Wendell Pierce

Summary

Be My Guest with Ina Garten

Episode: Wendell Pierce
Date: October 20, 2024
Host: Ina Garten
Guest: Wendell Pierce (Actor & Producer)

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Episode Overview

In this heartfelt and lively episode, Ina Garten welcomes acclaimed actor Wendell Pierce into her East Hampton barn for a session filled with storytelling, kitchen camaraderie, and the sharing of personal journeys. Over corn muffins and a summer skillet of clams, sausage, and corn, Wendell and Ina delve into his upbringing in New Orleans, pivotal moments in his acting career, his activism after Hurricane Katrina, and their mutual love of food. It's a celebration of resilience, artistry, and the joy of gathering around a table.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Childhood and Family Roots in New Orleans

• Pontchartrain Park Legacy:
  Wendell describes growing up in Pontchartrain Park, the first African American suburb in New Orleans, established post-World War II.

  • “My parents, they took something that was ugly in troubled times of segregation...they created a community.” (10:43, Wendell Pierce)
  • The neighborhood was an incubator for talent and the civil rights movement, producing notable figures such as jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard and New Orleans' first Black mayor.

• Early Entrepreneurship:
  At age 15, Wendell organized discos to raise money for his first trip to London—a spark for his future in theater.

  • “I did one...put it out to all the high schools...and raised the money for my ticket to London. It was fantastic.” (12:11, Wendell Pierce)

2. Discovering Acting as Vocation and Occupation

• Finding His Path:
  Wendell shares how theater became both his vocation and occupation, but stresses he always saw himself prepared to adapt.

  • “I never felt the fear...because I always knew...if it didn’t work out, I’ll find another job. It’s my occupation and vocation.” (13:11, Wendell Pierce)

• Memorable Audition with Bob Fosse:
  A vivid retelling of an audition with Bob Fosse for “Big Deal,” describing an impromptu scene where Fosse directly engaged with him.

  • “He gets nose to nose with me...He is coming at me, right?...He said, 'Oh, that’s good. You’re good. But you’re too young.'” (16:19, Wendell Pierce)
  • Wendell reflects on how this audition became a cherished milestone, even though he didn’t land the part.

3. Breaking Barriers on Broadway

• Death of a Salesman:
  First Black actor to play Willy Loman on Broadway. Emotionally recounts receiving a Tony nomination and gifting a watch to his father on opening night.

  • “It was humbling. I cried like a baby...He had given me love and time. And I had a watch made. Presented that to my father. He was 97 years old.” (17:59–19:06, Wendell Pierce)

• Emotional Demands of the Role:
  Describes the immense psychological toll and his method for staying resilient during nightly performances.

  • “Not until I play Willy Loman...you have to take some self care. So I would go and hear music in London...then I would go home and sleep all day...so I had the strength.” (19:27, Wendell Pierce)

4. Community Activism and Rebuilding After Katrina

• Rebuilding Pontchartrain Park:
  Spearheaded efforts for resident-led redevelopment after Hurricane Katrina, restoring hundreds of homes and gaining national historic recognition.

  • “I said, I’ll be damned if I let this neighborhood...be destroyed...And now it is on the National Register of Historic Places.” (21:10–21:38, Wendell Pierce)

• Tackling Food Deserts:
  Opened a community grocery store to restore food access, describing the difficulties and humor in the retail food business.

  • “We lasted about two years...It’s the toughest of business, I can tell you.” (21:45–21:59, Wendell Pierce)
  • “Why do we call it shrinkage?...Call it stealing!” (25:03, Wendell Pierce)

• Family History and Legacy:
  Touching stories from his memoir, including an ancestor sold into slavery and a great-uncle who survived a lynching attempt.

  • “My great grandfather...was sold as a baby with his mother in slavery. I had a great uncle who they attempted to lynch...They sued the perpetrators and won the case.” (25:25–26:21, Wendell Pierce)

5. On-Screen Work and Cultural Impact

• Treme:
  The show as a love poem to New Orleans, showcasing local resilience post-Katrina.

  • “Where Treme is like a poem...being from New Orleans, it is like a love poem to the city.” (07:27, Wendell Pierce)
  • Learned trombone for his role, aided by members of the Rebirth Brass Band.

• The Wire:
  Preparations with Baltimore detectives, and real-life law enforcement responses to the show’s accurate depiction of street life.

  • “NYPD called HBO and said, you’re killing us...These kids are learning from The Wire.” (02:01, 27:07, Wendell Pierce)
  • “Detectives are students of human behavior, like actors. So I became immersed in it, really enjoying how they were studying other people.” (26:48, Wendell Pierce)

• Upcoming Superman Role:
  Expresses delight at joining the Superman franchise as Perry White.

  • “I heard from people all over the world...The announcement is probably bigger than the role.” (28:20, Wendell Pierce)

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Cooking Segments & Food Memories

Corn Muffins with Raspberry Jam

• Ina’s Recipe:
  Ina prepares corn muffins with a tip to make them more moist, and together they pipe in raspberry jam. Charming banter about childhood improvisations in the kitchen.
  • “As a kid, I would just take, like, a hanger...open up the whole one...jam the jam in there.” (07:01–07:11, Wendell Pierce)

Summer Skillet: Clams, Sausage, and Corn

• Cooking Together:
  Step-by-step preparation, filled with laughter and culinary tips.

