Wishbone Kitchen’s Meredith Hayden Wants You to Make Every Gathering a Little Luxe

For chef , content Godhead , and soon - to - be - minted cookery book author Meredith Hayden , no occasion is too belittled to celebrate .

Every metre she gathers with her closest girlfriends , all of whom arise up with her in New Jersey , Meredith Hayden makes a pledge . Whether they ’re sip bubbly or drinking Diet Coke , no get - together is too low-pitched - tonality for a touch of something limited . She ’s even been make out to turnhousehold choresinto an occasion : “ If I do my washing and put it away on the same day , ” she says , “ I ’ll order Taco Bell , put some kombucha in a wineglass , and exhaust dinner party check my favorite Bravo shows — that ’s my idea of celebrating . Maybe for you it ’s about eating your soup out of your fancy bowl or drinking your iced deep brown with your favorite straw . There are so many little moment around solid food that you could use to bestow more joy into your life . ”

Of course , as tantalizing as it may be , unwrapping a Cheesy Gordita Crunch with extra off cream ( her go - to monastic order ) is n’t what Meredith ’s roughly 2.3 million TikTok followers add up to her for . A former private chef , the 28 - year - one-time societal media wiz and cookery book writer ( her first , The Wishbone Kitchen Cookbook , comes out in May ) has built her brand on the modernize , brightened - up versions of classic dishes that she prepare for family , friends , and client .

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Credit:Annie Schlechter

Her post strike just the correct residual between impressive — she ’s a culinary school alumnus , after all — and relatable : HerNew Year ’s Eve dinnerlast year was two hours late after the prime rib come forth from the oven raw in the kernel . She shared footage of every torturesome footstep of that buirdly journey , which concluded with , in her words , “ putting on my self-aggrandising , fertile idiot hat ” and searing off slices in a sauté genus Pan . In the close , of class , her guest happily devoured it , along withmashed potatoesand her famous Christmas Confetti Salad , a intermixture of sliced radicchio , shaved Brussels sprouts , dried cranberry , goat cheese , almonds , androast chickendressed in an orchard apple tree cyder - maple vinaigrette . “ This is the salad that caused me to almost turn a loss my digit , ” she declared in her video recording about that dish , reference a smutty run - in with a mandoline . “ And despite this traumatic accident , I still continue to eat it for four daytime in a rowing . ”

A Young Foodie

The estimation that solid food can spark joy , bring multitude together , and even be its own variety of risky venture is something Meredith has realise since childhood . Her mother is an avid cook , and Meredith took to the stove herself at age 7 , motivated by her preference for what she call “ blonde battercake ” on Sunday mornings . “ I liked them to have a very light brown exterior ( no dark point ! ) so they required cook on very , very low oestrus , ” she remembers . “ My mom was having none of it , so I would leap in and make my own — and then assert on pass water them for my stuffed animals too . ”

Meredith Hayden

Wishbone Kitchen is an ode to my mother , who inspired my love of plate preparation . She would make a hebdomadal joint chicken , coiffe aside the wishing bone for the two of us to break .

Before long , Meredith was cooking more complicated dishes , starting with a imitator of her favoritechicken MarsalafromThe Cheesecake Factory . “ I think the first time I ever google something was searching how to make it , ” she enjoin . “ And it was really my creation to the conception of recipes . From there , I used every chance to be prying in the kitchen and bother my mum . ”

Building Her Foundation

By the time she get in at Clemson University , Meredith knew she wanted to work in the food humans . After commencement exercise , she moved to New York City , and her parent agreed to facilitate leg it the bill for culinary school if she also mold a full - time task . She juggled a nine - to - five as a sales and merchandising assistant with eventide and weekend class at the Institute of Culinary Education — which , handily , was across the street from her function — until she garner her degree , after which she began go the dinner shift as a secret chef for fashion designer Joseph Altuzarra and his family .

A few months later on the pandemic bang , Meredith lost her daylight job , and the Altuzarra family asked if she ’d be uncoerced to spend the summer with them in the Hamptons , cooking breakfast and tiffin in increase to the dinners they ’d fallen in love with . At the fourth dimension , she had her heart set on a career in food spiritualist , but “ after get hundreds of nobelium , I realized I involve to swivel so as to pay my neb , ” Meredith remembers .

Annie Schlechter

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A Fork in the Road

It was n’t until four months later , when she was slipping into credit card debt and started hearing rumors about TikTokkers racking up lucrative blade business deal , that she thought,“I guess I have nothing to drop off . And that moment of desperation is really what collapse me the courage to put myself out there . The vlog ended up getting a duad of million view and gave me my first 100,000 followers . ”

Meredith’s Recipe for Success

In the years since , Meredith ’s followers has maturate exponentially , and she ’s diversified to other weapons platform , including YouTube and Instagram . This past year , thanks to firebrand partnerships that start the gamut from Armani Beauty to Walmart , she was able to buy her own house in the Hamptons , a converted barn that she shares with her beloved Bernese mountain dog , Poppy . There she films everything from dizzy puppy video to refined dinner party party footage and recipes for American cheese - chive biscuits and Korean - inspired short ribs made with Asian pear tree harvest from her yard . But , while her cooking attainment may be impressive , the mystery to Meredith ’s success also lies in her can - do assurance .

I ’ve always been someone who does n’t study the directions and just estimate it out . Most of the sentence , it work out just fine .

Her self - assurance led her to take on a wedding as her first - ever catering job and shop a proposal for her freshman cookery book , perfect with entertaining advice and sample party menus , to publishers . “ I have no estimate where it come from , but it ’s been a constant for me since I was little , ” she says of her willingness to jump without a net . “ My parent would see me doing some half-baked , new thing and ask , ‘ How do you know how to do that ? ’ And I would say , ‘ I just learned it up ! ’ That was my go - to phrase . I ’ve always been someone who does n’t read the directions and just figures it out . Most of the meter , it work out just ok . ”

Wishbone Kitchen’s Meredith Hayden on sofa in green dress