's that lovely young couple that does [inaudible 00:29:17] 4F. They did this crazy thing. It's a croissant breakfast cereal. He's the baker. They make proper croissants and just for kicks, they decided to make this like mini croissant breakfast cereal. So they take the actual laminated dough and roll it up into tiny croissants, bake them.

Cheryl Day:
Oh my God.

Kerry Diamond:
But I think it's like a cinnamon sugar syrup over them. Dehydrate them and they made it into the world's most expensive breakfast cereal.

Cheryl Day:
Wow. Oh, I've got to try that.

Kerry Diamond:
So when you come here, we'll just do a little crawl. Hopefully it'll be a nice day.

Cheryl Day:
Yeah. Definitely.

Kerry Diamond:
And we can-

Cheryl Day:
Definitely.

Kerry Diamond:
... try everybody's bakers. When's the biscuit mix coming?

Cheryl Day:
Biscuit mix is coming probably next week actually.

Kerry Diamond:
Oh. On time for holiday. Great.

Cheryl Day:
Yeah. Well, probably in real life after Thanksgiving.

Kerry Diamond:
Okay. So I have to go back to the book for a second. I mean, this was such an incredible undertaking. I mean, not only is it just filled. How many recipes are in this? It's got to be-

Cheryl Day:
Oh gosh.

Kerry Diamond:
... over 100.

Cheryl Day:
Oh well, over 200.

Kerry Diamond:
Wow. Wow.

Cheryl Day:
Yeah, we just kept going and going.

Kerry Diamond:
There was so many recipes in this and it's so personal. How did it change you when you finished this book?

Cheryl Day:
Oh wow. It definitely, and just the fact that it's now out in the world and there's that first part in the book of course, where apparently I'm the only person that's ever said a statement like that where this book would not have been possible without the millions of enslaved Americans. And that has just really resonated with a lot of people and the whole book. I've just been so happy with the way that it's been received, I guess. I feel seen Kerry, for sure. Probably, I haven't felt seen like this in 20 years. I mean, I definitely feel privileged to be the person that is sharing this history, bringing these women to light and paying homage to all of these women, black women that created Southern baking and telling my personal story. So it definitely makes me feel like I did something important.

Kerry Diamond:
Well, you definitely did. This is a gift you've given to the world, Cheryl.

Cheryl Day:
Aw, thank you.

Kerry Diamond:
It's clear how much love and work went to this book.

Cheryl Day:
Thank you.

Kerry Diamond:
All right. Let's do a little speed round because you are a baker and this is a busy time for bakers.

Cheryl Day:
Yeah.

Kerry Diamond:
I'm so grateful you had time to come on the show.

Cheryl Day:
Oh, I would miss you. Are you kidding?

Kerry Diamond:
Oh, thank you. What is a treasured cookbook of yours? You're sitting in front of many cookbooks so it's going to be a tough one.

Cheryl Day:
Oh, that is a tough one. I would say my most treasured cookbook are Edna Lewis' cookbooks that I personally own. Just really all of them. They're just so special to me. And then I would say some of the church cookbooks that I have collections of that are written by just women that love to bake. Those are really special to me as well.

Kerry Diamond:
What is your most used kitchen tool?

Cheryl Day:
My most used kitchen tool is my bench scraper.

Kerry Diamond:
What was the last pantry purchase you made?

Cheryl Day:
I'm always buying spices. I love spices. I love Burlap & Barrel spices. I'm a big fan.

Kerry Diamond:
Diaspora. Don't they have beautiful spices?

Cheryl Day:
Oh, I love those. The mace that they have, oh, they're just beautiful. And the little jars are so great. So yeah, I'm always buying spices. I just bought three spices today. One thing that might surprise people, another thing that I am obsessed with is hot sauce and there's a brand, I have to give them a shout out because I have never gone through a bottle, a whole bottle of hot sauce and it's this line Zab's hot sauce. And they just have an original and then a St. Augustine flavor. And I can't. I mean, I just keep replenishing it. It's crazy.

Kerry Diamond:
How do you spell it?

Cheryl Day:
It's Zab's, Z-A-B'S. I guess. Yeah.

Kerry Diamond:
Okay. I have to ask and I hope I'm not going to be shamed by my Southern pals for this, but what is St Augustine's flavor?

Cheryl Day:
Oh, that's really interesting. So yeah. There's St. Augustine flavor. Gosh, they got really lucky with this pepper. It's a Datil pepper that only grown in St. Augustine and I've become friendly with the owners because I buy a lot of hot sauce apparently. And Myles told me that he discovered just traveling this Datil pepper and he's tried to grow it where they make the Zab's, which is in Los Angeles and they can't grow it there. So there's this whole process where they have to get the peppers and it has a really sweet heat flavor and that's my personal favorite. Griff loves their original, which is a little hotter, but it's just really good. And then I love like, oh, Shaquanda hot sauce. I'm obsessed with that. So anyway.

