Kamala Harris’s cooking wisdom: 7 tips from her kitchen videos

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“I’m just a home cook,” vice president and likely Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris says in one of the videos posted on her YouTube page in which she prepares food with famous chefs and regular folks alike. That line, from a 2020 video, came in response to chef and humanitarian José Andrés telling her she has a “big reputation as a chef,” a designation she first earned for a viral pandemic-era video in which she schooled Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) on the finer points of tuna-sandwich making (after her colleague’s chaotic and sloppy sandwich horrified the internet).

Harris long ago proved that politics and cooking can mix. And despite her modesty, the culinary prowess Harris displays in the videos – including an impressive one-handed egg-crack and deft knife skills – says otherwise. While others are parsing her voting record or obsessing over her possible vice-presidential picks, we scoured through her cooking videos in search of her best tips and tricks.

1. There’s more than one way to cut an onion

Harris has perfected an onion-dicing method that isn’t exactly by the book – but it still delivers great results. In a couple of videos, she demonstrates the technique: First, she cuts off the stem end, leaving the root end intact, and then peels the orb. She proceeds to balance it on the cutting board and makes cuts along the open surface, following a grid pattern (both vertical and horizontal). Finally, she turns the onion on its side and slices downward to produce a uniform dice.

The technique might be a bit risky (an unstable veg and a sharp knife can be a dangerous combination), but it creates a fine and even chop. Actress Mindy Kaling, with whom she cooked masala dosas in one video, was dazzled. “Senator Harris, I say this with respect: You’re kind of a showoff,” she joked.

2. Bacon is flavor

The vice president clearly understands the power of a little bit of cured pork. In one of her videos, she prepares apples sauteed in bacon fat, a sweet-savory combination that she serves alongside pancakes. “Bacon is a spice as far as I’m concerned,” she declares at one point.

3. Mayonnaise is for more than you think

In the viral video in which she instructed Warner on creating a proper tuna melt, Harris revealed a diner cook’s secret for grilled cheese sandwiches with perfectly golden-brown exteriors. She counseled Warner on the various ways one could treat the bread – toasted, maybe, or crisped in a pan. In the latter instance, “on the outside of the bread, spread the mayonnaise,” she counseled. “It’s basically oil, right? And a little bit of egg.”

4. Shop local, sometimes

When visiting Iowa, Harris opted for ingredients made in the Hawkeye State. Iowa bacon and apples went into the dish she made alongside her then-primary campaign’s state chairwoman.

But although Harris regularly shops at farmers markets and Whole Foods, she’s definitely not above some more humble items. “Miracle Whip is actually quite tasty,” she told Warner. And her verdict on the packaged bologna he was planning to serve up with Velveeta? “Fried bologna – so delicious.”

5. Be flexible

Harris showed off a skill that many home cooks leaned on particularly hard during the pandemic: staying loose about how to use the ingredients you have around. In one video, she said she planned to take what was presumably some ground meat out of the freezer, but she didn’t have a firm idea of what she would do with it. She was going to make meatballs, she said, “or maybe meatloaf.”

And she maintains some building blocks of flavorful dishes around to incorporate in different ways. “I mince a lot of ginger and garlic together and I keep it in the fridge to mix with a lot of things,” she told Andrés.

6. Sometimes you just need the right gadget

Harris uses a kitchen gadget that even I and some of my colleagues weren’t familiar with. In the video with Andrés, Harris casually employs something we learned is called a garlic roller – it’s essentially a short tube made of silicone that you insert cloves into, and then roll across your cooking surface. The skins of the garlic stick to the silicone and the cloves pop out, perfectly denuded. “I use this all the time,” she told Andrés.

Food editor Joe Yonan once tried out a similar tool, and although he concluded that he prefers the classic knife-smash method for peeling garlic, Harris’s preferred gadget can make cleanup easier and keeps the clove whole.

7. Kitchens aren’t just for cooking

Harris’s cooking videos are more than political stunts. For decades, politicians have been obsessed with the kitchen table, the near-mythological site of the ostensible conversations about what matters most to Americans. In these clips, Harris extends that metaphor by showing that important talks – and casual banter, too – also happen over the adjacent stove and countertops.

Against the backdrop of their kitchens, Harris dove into pandemic restaurant relief with Tom Colicchio, hunger and food-insecurity policies with Andrés. She talked about her own Indian heritage with Kaling as the two chopped and sauteed. “People have misconceptions about who Indians are,” she said.

She bonded with a supporter over a butter-stained family cookie recipe. And she discussed breaking gender barriers after preparing flapjacks.

“I eat ‘no’ for breakfast,” she said in the latter video, as she dug into the meal she had just made. “And apple pancakes with some bacon.”