It's not about what you know, it's who you know. Lessons in Chemistry food consultant Courtney McBroom is a prime example of that.
Her friendship with Brie Larson played a huge part in landing the Apple TV+ gig. But her talents as a chef should not be discounted. A cookbook author, McBroom helped make the food in Lessons in Chemistry look as amazing as it does.
She's currently embarking on a tour of sorts. Given that Apple can't have its actors doing the usual press tours, they pivoted and found a unique way of promoting their new series. McBroom is making the rounds, going city to city, and making lasagna. Perhaps more food-related projects should take a page out of this playbook, as it's great for getting word of mouth.
ClutchPoints spoke to McBroom during her stop in Philadelphia. She discussed her friendship with Brie Larson, a day in the life on the set of Lessons in Chemistry, and we of course had to discuss cheesesteak spots in the City of Brotherly Love. The aim of this interview is to make you, the reader, hungrier. Hopefully we accomplished that mission.
Courtney McBroom-Lessons in Chemistry interview
ClutchPoints: How are you liking Philly right now?
Courtney McBroom: I'm loving it. We're having so much fun and the weather's gorgeous. Phillies won!
CP: You're obviously very involved with Lessons in Chemistry, so what's your review of the show? I know you're not biased at all.
CM: Five stars!
My review of the show is that I really freaking love it, and I think that everyone who sees it will. I hope that everyone will. I think it's a beautiful story, and I'm not just saying that. I truly, deeply believe that. I think the story of Elizabeth Zott is so inspiring, and I think that a lot of people when they see it, see her on screen, and everything that happens to her, they're gonna really relate to that. And I think it's an important story, I think it'll be very inspiring for a lot of people who watch it, and it was certainly so for me.
CP: Did you read the novel beforehand?
CM: I did. I read it in one whole day! That's how much I loved it. Brie [Larson] and I are good friends, and she was like, “I really think you would be the perfect person to work on this show if you're available.” Because I'm a chef, obviously, and I have an obsession with vintage cookbooks.
So she was like, “Do you have any interest in working on the show?” And I was like, “Yes, of course! Let me read the book real quick.”
And I had a meeting with the producers like a few days later. So I read the book very quickly in one day, [I] was laughing, crying, [and I] knew immediately that I wanted to work on the show and was so nervous because it's like, What if they don't like me?
But they did, we hit it off, and then I was on set the next week making lasagna [laughs].
CP: Speaking of lasagna, I did just watch the featurette with you and Brie Larson and she did mention you guys are good friends. So I was curious about the origins of that friendship.
CM: The way most people meet their friends [laughs]. Just being around [and] hanging out in LA and we hit it off and we love to cook together and we were introduced by friends and it was like, “Hey, you're cool. Let's be friends.” [laughs]
CP: Do you have a favorite dinner story involving her, whether it's something you guys cooked or went out to or made together?
CM: This is gonna sound like a small thing, but to me it was huge. It dropped below 70 degrees in LA last month, so we were freezing cold. And Brie was like, “Can I make you a hot toddy?” I was like, “I would love a hot toddy!” And in my mind, I'm like, I wonder how this is going to be, because in my experience, it's really hard to nail a hot toddy because there's a lot of [elements] — you've got to get the honey just right, you've got to get the lemon just right, you've got to get the alcohol just right.
And she nailed it.
It was truly the best hot toddy I've ever had… I need to get her recipe. Maybe we should have release her hot toddy recipe.
CP: Well, it could be in your next cookbook!
CM: Yeah! “Brie's hot toddy recipe.” She'll be famous! [laughs]
CP: It's cool to see how connections and friendships have led to this job. What exactly does the role of a food consultant entail?
CM: I worked with the writers, I worked with the directors, the producers, and with Brie, who is also a producer, on figuring out what we wanted the food to be, how we wanted it to look on -screen, how we wanted it to facilitate the storytelling of the show. And then we all agreed that we definitely wanted everyone who watches the show to be really hungry when they watch it [laughs], and then I helped execute the food as well.
We had a great team of food stylists. There was like five of us and we were on set cooking all day, every day to make the food pop off the screen.
CP: When you watch Food Network or something and they show the dishes, they look perfect with the lighting any stuff. Are there any tricks that go into making it pop?
CM: Well, first of all, everything was real food. Everything was edible. We didn't use anything fake, [and] we didn't glue anything down. Everything is exactly [as] the recipe [said] that it should be because I think that's when food looks its best — whenever it's real and authentic.
The only thing that we would do regularly would be like if something had been sitting out for a minute under the lights, we would like spritz it with a little bit of oil so it gets glistening and it looks nice and fresh — or even some water, depending on what the food was like.
That's like the big main secret that we did. It was really interesting and fun and it was great knowing that anyone can swing by and take a bite out of this and it'll still be delicious.
CP: Was this your first film and/or TV series project?
CM: Yes, it was!
I've done tons of cookbooks in the past and I like photography content, but this was my first foray into the film world. And I learned a lot, to put it lightly.
CP: What was the biggest thing that you learned then during this experience?
CM: So I knew that this was going to happen, but I didn't really understand what it was going to be like until I was in it. But with film, you do takes, right? So if Calvin's (Lewis Pullman) taking one bite of lasagna in a scene, well, that's going to cut and you're going to have to reset and do it like maybe 20 times even. So anytime you see lasagna on screen, know that there were 20 more waiting behind the scenes, just waiting to come out [laughs]. There was a lot of production, a lot of food prep that went into it.
CP: I imagine you're going to get another chance to do another series or film, so what would be the one thing that you now know to do on the next project?
CM: I think this is pretty intuitive, but for sure, for sure, I know deeply within my soul that it's really important to get really good people to work with you.
