Jennifer Garner Gets a Spicy Fried Chicken Lesson From Melissa Clark

The “Five-Star Weekend” actress shares childhood food memories, her go-to recipes and more.

As fans of her “Pretend Cooking Show” know, Jennifer Garner is no stranger to the kitchen. Now, she’s playing a culinary professional: In a new television adaptation of Elin Hilderbrand’s best-selling novel, “The Five-Star Weekend” (streaming on Peacock), Ms. Garner stars as Hollis Shaw, a food influencer.

True, Ms. Garner did work with a food stylist on set to sharpen up her knife skills and help her practice the elusive pan flip (a tough one to perfect). But her cooking instinct came earlier, from her mother, who made bread every Sunday and dinner most nights for their family of five. (Ms. Garner’s own three kids have inherited the cooking gene; all of them love to bake.)

Recipe: Nashville-Style Hot Fried Chicken

We invited Ms. Garner into the New York Times Cooking studio to make Nashville fried chicken, a recipe adapted from the chef Rodney Frazer of Peaches HotHouse in Brooklyn. (Watch the video below or on YouTube.)

As we dipped and fried, we chatted about acting, her love of food and that time she bravely made Ina Garten’s chicken recipe over Zoom — with Ina herself.

Have you ever made fried chicken before on your “Pretend Cooking Show”?

No. I made a chicken dish with Ina [Garten] on Zoom. This was during the pandemic, and that was a little hairy. She was there watching me do it.

You made Ina’s recipe in front of her?

Yes!

Are you good at following directions? Are you good at following a recipe?

Yes. Sometimes. [Laughs]

OK, so there you were during the pandemic —

So there I was, pandemic, I started this whole “Pretend Cooking Show,” and I started it as truly a homage to Ina and to all of the Food Network people but Ina, Martha [Stewart].

Did they teach you how to cook? In that, like, virtual way of learning?

They just offered me comfort because my mom cooked every meal. If we had French fries, my mom made the French fries. If we had pizza, my mom made the dough.

So you learned how to cook from her?

I just learned how to cook through osmosis — in that way you see what it looks like when the salt is spread on the dish. You see what it looks like when you fold something in. Of course, we all baked. I have two sisters, and we all kept the cookie jar full for my dad. We all grew up cooking and knew how to do all of that stuff.

Do your sisters still cook?

Oh, yeah. They make everything. They don’t even know I’m here right now, they would be here.

They should have come! We could have done a family thing.

All we talk about is recipes. We probably send your stuff back and forth, I mean, you’re such a hero, you don’t even know! For the Garner girls, you’re tops.

I have been making over and over again Marcella Hazan’s butter tomato sauce.

Oh my God, I love that recipe.

And the next day, leftovers at lunch. You will, like, knock someone over to get to it first.

Recipe: Marcella Hazan’s Tomato Sauce

So, “Pretend Cooking Show,” do you ever see making it a bigger thing?

No.

OK! [Laughs]

Because you do that! And I do it because I’m a fan of yours, but I don’t really know enough to offer more than once a month.

I think the thing is that it’s really relatable for people to see you learning. Which is so great. And you’ve got the best sense of humor. I just love watching that show.

Thank you!

Tell us about your new project. Tell us about “The Five-Star Weekend.”

You know what’s crazy is that I play a food influencer.

I know! I was going to ask you about that. Did you read the book?

Love the book. Elin Hilderbrand is such a fun writer. and she writes the most relatable characters. And in this case, I kind of thought: “Are you kidding me? A food influencer?” I judged it before I read it, and then I loved it beyond, beyond.

I loved actually shooting the cooking scenes. It felt like the first time I was doing something on camera where I truly knew what it was supposed to feel like, as opposed to like, when I’ve played a doctor, and I’m listening to someone’s heart. I don’t know — I mean somebody has taught me, and I’ve practiced but I don’t know what that is. I don’t have those 10,000 hours, but I do know what it feels like to dredge a chicken breast.

Did you have to learn any new skills, or do you feel like you had all the cooking skills that you needed to go into that role?

I tried. I worked with a food stylist to try to learn better knife skills. My knife skills are just basically I put down an onion, and I hack at it until it’s chopped up.

Well, but that works.

It does, but that’s not what you would do. That’s not what my little lady Hollis would do. And I tried to learn the thing that everyone can do but me, where you do this [motions flipping a pan]. I walked around with a frying pan. …

[whispers] I can’t do that either.

Really?! Oh my gosh.

Every time I do, I make a mess and I’m like, “really?” I could just use a spatula, I could just use the tongs and just turn it, and then I won’t make a mess.

I made a bit of a mess when I did it.

I applaud you though for doing that.

I needed to do it on camera. That wasn’t beautiful but I did it. Hollis’s food is always pretty, and mine’s always a mess.

Really? You’re not like a perfectionist?

No, God, no.

What’s your hosting style?

I hire a wonderful caterer, and I have a glass of wine. [Laughs]

You have three kids, and they all cook. Are they all bakers, too?

Well, they’re mostly bakers and my eldest two can cook-cook. Actually, Sunday, my son got up, and he made eggs, and I had made chocolate bread that morning.

Wait, what’s chocolate bread?

It’s a quick bread. It’s one of Rose Levy Beranbaum’s from her “Bread Bible.” It’s a staple.

I have made that, that is such a good bread!

It’s not too-too sweet, that’s what I love. Yeah, that is a weekend bake for me.

Nice. And then your son made eggs?

He made eggs, and he sent me a picture of his plate with fruit, and I was like, “Oh!” He told me he was brunch-mogging.

Do you have an early food memory from growing up?

My mom, she made bread on Sundays, and she would always make enough to make two loaves. She would make one loaf properly and the other loaf, she would cut up and shape it into little men. And she didn’t wait for the second rise because we were all so impatient for that bread, and it would still puff up. You would smell it, and pull it apart, and eat it warm. It is such a joyful, delicious memory.

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