  • “I love this dish because it’s all in one pot...What I love about a recipe like this, you can just take the entire skillet and just bring it to the table.” (32:38–32:46, Ina Garten & Wendell Pierce)
  • Wendell explains his family’s tradition of men cooking, favorite dishes like gumbo, and the emotional bonds tied to okra and shrimp cooked by his late mother.

• Notable Cooking Quotes:

  • “Instead of au jus, give me some of that pot liquor.” (37:03, Wendell Pierce)
  • “I always thought people were lying on these shows like, ‘Oh mine is so good’...but this is good.” (37:43, Wendell Pierce)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Courage and Calling:
  “I never felt the fear because I always knew that I would have an alternative...That’s the calling, and I’ll earn my living some other way.” (13:11, Wendell Pierce)
• Art and Resilience:
  “It’s about the work that you do and the people you do it with.” (16:44, Wendell Pierce)
• Community Impact:
  “We put together resident-initiated redevelopment...and rebuilt our neighborhood brick by brick, house by house, block by block.” (21:13, Wendell Pierce)
• Family Connection:
  “I am communing with the spirit of my mother every time I...” (35:25, Wendell Pierce, on cooking stewed okra with shrimp and tomatoes)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Wendell’s Early Life and Neighborhood – 10:30–12:49
• Bob Fosse Audition Story – 14:10–17:48
• Death of a Salesman and Tony Nomination – 17:59–19:27
• Rebuilding after Katrina and Food Deserts – 21:03–25:25
• Family History and Resilience – 25:25–26:41
• The Wire’s Cultural Impact – 27:04–28:10
• Joining Superman Franchise – 28:20–28:47
• Corn Muffin Segment – 05:50–08:21
• Cooking Summer Skillet Together – 29:51–36:38
• Food Memories and Gumbo Tales – 34:33–36:11
• Final Tasting and Reflections – 37:03–37:55

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Episode Tone & Atmosphere

The episode maintains Ina’s signature warmth and lightheartedness, met by Wendell’s deep candor, humor, and humility. Laughter and nostalgia are abundant, especially when the pair cook together and reminisce about culinary roots. The conversation flows naturally from kitchen counter to personal crossroads, offering a rich blend of flavor, feeling, and inspiration.

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Summary

This episode of Be My Guest is a captivating mix of kitchen wisdom, personal triumphs, and cultural homage. Wendell Pierce’s journey—from his New Orleans roots through Broadway to community leadership—unfolds with charm, insight, and vulnerability. Whether you crave inspiration, laughter, or a new recipe, this conversation offers nourishment for the soul and palate alike.

Transcript

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[Samin Nosrat & Hrishikesh Hirway]

I'm Samin Nosrat and I'm Hrishikesh Hirway. Together we make a podcast called Home Cooking. You might remember home Cooking from back in March 2020 when we launched it to help folks who were stuck in lockdown with their quarantine cooking questions. And now that things are super scary again, we thought maybe it's time to bring the podcast back. We're back with a brand new season of eight episodes and just like before, we're going to try and answer all kinds of questions. Whatever you need, we where are your friends? In the kitchen. So look for home Cooking on your favorite podcast app and subscribe today.

[Ina Garten]

I'm Ina Garten. I love to invite interesting people to my house for good food, great conversation and lots of fun. Award winning actor and producer Wendell Pierce, famous for his hit shows like the Wire, Suits and Treme, is coming to the barn. Homemade muffins are on the menu. Yours looks better than mine. We're talking life imitating art.

[Wendell Pierce]

NYPD called HBO and said, you're killing.

[Ina Garten]

Us because you're teaching people.

[Wendell Pierce]

These kids are learning from the Wire.

[Ina Garten]

And tales of triumph over adversity.

[Wendell Pierce]

I said, I'll be damned if I let this neighborhood be destroyed.

[Ina Garten]

Then cooking a summer skillet with fresh corn and clams.

[Wendell Pierce]

I always thought people were lying on these shows like oh, oh, I know. So good.

[Ina Garten]

Delicious.

[Wendell Pierce]

But this is good.

[Ina Garten]

So good.

[Wendell Pierce]

Not more than me.

[Ina Garten]

Wendell Pierce is coming. He's an actor who's done incredible work in the theater, in movies, in streaming series. I can't wait to meet him and I just thought it'd be really nice to have fresh muffins coming out of the oven when he arrives. So I'm making my corn muffins with raspberry jam. So I've got three cups of flour, one cup of sugar, one cup of cornmeal, and then I'm gonna add two tablespoons of baking powder. This is all the dry ingredients and one and a half teaspoons of salt. Okay, I'm just gonna mix that together. Just slowly combine them. Okay. So for the wet Ingredients, I need 1, 12 cups of whole milk, half a pound of unsalted butter melted and cooled, and two extra large eggs. And I'm just gonna beat this all together. These muffins are really great. Cause they're light. And then I pipe the middle with raspberry jam. How bad could that be? Okay, now I'm just gonna put the wet ingredients and the dry ingredients. Pretty easy, right? Okay. And that's the batter. And I find with corn muffins, if you let the batter sit for 15 minutes, they end up being much moister. Corn muffins. And while that happens, let me tell you about my fabulous guest. Actor, producer and activist. Wendell Pierce is famous for so many iconic and varied roles. He grew up in Pontchartrain park, the first African American suburb in New Orleans, with his war veteran father, schoolteacher mother, and two brothers. After graduating in drama at Juilliard, Wendell earned a part in Tom Hanks film Money Pit and hasn't stopped working since. From award winning films like Selma and Ray to to hugely popular TV series Treme, the Wire, Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan and Suits, his stage career has spanned three decades. He's made history by becoming the first black actor to play Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, earning him a Laurence Olivier best actor nomination. He has also won a Tony award for best play producing Claiborne Park. In 2005, he was instrumental in rebuilding Pontchartrain park after it was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, which inspired him to write his autobiography, Wind in the Reeds. Wow, I'm such a huge fan. I can't wait to meet him. Isn't he fabulous? Amazing. So I'm scooping the muffins. Ice cream scoop makes even muffins. And then I'm going to bake them and pipe them with raspberry jam. Okay, that looks good. Okay, into the oven. 350 degrees for 30 minutes. And we're gonna have hot baked muffins. They're gonna be so good. So the muffins have cooled just a little bit. And I'm gonna pipe them with Raspberry jam. And what I do is I fill raspberry jam in a pastry bag with a round tip, and I just kind of poke through the. The top and just do that. I mean, of course, you can serve them plain with raspberry jam, but this is kind of so much more interesting. Okay. Hope Wendell likes them. A lot of corn muffins are really dry, but trust me, these are really moist and flavorful. And raspberry jam makes everything taste better.

