Fall in Love with Flavor: “The Ultimate Chick Flick Cookbook” Author Richard S. Sargent returns with flavor and fun!

Fall in Love with Flavor: “The Ultimate Chick Flick Cookbook” Author Richard S. Sargent returns with flavor and fun!

We are here today with author Richard S. Sargent for his new book, the Ultimate Chick Flick Cookbook. 

Below is an edited version of our conversation.  Find the full version on our FlavRReport youtube channel.

Joe Winger: We’re gonna link to your last book (Horror Movie Night Cookbook) as well, but your new book is out now the Chick Flick Cookbook. 

What is the most important message you wanna share with our audience today? 

Richard S. Sargent:  I learned a lot while making this book, honestly, because when I started it I just thought that chick flicks were fluff. There wasn’t much meat on their bones. The whole “Will they, won’t they? Yeah, of course they’re going to” scenario just did not appeal to me very much.

But what I heard from the horror cookbook was that we love the idea, but we don’t love horror movies. Try something else. And I thought okay, maybe I’ll challenge myself with chick flicks. So I actually learned, and what I’d like other people to consider as they’re making their way through the book is there’s a whole lot more to chick flicks than what we once thought.

Especially when you consider the food that is intertwined within it. Some of them are really smart and I just don’t think they get the credit that they deserve.

Joe Winger:  For each of the movies you talk about you have a 2-3 sentence summary right below the title. It’s very much your point of view on each movie.  Unique, not just the standard movie synopsis.  Like “When Harry Met Sally.”

Richard S. Sargent: I like to explain to the reader why I chose what I chose. There are a lot of other cookbooks out there, a lot of film cookbooks that are just like, oh, she wears a pink dress, here’s a pink cocktail.

That’s what I try to avoid.

So I like to explain in my little blurbs why I chose what I chose, how I related to. That scene (in When Harry Met Sally) in particular, or the movie overall and why I feel like it’s a cut above the rest of the other chick flicks in this case. So that’s how I choose what to write there. Like with the Pretty Woman one that you brought up, my recipe for that is of course escargot related because, she throws it across the room.

So instead of just doing escargot with butter and garlic, I made a dip out of it. I wanted to explain that’s how the path that I took to get to my recipe basically. So with Pretty Woman, that’s how I did that. And then with when Harry Met Sally, that’s a classic that I think people are starting to maybe look at a little negatively.

They’re saying that’s where we started criticizing women and calling women complicated and things like that, which is why I chose the recipe where she makes her order at the restaurant and he calls her high maintenance. I wanted to show that she’s not high maintenance, she just knows what she likes and there’s a huge difference.

So I went with her order, but I tweaked it for my own taste and to make it a little more original, but still bring you into the film. So that’s how I got to my blurb and my recipe for when Harry met Sally.

Joe Winger: You mentioned your horror cookbook from a year or two ago.  Same idea, different genre. What did you learn during the horror cookbook that you brought into your process this time around the RomCom cookbook?

Richard S. Sargent:  I learned that I need to test every recipe. It’s when I did the horror cookbook, I started out just doing it for fun. I wasn’t trying to make a career out of it. So this time I learned that I need to be a little more precise with everything. And a little more accessible, like with the horror cookbook, I had things in there like alligator and piranha and things you can’t really find at your local convenience store.

So I tried to keep all that stuff down to a minimum this time around stuff you could find at locally.

And if you can’t, you can talk to your butcher and get it there.

So I try to be a little more accessible this time around for sure, but I wanted to keep my general idea the same because I learned that it works and a lot of people love it and I heard such positive feedback with people doing their own nights that it it really lit my fire to get this one going.

So I learned just to trust myself and and to just go with it.

Joe Winger: Today we’re talking with Author Richard S. Sargent, about the Ultimate Chick Flick Cook Book,  whether it’s a girl’s night out, a dinner party, some kind of a dating experience. Do you keep in mind the context of how this book will be used?