“Rising tides lift all ships,” I believe is what they say, and “you're only as good as the weakest link.” All those cliches [are true]. If you surround yourself with a great team, everything is so much easier and everything comes out great.
CP: Who did you work closest with on a typical day on set?
CM: Kesha Tatro was like my right hand. She came in and she handled business. She has experience in film as well. She used to work with Gordon Ramsey a lot and she really did an amazing job. Also Brett Long is a great food stylist who was on set and Lauren Tyrell — they were both very, very helpful.
CP: Can you run me through what a typical day in your life while making this series look like?
CM: On a really busy day, you're shopping and cooking for days ahead of it. There was a lot of food going on, obviously, on our busiest day on-set, and it would be like a 6 a.m. call time, and you prep as much as you can in the days leading up to it, but there's some things you just have to do the day of.
So [I'd] show up, immediately go into the kitchen, [and] start food prep. Kesha and the team would be in the kitchen prepping, I would go talk to the directors, we'd look at the scene and we would talk through like, “What is the action going to be? How do we want the food to look? What do we want the placement to be?”
The other funny thing is that I was also the hand double for Brie — any of the really tight cooking shots were my hands. So then if there was going to be a lot of tight shots, I would have to go get in full costume [laughs] just in case the camera showed a little bit of the dress or something and I would put the Elizabeth Zott wig on. So there's like several different versions [of her] because she also had body doubles. There [would be] a lot of us walking around in Elizabeth Zott costumes [laughs].
CP: Did you guys get any pictures of that? Because that'd be very amusing to see.
CM: Oh yeah, I have pictures and I fully intend to post them.
CP: I didn't realize that you'd have to go and do shopping as well for this. Did it ever look kind of funny? Like as if you were shopping for a whole family when you were buying stuff for the show?
CM: Oh, for sure. Like I would be buying out the grocery store's [inventory of] ground beef [laughs] or whatever it was that we [needed]. “I need 15 roast chickens!” [laughs] but we also have like great relationships with [the] butchers in town and stuff like that so you can call ahead and you get the food stylist discount. [For] a crown roasting, we [would] have to special order lots of stuff for sure. Cause a lot of times people don't just carry 20 crown roasts.
CP: You're currently embarking on a bit of a tour, which is why you're in Philadelphia. What was the inspiration for this? I know this show has to do with food, so it makes sense, but it's a cool way of marketing it.
CM: I fully agree. I think when people watch TV and there's a TV show where there's a lot of food, people want to know about the food. They want to know how to cook the food. They want to make that food and eat it at home. So we released all the recipes, eight recipes, I believe, and you can get those at LessonsInChemistryRecipes.com. And we also release little videos of all of them too. Cause I think that's a really fun aspect to get to feel like you're also part of the show in a way.
CP: You've done a few stops already before Philly. Do have any highlights from each city?
CM: [They're] very short trips, unfortunately. My main concern is I really want to get the best possible cheesesteak. I feel like that's very cliche of me, but it has to be done. So let me know if you have a rec! And also if there's other things that we need to do. We have one night here, basically.
CP: There's a place called Little Sicily 2 in Philly, and they make Indian-Italian dishes. So they have a cheesesteak that's like chicken masala, but it's spicy and it's delicious.
CM: Oh, that sounds really good.
CP: They also have masala fries as well with a spicy cheese sauce. That's my favorite, but that's just me.
CM: What's it called again?
CP: Little Sicily 2.
CM: Little Sicily 2, not to be confused with Little Sicily 1 or 3 [laughs].
CP: So what are you doing in each city?
CM: We're on that local news beat. It's so fun. We'll go in and do lasagna demonstrations, mostly, or it'll just be a nice, fun conversation like you and I are having. And then screenings at night. So we're screening the first two episodes and then doing little Q&As afterwards.
CP: What have the reactions to Lessons in Chemistry been like out of these screenings?
CM: The reaction has been great. Everyone's loved it. Everyone is obsessed with Six-Thirty the dog. They want more Six-Thirty.
I mean, everyone really loves the show. And we [have] got a lot of book fans as well, and they also love the show, which is great. It's great when you have both.
So far it's been nothing but good things to say and it's been so heartwarming and so special to be able to meet everyone and see all these people in all these different cities across America and who love it. It's so good.
CP: I think you've mentioned lasagna more than any other food during this conversation. Are you sick of lasagna after doing Lessons in Chemistry?
CM: Never! [laughs] I can never be. There was at one point [during] the height of shooting where I was like, “I don't know if I'll ever make lasagna again,” but that faded quickly. I needed just a few weeks, and then I was like, “Okay, I'm ready — let's make more lasagna.”
CP: I've never actually tried to make lasagna before, it just seems very ambitious. Is there any tip that you have for making it
CM: Well, all of my tips are in the recipe, sir. You're gonna have to read that recipe.
The tips are: It's okay if you burn the lasagna. Don't take it too seriously. Have fun. It's gonna be delicious no matter what.
CP: I've started to “cook” a little bit more for my girlfriend, and I was just wondering if you had any tips or a recipe that I should check out on the website that you would recommend I try.
CM: Let me think… Not all of the recipes have been released yet.
Well, Calvin's Christmas Chicken is a good one because everyone should know how to roast a delicious chicken, and it's a very simple, straightforward recipe. But I also love the Oysters Zott recipe (which is not out yet). I'm very keen to that one. It's basically like an Oysters Rockefeller, and it's also very simple to make.
And you can make them in tandem. One's an appetizer, the other is the main. Very impressive, I think your girlfriend would like it!
Lessons in Chemistry premiered its first two episodes on October 13 and will release an episode every Friday on Apple TV+.
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