[Wendell Pierce]

Right.

[Ina Garten]

I'm just putting them on a platter. I think maybe I'll leave two for Wendell to pipe. I think there are enough muffins here for two of us.

[Wendell Pierce]

Ina invited me over, and I get to see where the master chef does her masterwork. Oh, yeah. This is nice. Hello. I know.

[Ina Garten]

So happy to see you.

[Wendell Pierce]

Oh, it's great to see you. Thanks for having me.

[Ina Garten]

Oh, thank. Thank you for coming all the way out here.

[Wendell Pierce]

Oh, no, that's great.

[Ina Garten]

Have you been to East Hampton?

[Wendell Pierce]

Yeah, I've come a couple of times.

[Ina Garten]

That's great. So I made some corn muffins. Do you want to pipe one of them? I pipe them with raspberry jam.

[Wendell Pierce]

Oh, cool.

[Ina Garten]

How's that? Are you in charge of piping it?

[Wendell Pierce]

I am.

[Ina Garten]

Are you piping?

[Wendell Pierce]

This is official. I am not a piping expert.

[Ina Garten]

So how about if I do one and you'll do the other one? So you just push the tip of the pastry bag down and then just squeeze it a little bit.

[Wendell Pierce]

Let me try this one right here.

[Ina Garten]

Okay, try that one.

[Wendell Pierce]

This is.

[Ina Garten]

It's even better if you get it all over the place.

[Wendell Pierce]

Old school I used as a kid, I would just take, like, a hanger.

[Ina Garten]

Take a hanger. And what would you do with a hanger?

[Wendell Pierce]

Open up the whole one.

[Ina Garten]

Good idea.

[Wendell Pierce]

Jam the jam in there.

[Ina Garten]

That's it.

[Wendell Pierce]

There we go.

[Ina Garten]

Wait a minute. You did better than I did.

[Wendell Pierce]

That's good.

[Ina Garten]

Last night, Jeffrey and I were watching Treme.

[Wendell Pierce]

Yeah.

[Ina Garten]

Which is so fabulous. I love the feeling of it. Was it fun doing it in New.

[Wendell Pierce]

Orleans where Treme is like a poem, you know?

[Ina Garten]

It feels that way, actually.

[Wendell Pierce]

And also, being from New Orleans, it is like a love poem to the.

[Ina Garten]

City, to the culture, and to the time when Katrina happened.

[Wendell Pierce]

Post Katrina. It shows the resilience of people. It shows the persistence of people. Our culinary artists.

[Ina Garten]

Throwing the horn right or the trombone right?

[Wendell Pierce]

I played the trombone. I learned every song. Wow. I still remember his solos.

[Ina Garten]

You don't even need a trombone.

[Wendell Pierce]

Yeah, I didn't even need the trombone, but they had A great trombonist right on the side of the camera that they recorded a guy named Stafford Agee from the Rebirth brass band. So I learned all the positions, but they recorded him because I sounded like I was 12 years old.

[Ina Garten]

Well, it was great. Do you cook? I know you're a good cook.

[Wendell Pierce]

You know, it's a great tradition of men cooking in my family.

[Ina Garten]

Yeah.

[Wendell Pierce]

And I start everything with a roux. All of my friends are tired of it. They're like, can we get something without a roux? You know, no gumbo. Oh, that's good.

[Ina Garten]

I love corn muffins.

[Wendell Pierce]

That's the best.

[Ina Garten]

There's so much I want to talk to you about. Your career is stunning. Absolutely stunning. This is going to be so interesting. Coming up, changing Broadway history.

[Wendell Pierce]

It was humbling. I cried like a baby.

[Ina Garten]

And changing lanes.

[Wendell Pierce]

I opened a grocery store. We lasted about two years.

[Ina Garten]

It's a tough business. Then there's corn, clams and a delicious sauce.

[Wendell Pierce]

Some people say instead of au jus, give me some of that pot liquor.

