Stephen and Evie Colbert’s Cookbook: A Culinary Love Story

Many years into their marriage, Stephen and Evie Colbert suddenly became co-workers. And that is why, in a roundabout way, we have their first cookbook.

During the pandemic, Evie helped keep her husband’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on the air at CBS while the couple hunkered down in their South Carolina home.

“Evie was my crew and my only audience and my only guest. And it turned out we worked together well,” Stephen Colbert says. “We said, ‘We’ve always wanted to do something together. I think the thing to do would be a cookbook.’”

What emerged is “Does This Taste Funny?: Recipes Our Family Loves,” a collection of tried-and-true Colbert clan dishes like Spicy Lemon Chicken Thighs or Panfried Spot Tail Bass that also opens a window into their lives.

“It had to be a personal story because we’re not professional cooks. It’s all about our personal experience,” says Stephen Colbert.

The dishes range from a simple teriyaki-flavored pork loin to an extravagant Beef Wellington. It is a cookbook that also charts a love affair, celebrates extended family, and rejoices over places visited — idiosyncratic and yet universal.

Many of the dishes lean on the South, which is natural since both grew up in Charleston, South Carolina. There are Lowcountry recipes for pickled shrimp, pork belly sliders, and red rice.

Making the cookbook reconnected the couple to their roots. “It put us back in touch with all the food we grew up with and the people who taught us how to make these recipes,” says Evie, who still refers to recipes as receipts, the way her mother did.

While the pair clearly enjoy each other’s company, things in the kitchen weren’t always so smooth. They both point to the “spoon story.”

“So Steven and I are married, and he walks into the kitchen one day and he says, ‘You’re using a metal spoon on a nonstick pan.’ I really thought he was going to say, ‘I’m sorry, we have to get divorced,’” Evie says.

“Boy, the look on her,” he says, laughing. “She’s almost over it. She’s so close to forgiving me.”

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