Richard S. Sargent:  I actually do consider all of that. A Girl’s Night would be perfect for this book, even for the horror book. Get all your friends together, cook together.  Together it brings out an intimacy in your relationships that may not otherwise be there. You’re forced to be in the same room.  You got high stakes going on, it brings people together and I think that just in these films it’s the same, but I think Girls Nights now, apparently, wedding events, I’d love to see local restaurants do a night based on the movies in the books that would be cool to see and something I would love to be a part of.

Date night would be perfect. I just try to consider the many ways this can be used and try to appeal to all of that.

Joe Winger: I’m gonna name a few of the movies. Legally Blonde, Dirty Dancing, Little Women, Waitress, Barbie.  Can you talk about how you came up with some of the pairings?

Richard S. Sargent: I came up with the dishes typically is if they eat something important or there’s any sort of food or beverage reference in the film that is more than just, “Hey, look, I’m drinking a glass of milk or something.” If it’s important, I will use it and I will figure out a way to make it work.

That’s where I will start and then build my recipes off of that.

So for “Waitress” with the pie there were so many things to choose from that movie, but the most romantic was when she made that pie with him, for him to teach him how to make the pie.

So that is where I went to with that.

Typically as long as it’s an important moment. If I can’t find something they ate, I’ll base it on where the film takes place. Chicago or wherever.  Then do my own twist on that.

Joe Winger:  Drinking games too.  There is a lot more detail as far as watching the movie along with the games and cooking .

Richard S. Sargent:  I really like when I was watching “Under the Tuscan Sun.” It’s such a magical movie as far as the atmosphere goes. I just kept thinking, yeah, I could live there. I definitely wanna live there.  I thought that every 10 minutes.

I’m thinking to myself, are other people gonna think this about, as they’re watching this movie?

I’m gonna make that my drinking game. So every time you think, yeah, I wanna live there, you have to take a shot.

What are the other ones that I like?

“13 Going On 30” was another fun one that I like. The music they use is just so iconic and it brings you into her world so I wanted to incorporate that into the drinking game.

Take a five second drink every time you hear a popular song, but take a ten second chug for the thriller dance which is what I based my drink on.

Joe Winger:  There were a few suggestions in the wording towards body positivity. Was that a deliberate choice?

Richard S. Sargent: I am glad that you did get that message. It may have been subconscious for me putting it in there.

Joe Winger:  Now that you’re getting reader feedback, which recipes are you hearing about the most?

Richard S. Sargent: The girls trip recipe. I did a poboy, but I used flavors you wouldn’t usually use like banana and grapefruit.  People really seem to be responding well to that one.

For the horror book, surprisingly the popcorn from Scream gets a lot of love.

Joe Winger: Our audience from the last time around knows you have the film background,  are you considering a cooking show?

Richard S Sargent: That gives me so much anxiety. Having somebody watch me go through this process sounds like a total nightmare, but it is something I have talked about with a few producers about maybe doing something, especially with the horror one, where we bring in maybe a star of the film and have them cook with fans of the film from the book.

Joe Winger: What are the best ways to find the new book and learn more and follow you?

Richard S Sargent: You can follow me on Instagram or Facebook.  You can buy my books on Amazon or, your local bookstore.

I usually keep my Instagram updated and sometimes I do a little bonus recipe here or there.  I’m trying to do a little book tour now.  I’ll be coming to your city sometime soon. So stay in touch on Instagram.

Now I noticed you said book series, so is there another is there another book on the way?

The next book that will be coming out is the Queer Movie Cookbook, so it’ll be focused on lgbtq plus themed films.

Joe Winger: We have Richard S Sergant, author of The Ultimate Chick Flick CookBook. Any final message for the audience? They bought the book. They’re in the kitchen. They wanna be having your vibes with them.

Richard S Sargent: Have fun. That’s why I make these books. Enjoy your time with the people that you’re cooking with and watching the movies with.  I hope that it becomes a meaningful night for you and maybe your relationship.