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[Samin Nosrat & Hrishikesh Hirway]

I'm Samin Nosrat. And I'm Hrishikesh Hirway. Together we make a podcast called Home Cooking. You might remember home cooking from back in March 2020, when we launched it to help folks who were stuck in lockdown with their quarantine cooking questions. And now that things are super scary again, we thought maybe it's time to bring the podcast back. We're back with a brand new season of eight episodes. And just like before, we're gonna try and answer all kinds of questions. Whatever you need. We're your friends in the kitchen. So look for home cooking on your favorite podcast app and subscribe today.

[Ina Garten]

The great actor and producer Wendell Pierce is here with me. We have coffee and muffins and I have so much to talk to you about. You had a really idyllic childhood in New Orleans. And I think it's kind of in the fabric of your DNA, am I right? Tell me what it was like.

[Wendell Pierce]

My parents, they took something that was ugly in troubled times of segregation and all of that. They created a community. They fought back in the civil rights movement to have access. My father came back from World War II to have access to the new burgeoning subdivisions. And part of that advocacy created Punch, a train park, which was the first place where African Americans could purchase a home in Post World War II New Orleans, against all the segregation covenants and all. And in the middle of it was this golf course. A thousand homes, multi denominational churches. Southern University at New Orleans was a historic black college. And it was a beautiful place to grow up. And it became an incubator for talent. Terence Blanchett, the great jazz trumpeter.

[Ina Garten]

Stunning, isn't it?

[Wendell Pierce]

Grew up with. And our first black mayor came out of our neighborhood. Our first black district attorney.

[Ina Garten]

Oh, wow. That's incredible. Were you entrepreneurial as a kid?

[Wendell Pierce]

Yes, I actually. My first trip to London, we were going. It was 1978. I remember.

[Ina Garten]

How old were you?

[Wendell Pierce]

I was 15, 16.

[Ina Garten]

Wow.

[Wendell Pierce]

And I raised the money for my trip. And we used to call them discos. You know, you're in a hall, you ask for five bucks and. And you know, you get a dj. And that's what I did.

[Ina Garten]

Seriously.

[Wendell Pierce]

Y.

[Ina Garten]

Set up your own discos.

[Wendell Pierce]

And I did. I did one. I just needed one. And, you know, put it out to all the high schools, you know, disco on Friday Night. And raise the money for my ticket to London. And it was fantastic. I'll never forget. Went to the rsc. I saw Kate Nelligan and as yous Like It. I saw Yule Brenner in the King and I. Wow. When I saw. When I saw the theater in London. People go to the theater in London, especially at that time, the way we watch television. And I said, it's okay. Then I saw that it could be not only my vocation, but my occupation.

[Ina Garten]

You could imagine yourself doing it?

[Wendell Pierce]

Absolutely.

[Ina Garten]

No. I think we each have a quest to find the stream that we should be in, where the stream is carrying us along.

[Wendell Pierce]

When you find that current.

[Ina Garten]

For me, cooking is when I found it and you found it. But that's such a hard stream. I mean, you've picked such a difficult career. What gave you the courage to do it?

[Wendell Pierce]

I guess it's. I never Felt the fear. I never felt the fear because I always knew that I would have an alternative. I would do it, and if it didn't work out, I'll find another job. I always knew it was going to be my vocation, the thing that you're called to do. And I was attempting to make it my occupation, the thing that I earned my living at. But I accept even now that one day it may not be my occupation and I'll have to earn my living some other way or, you know, hopefully I've, you know, steward some nuts away for, you know, some chips away for a rainy day. But I, you know, I accept that, you know, I may earn my living another way and, you know, but I'll still go down to some little community theater and be doing plays or shooting little films on the weekends or something like that, because that's the calling, and I'll earn my living some other way. I have the blessing of having them be the same thing. It's my occupation and vocation.

[Ina Garten]

That's fabulous. Will you tell me about your most memorable audition? I think you'd just gotten out of Juilliard. You were like, 20 or 21.

[Wendell Pierce]

Yes.

[Ina Garten]

And you had an incredible audition.

[Wendell Pierce]

You know, I always tell young actors, I said, auditions are like your opening and closing night. And this particular audition, I was going in for an understudy role on Broadway, and it was for Bob Fosse.

[Ina Garten]

Wow.

[Wendell Pierce]

And it was a musical called Big Deal. It was about this boxer who comes in and he says, you know, and the mob is asking him to throw a fight, and then he takes his life back over. He said, all right, I'm taking my life back. This is what we're gonna do. Jimmy, you do that. Sammy, you do that. You know, I'm taking my life back. And so I'm outside the rehearsal hall, and they're already rehearsing, and I'm waiting to go into audition. And I come up with this idea that I read about in an audition book. They called the break, and about 30 people were coming out of the room. I said, all right, everybody shut up. I'm taking my life back. Jimmy, you do this. Sammy, you do this. I'm taking my life back. And stage manager says, okay, everyone go on break. Come on, Mr. Pierce. Right. I thought it was a real hip idea. You know, Bob Fosse was just sitting back behind. And so I start again. I said, all right, I'm taking my life back. Jimmy, you do this. Sammy, you do that. And. And the stage manager's trying to find the scene. And he goes, stop. He goes, give me an F. Vamp. Bump, bump, bump, bump.

[Ina Garten]

This is very Bob Fosse, right?