Kerry Diamond:
Yes. You're like me. Are you streaming anything right now? What are you and Griff watching?

Cheryl Day:
Oh yeah. My secret guilty pleasure, I love, well, I'm not going to call it smart TV, but right now I'm streaming Insecure. Easter egg.

Kerry Diamond:
Yep.

Cheryl Day:
I'm streaming that. And then I also love decorating shows. There's this show, oh gosh, I can't think of the name of it, but it's all about kitchens. The woman and man that have deVOL, the kitchen line. They're British.

Kerry Diamond:
Oh yeah.

Cheryl Day:
And I love decorating shows. I also am obsessed with Liyan Ford. I love her show.

Kerry Diamond:
Footwear in the kitchen. What do you wear?

Cheryl Day:
Footwear in the kitchen. Oh my gosh. I wish I could find the perfect shoe. I do wear spin clogs in the kitchen, the ones that are on the cookbook. I also wear Hush Puppies. Shout out to Hush Puppies. I love myself a Velcro Moment, when I have to get there early in the moment and they're like Velcro on the top just like little kiddos and yeah.

Kerry Diamond:
Music in the kitchen.

Cheryl Day:
Yes.

Kerry Diamond:
What do you listen to?

Cheryl Day:
Sometimes podcasts and sometimes, but usually music. I'm listening to, oh, something loud usually and something I can dance to. Some mornings though, I listen to Chris Stapleton. I love his voice so much. It just really depends on my mood, but yeah, I'm usually listening to like Beyonce or Jay-Z or something really loud. And yeah.

Kerry Diamond:
Next question, dream travel destination.

Cheryl Day:
Ooh, dream travel destination. I have never been overseas Kerry.

Kerry Diamond:
We got to change that.

Cheryl Day:
I got to change that. So of course I would love to go to France and to London, to Italy. There's so many places. But honestly I love California too. I mean, I could just go all over California. Of course, I'm from there, but there's so many great places to visit in California.

Kerry Diamond:
Okay. Last question. If you had to be trapped on a desert island with one food celebrity, who would it be and why?

Cheryl Day:
A food celebrity? Oh my gosh. Griffith Day.

Kerry Diamond:
I knew you were going to say that. You can't say Griff.

Cheryl Day:
I can't say Griff. One food celebrity. I can't think of anybody. I mean, I would say like Barack Obama or, but that's not a food celebrity. I don't know. I might be the first person. What do people usually say that's crazy? I can't think of anybody.

Kerry Diamond:
It's a toss up. It's a toss up between Ina Garten and Anthony Bourdain.

Cheryl Day:
Okay. Yeah, I know.

Kerry Diamond:
All right. Last question. What are you thankful for this year?

Cheryl Day:
Oh, I'm thankful for this new cookbook. I am thankful for my health and my health of my family. I would say that's what I'm most thankful for.

Kerry Diamond:
I love the photo of you on the cover.

Cheryl Day:
Oh, thank you. Thank you.

Kerry Diamond:
Is that our friend Angie who took that photo? Mosher?

Cheryl Day:
Yeah. Angie Mosher took that photo and she did all the beautiful photographs and my good friend, Hailey did all the styling. She's styled for all of our books. So I think this one is the most special for sure.

Kerry Diamond:
Absolutely. Well, Cheryl Day's Treasury of Southern Baking is a treasure. I'm sure I'm not the first one to have said that.

Cheryl Day:
Oh, thank you. I appreciate that.

Kerry Diamond:
Happy Thanksgiving Cheryl.

Cheryl Day:
Happy Thanksgiving. Thanks for having me Kerry.

Kerry Diamond:
That's it for today's show. Thank you so much to Cheryl Day of Back In The Day Bakery. Check out her new book, Cheryl Day's Treasury of Southern Baking. Also check out backintheday.com for Cheryl's other products, including her beautiful jams. Or go say hello if you're in Savannah. If you're in DC, join me and Cheryl on December 7th for a special live conversation to celebrate her book. Visit boldforkbooks.com for tickets. Thank you to Kerrygold and Modern Sprout for supporting our show. Radio Cherry Bombe is a production of Cherry Bombe Magazine. This interview was recorded at Newsstand Studios at Rockefeller Center in New York city. They were putting the famous Rock Center tree up the other day when I recorded this interview. That was fun to see. Thank you to Joseph Hazan, studio engineer for Newsstand Studios and to our assistant producer, Jenna Sadhe. If you enjoyed this chat, catch my conversation with other brilliant bakers like Baking Icon, Dorie Greenspan and cookie queen Sarah Kieffer, wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening everybody. Happy Thanksgiving week. You are the bombe.