Other People's Kitchens Q&A: with Stephanie Hansen
Stephanie lives in Minnesota where her kitchen is the base for her TV shows.
Q: Hello Stephanie. Can you please tell us a little about yourself, where you live and your Substack publication?
A: My name is Stephanie Hansen. My brand is StephaniesDish. I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which, due to recent election events, has people very focused on our city. I started in advertising and marketing, selling ads at newspapers and radio stations, and had my own printing and direct mail company for 10 years.
Concurrently, I have been a broadcaster in the Twin Cities for over 20 years at My Talk 107.1, a women's talk station that hosts my radio show, "WeeklyDish". I have been on television talking about food for 7 years, and 2 years ago I launched "Taste Buds with Stephanie," an Emmy Award-winning show about food produced by Fox. I published a cookbook with the Minnesota Historical Press called "True North Cabin Cookbook," which chronicled my summer cabin on an island in Ely, Minnesota, and the food we eat. I will have a Cozy, Cold Weather Cookbook published in September 2025.
My Substack is "Stephanie's Dish Newsletter" by Stephanie Hansen and currently has over 8,000 subscribers, and I love working on it. I have exclusive recipes that are only on my Substack archive and not on my food blog at StephaniesDish.com, and I publish my podcast, "Dishing with Stephanie’s Dish," through the platform.
Q: Can you please describe the layout of your kitchen, how much of a role it plays with your family, and when writing for your Substack publication, Stephanie’s Dish Newsletter?
A: Three years ago, I moved to Minneapolis from St. Paul, near the capital, where I had lived for 25 years. My old galley-style kitchen in a Victorian townhome had dark woods. A food chemist at General Mills designed the kitchen in my new home. It’s an open floor plan, bright and white, and coincidentally, it has become the home base for the "Taste Buds with Stephanie" set.
Q: You filmed a TV show called Taste Buds with Stephanie in your kitchen. Can you tell us something about this and perhaps share with us some behind the scenes look?
A: We film in my kitchen about two days a week. The benefits are that I have all my pots, pans, utensils, and dishes. The downside is that I have a TV crew in my home with lights, cameras, gear, many dishes to wash, and my husband and dog barking. My husband has often run to the bathroom at inappropriate times during filming.
My crew is three people, so it’s pretty manageable, but we will probably need to add a food producer to help prep and style food and another editor at the pace we are shooting.
Currently, I do all the recipe development, book the guests, prep the food, and perform on camera; the show's look is fantastic. It's light, bright, and feels like a kitchen in a home versus a TV set because it is!
Q: You also run a Podcast from your kitchen called ‘Dishing with Stephanie’s Dish. How did this come about, and how do you organize your kitchen to accommodate this and your TV show?
A: I record my podcast in a closet in my home office. The closet is full of tablecloths, canned goods from my garden, mason jars, and props for the cookbook. My home office is stuffed to the brim with shelves housing cookbooks, dishes, staging props for the cookbooks, and lights, and I have a giant video "stick" my husband made that we modeled after my friend @zoebakes video stick that her husband made. It’s a tripod with lights on casters that I can wheel in and out of my kitchen to film videos for my YouTube channel.
Q: What are your most used kitchen gadgets that you cannot live without?
A: My Instant Pot and Crockpot are tools I use all the time in my cooking. (My readers call me the Crockpot queen.) I just wrapped up my "Crocktober" on Instagram, during which I posted an Instant Pot or CrockPot recipe each day.
My favorite kitchen tool is my micro plane. I use it for everything from zesting citrus to grating cheese or nutmeg—I love it. I also love my Cuisinart and have two - one I got for my wedding 30 years ago and a replica I found at Goodwill last year in case it ever breaks.
I also love vintage Dansk pots and pans, and I use about nine on the show. All-Clad Stainless is the workhorse in my kitchen. Did I say my coffee pot?
Q: How would you describe the regional cuisine where you live? Are there fresh food markets or farmers' markets available?
A: We have an outstanding, diverse local food scene. I had a podcast for makersofmn that showcased products from around Minnesota, and it has over 300 episodes. The largest farmers market is 2 miles from my house. I am also a gardener, and in the Fall, I get a CSA for 2 months, which takes me into the Winter season. We are lucky to be the number one turkey producer in the country, and we have many organic, sustainable farms within 90 minutes of my home.
As a place that welcomes many immigrant populations, the diversity of our farmer's markets and food markets is fantastic. Whether getting traditional K-Mamas Korean Sauce, Maazah chutney or coffee from the Get Down Coffee Company, there are many options for variety and flavor.
Q: Is there anything about your kitchen that you would like to change or improve?
A: My pantry is in my front hall, but I love my magnet pantry wall, which my friend Kira from Zestful Designs helped me coordinate. I have always wished for more bookcase spaces for cookbooks in my kitchen, but I am limited to one bookcase due to space.
Q: What tips can you give us that will help keep our kitchens neat and easy to manage? Including anything you think would be especially helpful to other food writers looking to do a podcast or photo shoots in their kitchens.
A: I am not the most organized person, but I do have a few food tips for photo shoots or TV shoots:
Shopping at the secondhand stores in your neighborhood is my number one tip. I get all my see-through glass bowls and tablescape props from my local Goodwill or resell shops. When styling a cookbook, I look for napkins or colorful table decorations and wooden cutting boards in various shapes and grans of wood. The secondhand stores are unique, and you can resell what you don’t need when your project is over.
Have all the food and tools prepped on a baking sheet ahead of the shoot? (I say this but I am always reaching for a spatula, whisk or spoon).
Q: How many cookbooks do you have, and do you have any favorites? Can you please tell us about any cookbooks you have written or plan to write?
A: I have written one cookbook, "True North Cabin Cookbook," and am in the final stages of my second, which will be published in September by the Minnesota Historical Press. My radio show hosts a local cookbook swap every October, and it is the best event. We get to swap, build community, meet new friends, peruse cookbooks old and new, and find new homes for them.
Q: Do you have a favourite recipe that you would like to share with us?
Here is a recipe for my Beer Cheese Dip from my Substack that gets rave reviews.
This Winter Roasted Cabbage Salad is full of flavor, and my Blueberry Basil Salad Dressing is perfect for a beet salad.
Q: Have you had any kitchen disasters that you can share with us? Perhaps during one of your photo shoots.
A: My favorite cooking disaster happened when I was doing a shot for Strawberry Angel Food Loafs. for my YouTube channel. My friend and foe, the immersion blender, went AWOL on me, and I knew when it happened; I just had to keep going with the shot.
Thank you for sharing your kitchen and photoshoots with us
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Read more from the series Q&A: Other People’s Kitchens.
Thank you. Lynn H. (FSL
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