[Wendell Pierce]

Very Bob Fosse, right? And I say, all right, I'm taking my life back. And the stage manager goes, okay, so what are you going to do? He goes, stop. Give me the script. Bob Fosse gets up, F vamp, bump, bump. And he starts to walk around me. I said, what are you doing? What are you going to try to do? So he's really antagonizing me. I said, what are you trying to do? You think I'm scared of you? No. I'm taking my life back. I don't care what you say. Jimmy's going to do that. Sammy's going to do that. And I do the whole scene with him. And he goes back and forth with me in this scene. He gets nose to nose with me.

[Ina Garten]

And goes, and Bob Fosse wasn't big. He's coming.

[Wendell Pierce]

He is coming at me, right? And he said, oh, that's good. You're good. You're good, but you're too young. You're too young. Can we find something for Wendell in this? Oh, you're good, but you're too young. My agent calls me later that day and said, what did you do? I tell her the story. She said, it really had an impact on him because he said, he's going to work with you this year. You're too young for this, but he's going to find something. Cut to a couple of months later. I'm in Washington D.C. in a hotel room, and I see his picture come up on the television. And I run and I turn up the volume. It says, bob Fosse died today. And I was like, oh, I missed my opportunity. I'm never gonna work with Bob Fosse. And then it hit me. I did. I did work with Bob Fosse. I did a whole scene with him. It was an audience of one. The stage manager, too, actually, and their company. And so I realized that that was one of the highlights of my career. I got to do a scene with Bob Fosse in a Broadway studio for his new musical with his stage manager and the pianist. And it doesn't matter where you do the work. It's about the work that you do and the people you do it with. That's gonna be the lasting memory. And so for me, that audition is one of the highlights of my career.

[Ina Garten]

Wow. And it's also a masterclass in acting.

[Wendell Pierce]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Ina Garten]

That's just gorgeous. I love that story. Wow. How did it feel to get the nomination for a Tony for Death of a Salesman?

[Wendell Pierce]

Well, I played Willy Lohman. It was humbling. I cried like a baby. And the reason was I was a part of such a small group of men who had played Willy Loman on Broadway and got that honor to be offered. That role is one of the greatest in the canon. Right. It's an American Hamlet.

[Ina Garten]

So what did you find in that role?

[Wendell Pierce]

To connect with my personal experience. The fear of are my best days behind me. A man not achieving what he sets out to achieve. And the fear of being a middle aged man wondering if I have added up to anything.

[Ina Garten]

We all have that, don't we?

[Wendell Pierce]

Yeah. And that's why that role speaks to so many people. And my father was there opening night and I just lost my father.

[Ina Garten]

I know, I'm sorry.

[Wendell Pierce]

And to have him there that night, I took a point of personal privilege and gave him a memento. He had given me love and time. And I had a watch made.

[Ina Garten]

You're gonna make me cry.

[Wendell Pierce]

Presented that to my father. He was 97 years old.

[Ina Garten]

Yeah. Wow. That's an incredible story. What I can't imagine about Death of a Salesman is how you put that much emotion into a role night after night after night. How do you, how do you stay that resilient? How do you take care of yourself so that you can do it, you.

[Wendell Pierce]

Know, for a long time. And I never believed when I would hear actors, oh, I have to separate myself from the character that's so hard. I'm like, man, it's easy. The curtain comes down, you go to the bar afterwards, have a drink, you know, it's done. Not until I play Willy Loman because he was examining a deep part of your psyche. And we know the end of the play before it starts. The Death of a Salesman, he takes his life. And so when you examine those aspects of yourself, you have to take some self care. So I would go and hear music in London. I would go to Ronnie Scott's all night long until about 3:00 in the morning. And then I would go home and sleep all day and get up around 3 or 4 and start warming up to prepare for the evening. So the three hours of this emotional Everest of a mountain that I had to climb every night, that was the beginning of my day, you know, So I had the strength, I had the rest, I had the emotional fortitude to do it. And I would climb that mountain. And then I turned into a vampire because I would stay out all night and listen to Music. I'm a big jazz head. And Ronnie Scott's in London is one of the best jazz clubs in the world.

[Ina Garten]

What's the thing you're most proud of? Both personal and professional?

[Wendell Pierce]

Personal. I. I haven't gotten there yet.

[Ina Garten]

I was thinking you, after Katrina, you went back to Pontchartrain Park.

[Wendell Pierce]

Katrina destroyed everything.

[Ina Garten]

Yeah.

[Wendell Pierce]

And there was threats of, like, not bringing the neighborhood back.

[Ina Garten]

Oh.

[Wendell Pierce]

And I said, I'll be damned if I let this neighborhood. And so they said, use your platform and your advocacy. And so I went back home and we put together resident initiated redevelopment, one of the only ones in New Orleans, and rebuilt our neighborhood brick by brick, house by house, block by block. And now it is on the National Register of Historic Places. And so what an incredible accomplishment. Now it can't be taken away.

[Ina Garten]

Yeah, that's good. That's right. Now it can't be taken away.

[Wendell Pierce]

No, it can't be taken away.

[Ina Garten]

And you did something wild in the middle of all this. You opened grocery stores.

[Wendell Pierce]

So I started to notice that there were food deserts. You know, the grocery stores weren't coming back. So I made an effort to open a grocery store. We lasted about two years.

[Ina Garten]

It's a tough business, isn't it? Oh, it's the toughest of business, I can tell you.

[Wendell Pierce]

Oh.

[Ina Garten]

Oh, man.

[Wendell Pierce]

The margin is so small.

[Ina Garten]

Yeah.

[Wendell Pierce]

And I don't know if this happened in your store, but it's something about grocery stores. I hate to say this, but people don't think they're stealing in grocery stores when they do steal, Right?

