Charleston chef Lauren Furey this week announced the debut of her first cooking show, “Now We’re Cookin’,” launching on public television’s SCETV in October.
Filmed in her home kitchen, the show teaches viewers how to prepare locally-sourced, seasonal — and accessible — family-style meals. Viewers can catch the show on scetv.org, the SCETV app, Facebook and YouTube starting on Oct. 8.
Furey, a graduate of the College of Charleston’s Schottland Scholars program, said she was always a big fan of PBS growing up. That love of public broadcasting, combined with the connections she made through Schottland Scholars, led to a conversation with the folks at SCETV.
“They always said, if you ever have an idea, just give us a call,” said Furey, a private chef. “Five years after graduating, after cooking for a lot of parties, I was finally able to come up with a better sense of my culinary identity.
“I reached out to them and they were willing to listen.”
Happy cooking, happy eating
Furey came up with six recipes that she thought would be both good and, perhaps just as importantly, good on camera. She said she worked closely with the show’s producers to workshop the logistics of each recipe for each digital episode, which is about 8- to 10- minutes long (broadcast episodes will combine three of the digital episodes).
As for actually being on camera? That part didn’t really scare Furey.
“I am so excited about cooking and sharing what I’ve learned,” she said. And while there may have been initial jitters when the cameras turned on, they didn’t last. “I got past that when I realized there’s a greater purpose behind it.”
Each recipe (Furey deemed three “Italian” and three “Southern”) is meant to feed about four people. She said she wants viewers to be able to reach into their pantries for a lot of the ingredients — cornmeal, pasta, capers — and have a good time cooking.
“They’re really approachable recipes that are colorful and they’ll make you happy when you’re making them,” she said.
Furey said that her time apprenticing for legendary Charleston chef and James Beard award-winning cookbook writer Nathalie Dupree informed the way she cooks.
“She would always be like, ‘Oh, see what’s in my fridge and we can build a recipe from there,’” Furey said. “And it’s really shaped how I think about cooking and how these recipes were created.”
The joy Furey hopes to impart, though, is something she can take credit for.
“The goal of the show is … and it’s cheesy, but it’s true,” she laughed. “How many people can we make smile through a show about food, you know?”
Celebrate Furey’s new show on Oct. 6 at a special viewing and dinner party at Wild Common Follow Furey on Instagram for more details, coming soon.
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