[Ina Garten]

Yeah.

[Wendell Pierce]

They go, Well, I bought $100 worth of groceries, so I'm just gonna. I can take this and this and this. You know, like Lagnac. This is something extra. The other thing is, I feel bad. I never do this in grocery stores. Every time, that little taste, if you get a couple of thousand people, that one little grape cannot tell you how many grapes and bananas and produce and vegetables go from just tasting. You go, hey, we gave you a tasting station over there. Taste that. Right, man. And that adds up in the margin of 2%. In the grocery store, as you know, we had an employee. Oh, should I tell this story? I'm going to tell this story.

[Ina Garten]

Tell the story. You can decide.

[Wendell Pierce]

We had an employee. I was so proud. I was so proud to have him on staff. He was challenged, right? Mentally challenged. But he was one of our butchers, and he was great. And one day, he was walking out with a side of pork on his shoulder. He was walking out.

[Ina Garten]

He wasn't even Hiding.

[Wendell Pierce]

He was walking out the front door, and we're like, you can't take that out the front. I won't say his name. You can't take that out the front. And they told him, do you have to take. What are you doing? He goes, well, I'm going to take this and put it in my truck. I said, what do you mean you're going to take this and put it in your truck? He said, yeah. He said, you're just going to walk out? And the manager was talking to him, said, you're just going to walk out the front door? He goes, yeah. He said, we can't walk out the back door. We normally take it out the back door, but it's locked. And then the manager looked back and saw all the other butchers going, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. And so we had to kind of let them all go that day. We told him, why don't you take that back, then you go home, we'll tell you when to come back to work. But. And so it's not like acting. He said the quiet part out loud. He's like, no, I have to take it out the front. We normally take it out the back. But the door is locked today. I'm like, so we were losing a lot of Merc. I remember we would be in meetings, you know, production meetings, business meetings. I have. And, you know, we're going through all the numbers and everything and how everything going with the stores. And they said, the shrinkage is this and the shrinkage is that. And I said, what is shrinkage? Right? And they said, well, you know, it's the reduction of inventory without revenue. I'm like, the reduction of inventory without revenue. How is inventory reduced and we get no revenue from it? Well, when it is, it leaves the store without the payment. I'm like, that sounds like stealing. Isn't that stealing? Yeah, Mr. Pierce? I said, why do we call it shrinkage?

[Ina Garten]

Right.

[Wendell Pierce]

Call it stealing?

[Ina Garten]

It sounds like it was shrink wrap.

[Wendell Pierce]

Yeah, it's just like, oh, like, it's my fault. Like, oh, we're shrinking, you know, what did you do? You're shrinking. It was like, no, people are stealing, you know, but it was a great, great two years.

[Ina Garten]

You've written a memoir called Wind in the Reeds. What'd you learn about your family?

[Wendell Pierce]

Yeah, my memoirs all over the place. I was reactionary to Katrina, and as I was trying to rebuild the community, you know, but I learned how important family is and connection to family and the history of my family has given me the Resilience and bravery that I have to do what I do. My great grandfather, my mother's father, was sold as a baby with his mother in slavery. I had a great uncle who they attempted to lynch and was saved par ran. Johnny was saved by my grandfather. They sued the perpetrators and won the case.

[Ina Garten]

Wow.

[Wendell Pierce]

And that's how these brothers, my grandfather and his three brothers, were able to get these 50 acres of land that is still in our family today. That is the homestead. That's our sugarcane farm in College Point, Louisiana.

[Ina Garten]

Whenever greatest roles was in the Wire, playing Detective Bunk Moreland, how did you prepare for that role?

[Wendell Pierce]

I prepared with the Western division of Baltimore Police Department. The detectives there. Detectives are students of human behavior, like actors. So I became immersed in it, really enjoying how they were studying other people.

[Ina Garten]

Have you ever had any feedback from real detectives about the Wire?

[Wendell Pierce]

Yeah. During the taping of the Wire, we had a federal officer visit us, and he said he had a wire tap. You know, he was doing a real wire tap. He said these guys were talking all the time, and then it would go silent at a particular time on Sundays. And then one time, the silence was broken. Someone called, and the guy picked up the phone. He says, what did I tell you? Don't you ever call me when I'm watching the Wire? And he hung up the phone. So on that, he said, I wish I could bring the tape to you. The other thing that happened was the show was so popular, NYPD called HBO and said, you're killing us. These kids are learning from the Wire. All of a sudden, burner phones in New York went through the roof. Because burner phones are when you buy a whole bunch of cellular phones and just use them one time and toss it.

[Ina Garten]

That's amazing.

[Wendell Pierce]

How do you know about that?

[Ina Garten]

Honor life imitating art. Wow. You've played so many amazing roles, and now you get to play a part in Superman.

[Wendell Pierce]

I am Perry White. And when it was announced I was in Superman, I heard from people all over the world.

[Ina Garten]

All.

[Wendell Pierce]

All. Literally all over the world. From London, from New Orleans, from Uganda. You're in Superman. I did not know that these comic book franchises were as popular as they are. The announcement is probably bigger than the role. Right? It's going to be fun to do. Yeah.

[Ina Garten]

So do you want to cook with me?

[Wendell Pierce]

I would love to cook with you.

[Ina Garten]

I think it'd be really great fun. So how about if we make a summer skillet with clam, sausage, and corn? Ooh, does that sound good? All in one.

[Wendell Pierce]

I love seafood. I love seafood.

[Ina Garten]

Okay. Pick the right thing.

[Wendell Pierce]

You picked the right thing.

[Ina Garten]

Let's go cook.

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[Wendell Pierce]

NetCredit Credit to the people.

[Ina Garten]

I'm here with Wendell Pierce and we're cooking together. And you know your way around a kitchen, right?

[Wendell Pierce]

Yes, a little bit.

[Ina Garten]

More than a little bit. And we're gonna make my summer skillet with clams, sausage, and corn. So so far we've sauteed some onions in oil and the next thing is three quarters of a pound of sausage. And what I did was I took it out of the casing.

[Wendell Pierce]

Take it out of the casing.

[Ina Garten]

Just break them up and just kind of smash them a little bit.

[Wendell Pierce]

Smash them a little bit.

[Ina Garten]

That's perfect. It smells great. I love it. So do you cook with clams?

[Wendell Pierce]

I do not do clams as much as shrimp. You know, being in New Orleans, we have access to Gulf shrimp, but I love clams. When I come up to the Northeast, I love it.

[Ina Garten]

What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna soak the clams and I just soak them in little cool water and it just disgorges any, like, sand that's in the clams. Okay. So are you in charge of that?

[Wendell Pierce]

I'm in charge of this.

[Ina Garten]

I'm going to do the clams.

[Wendell Pierce]

Smells great already. What kind of clams are you using?

[Ina Garten]

I have 32 little neck clams.

[Wendell Pierce]

Okay.

[Ina Garten]

I think they're really sweet. Do you like to entertain?

[Wendell Pierce]

Yeah.

[Ina Garten]

Like small or big or.

[Wendell Pierce]

I like small. I do too, but I always say small. And then I cook for like, 20.

[Ina Garten]

Oh.

[Wendell Pierce]

Then I go. Because I don't know how to do it. You know, do a small portion.

[Ina Garten]

So next we have corn. I'm going to show you how I cut the kernels off the corn.

[Wendell Pierce]

Good.

[Ina Garten]

I have a secret for not getting it all over the kitchen. So I've got some cooked Corn. And then I'll show you what I do. So I take the corn, make sure it's flat on one side, and then just on this kitchen towel, just run it down like that. And then it doesn't bounce all over the kitchen. It stays on the kitchen towel.

[Wendell Pierce]

Stays on the towel.

[Ina Garten]

And then you can just transfer it to the bowl from the towel. I'll do one. I'll leave you to do the other one. How's that? That's you.

[Wendell Pierce]

Let's see.

[Ina Garten]

Perfect.

[Wendell Pierce]

Stand it up. Nice. I was never good at this.

[Ina Garten]

You're doing great. What do you mean you're not good at it?

[Wendell Pierce]

I know.

[Ina Garten]

That's pretty good. Yes, Chef. Yes, Chef. Wow, you've actually filmed with some serious chefs like Anthony Bourdain. Yeah, and Eric Ripert.

[Wendell Pierce]

Right. They were on treme.

[Ina Garten]

Isn't that great?

[Wendell Pierce]

You know, we had the storyline of a chef there, and they wanted to make sure that it was authentic, so they got the real deal.

[Ina Garten]

Isn't that great? I love treme. I think it's such a great series. Thank you. Perfect. Okay. How's the sausage doing?

[Wendell Pierce]

Sausage is doing well.

[Ina Garten]

Yeah, it's great. So I think we can put the corn in. Yeah, I'm gonna put it in the bowl first. How's that?

[Wendell Pierce]

Yes, Chef.

[Ina Garten]

Okay, that goes right in. I love this dish because it's all in one pot.

[Wendell Pierce]

What I love about a recipe like this, you can just take the entire skillet and just bring it to the table.

[Ina Garten]

That's exactly what I do. And then tomatoes. I've got a pound of tomatoes diced, and then seasoning. How spicy do you like things?

[Wendell Pierce]

Oh, I'm from New Orleans.

[Ina Garten]

Oh, yeah. They'll get really spicy. How about if I do medium spicy?

[Wendell Pierce]

Okay, Medium is good.

[Ina Garten]

Okay. So half a teaspoon of red pepper.

[Wendell Pierce]

Flakes.

[Ina Garten]

Two teaspoons of salt. Use kosher salt. Teaspoon of black pepper. So that's gonna cook for a few minutes. We're gonna add wine and basil. It's gonna be so good.

[Wendell Pierce]

Oh, yeah. I can't wait for that wine part.

[Ina Garten]

There's a little extra for us.

[Wendell Pierce]

Yeah. You know, one for the pot, One for me. One for the pot. One for me first for the skillet.

[Ina Garten]

And then for us later. So half a cup of white wine. I'm using chablis, which is nice with this. That goes in.

[Wendell Pierce]

Thank you.

[Ina Garten]

I'll measure for you. I admitted it. It goes in the pan, not you.

[Wendell Pierce]

Oh, okay.

[Ina Garten]

Okay. And then 2 tablespoons of butter all diced up. That just Goes in. And then the clams. Ah. I'm just gonna drain them. So this is what I do with these. Oh, this is perfect. So I just put them in hinge side down. I'm gonna take this out in a concentric circle all the way around. How about we both do it?

[Wendell Pierce]

Yeah.

[Ina Garten]

I'll start on this side. Perfect. And that way they cook in the sauce.

[Wendell Pierce]

Why do you put the clams with the hinge down?

[Ina Garten]

So they open that way. I think it looks best.

[Wendell Pierce]

Voila.

[Ina Garten]

Okay, so the lid goes on. That's going to cook for about eight to 12 minutes. Just the right amount of time for a glass of wine.

[Wendell Pierce]

Oh, perfect amount of time.

[Ina Garten]

How's that? We've been waiting for.

[Wendell Pierce]

This is the part of the recipe we've worked hard. Right. Oh.

[Ina Garten]

So what's your favorite meal to make?

[Wendell Pierce]

Wow. My favorite meal to make, I would have to say for me, trying to hold on to the roots with all the traveling and stuff. Gumbo. Right. Cause you gotta try to keep up your gumbo compared to someone else. When I go home, I go, it's competitive gumbo. Oh, yes. You know, when I cook gumbo, and if I'm home and people taste it, they go, you've been away too long.

[Ina Garten]

You know, that's what I think.

[Wendell Pierce]

And shrimp creole or etouffee.

[Ina Garten]

You know, the thing is that home cooking is imbued with all kinds of memories.

[Wendell Pierce]

Yes.

[Ina Garten]

And so those are the things that we love the most.

[Wendell Pierce]

And the other dish that is solely connection to my mother is stewed okra with shrimp and tomatoes. I can't get through that meal without a tear coming to my. That is, I am communing with the spirit of my mother every time I.

[Ina Garten]

And do you have a recipe?

[Wendell Pierce]

I have a recipe.

[Ina Garten]

And what about sweets? I don't know what New Orleans sweets are.

[Wendell Pierce]

Well, beignets.

[Ina Garten]

Oh, yeah, of course.

[Wendell Pierce]

And cologne.

[Ina Garten]

Is that a dessert?

[Wendell Pierce]

Yeah, that's a dessert. Yeah. A beignet. You know, a puff pastry donut with powdered sugar and a rice puff. We call it cala with powdered sugar. What's happening now in New Orleans? We have a beignet festival. So we do the traditional sweet beignets and all of those, and then savory beignets.

[Ina Garten]

And what's that served with?

[Wendell Pierce]

So we have like a crawfish beignet, mushroom beignet. So it's almost like souffles. You know, you have the dessert souffle and you have the savory souffles.

[Ina Garten]

So they're doing that that sounds amazing. Okay, what do you think? Are we ready?

[Wendell Pierce]

Let's see.

[Ina Garten]

Oh, that looks fabulous.

[Wendell Pierce]

They have blossomed.

[Ina Garten]

Isn't that great? It's a whole dinner in one dish. Okay, I'm gonna get some bowls first. First, we need basil right on top. How's that?

[Wendell Pierce]

Little basil.

[Ina Garten]

How fun is this? I love cooking with him.

[Wendell Pierce]

Make it pretty and tastes good as.

[Ina Garten]

Much as you like. And of course, we need a little baguette with it.

[Wendell Pierce]

Oh, if you could smell it. Oh, there you go, chef. As we say in New Orleans, baby, cut that bread up.

[Ina Garten]

No skinny little slices here.

[Wendell Pierce]

Yeah, that's it.

[Ina Garten]

Okay, so you want to spoon out two bowls. Doesn't that smell great?

[Wendell Pierce]

Or as some people say, instead of au jus, give me some of that pot liquor. All right. A little broth.

[Ina Garten]

Oh, yeah. And a baguette.

[Wendell Pierce]

Baguette.

[Ina Garten]

And a glass of wine. And a spoon.

[Wendell Pierce]

Yes.

[Ina Garten]

And I'd say dinner served.

[Wendell Pierce]

Dinner served. Thank you. Mm.

[Ina Garten]

Now we have to make sure it's okay, right? I love that the clams actually collect some of the tomatoes and you get the whole thing together.

[Wendell Pierce]

Mm. It's great. I love it. You know, I always thought people were lying on these shows, like, oh, oh, mine is so good.

[Ina Garten]

Delicious.

[Wendell Pierce]

But this is good.

[Ina Garten]

So you promise to come back and cook with me again?

[Wendell Pierce]

Most definitely. Thank you so much. I'm honored to be here.

[Ina Garten]

This was fun.

[Wendell Pierce]

This was great.

[Ina Garten]

Cheers.

[Wendell Pierce]

Cheers.

[Ina Garten]

To good food and good friends.

[Wendell Pierce]

Good food, good friends.

[Ina Garten]

How fabulous was that? If you love this episode of Be My Guest, the podcast with me, Ina Garten, please make sure to rate and review us on Apple podcasts. It would mean so much to me. Thanks. Cheers.

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[Wendell Pierce]

Acast powers the world's best podcasts. Here's the show that we recommend.

[Julie Koehler]

On his first day back in the white House, Donald Trump signed a controversial executive order stating that there are only two genders, male and female, and that those genders are tied to biological sexual. This statement was simple and devastating, and it signaled that the gender backlash had reached a boiling point. I'm Julie Koehler, the host of White Picket Fence. This season, we're examining the many faces of this gender backlash, how it's showing up in our politics and culture. It's a scary time, but it's also a moment for imagination. What becomes possible when we imagine a better future? Subscribe to White Picket Fence Wherever you listen to podcasts.

[Wendell Pierce]

ACAST helps creators launch, grow and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast. Com.