It’s a cookbook with a pinch of this and a Dasher of that.
That’s because the author is rising country music star Hannah Dasher. If you like old-fashioned, down-home Southern cooking with a heavy heapin’ of humor, this collection of recipes will have you laughing as you prepare dinner. “Stand By Your Pan” is a nod to the classic Tammy Wynette song, filled with dishes and desserts that are not only Southern classics but that will also bring back memories.
Dasher, who has some hilarious lyrics in her songs (“I know where you park your house”), has always been a foodie. With everything locked down during the COVID-19 pandemic, she created a TikTok cooking series that now boasts 1.6 million followers. So putting a cookbook together was a no-brainer.
From TikTok to the Kitchen Table
With her music career taking off, she brings home the bacon and fries it up in an old-fashioned iron skillet. The cookbook features some Southern basics such as fried chicken and apple butter, along with recipes that don’t exactly fit the title, such as Possum Pie (no roadkill required). A bunch of dishes have romance in mind, the theory being that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. For single women, there’s Getchyo’ Man Scotch Eggs and Getchyo’ Man Beef Roast. Those already hitched can try Keep Yo’ Man Stuffed Peppers.
Dasher, who was once fired from a job for writing songs while on the clock, is single and hasn’t gotcho’ man yet. But she has a recipe for a dream husband.
“I want him to love Jesus,” she said. “I want him to be good-looking, and I want him to have a pretty stout rock ‘n’ roll repertoire.”
Her culinary talents aren’t unique among country stars.
“All my heroes cooked,” she said. “Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline were whipping up dinner for their families before rushing off to play the Grand Ole Opry. Loretta could throw down in the kitchen. So what’s wrong with me doing the same?”
She has also gained fans through her cooking that a country music star wouldn’t expect to find.
“The most frequent comments I get are, ‘Dang, I don’t listen to country music anymore, but I love this,'” she said. “Or, ‘I don’t like country music, but I love you.'”
Cooking Like It’s 1972
A page in the cookbook reads, “Are you ready to cook like it’s 1972?” So her throwback recipes are tied to an inheritance.
“When my grandma passed away, I got the furniture and the kitchen things that no one wanted,” she said. “Because it was tacky to have harvest gold, avocado green, right? But I couldn’t afford to redecorate or to buy new things, so I used it because it made me think of her. It created a safe space for me in Nashville.”
Cooking can bring back memories, as the sense of smell is most powerful in recalling the past, something that is very important to Dasher.
“The food I like to make is the stuff that I grew up eating, that my parents grew up eating, that I don’t want to see die,” she said. “Growing up, it was only on special occasions, but you would get an eight- to 14-layer yellow cake with chocolate icing that was cooked on the stove. You could literally taste the sugar crystals.”
And forget about moderation. Load up your dishes with the good stuff.
“If I want macaroni and cheese, I want as much cheese, if not more, than I do pasta,” she said.
Dasher has a few pet peeves when it comes to cooking and dining. You won’t find light mayonnaise in her pantry.
“It just doesn’t taste good,” she said. “I want things to taste good, so I’d sacrifice my calories elsewhere.”
She also won’t eat other people’s deviled eggs.
“Some people have kitty cats that they let prance around their kitchen countertops, or they lick their fingers as they’re putting in the filling,” she said.
Manners Matter at the Table
And as for dining, there’s one thing that turns her off: bad manners and men who wear hats at the dinner table.
“I don’t want to see chivalry die,” Dasher said. “Good manners and dinner parties are fun, and part of what makes that fun is having considerate guests—people who are mannerly and easy and fun to be around and respectful. Boys don’t remember to hold the door anymore. Boys aren’t taught to remove your hat when you ask the blessing, or to remove your hat from a dinner table, period.”
More Than Just a Cookbook
Her cookbook goes beyond recipes, stressing the importance of the family dinner table.
“I am really trying to encourage my peers to keep family time alive, to keep home-cooked meals and cellphones away from the dinner table,” she said. “To make that family time. Because I learned so much growing up at a dinner table every weeknight with my family. It made me respect the hands that prepared the meal and the folks who were paying for the roof over my head. And I also learned to pray there. You can’t put a price tag on that kind of rearing.”
She also suggests making twice as much of a dish as you need, then freezing half for when time is short or you need to send something to a neighbor.
“Make doubles,” she said. “Make two chicken pies—one to freeze. Literally, if your neighbor’s having surgery or their dog dies, take it out of the freezer and pop it in the oven. It takes you no time to do that—literally the time it takes you to get home or take off your bra.”
(There are no fashion requirements in the cookbook.)
“You could pop that in the oven and then run it over there with a sweet little note,” she said. “It makes their week. It makes their month.”
So if y’all are fixin’ to start cookin’ more, you might find that the benefits go beyond the food. Bottom line, Dasher feels that the rewards of home cooking should be obvious. While politicians try to figure out a way to bring the country together, she has a simple solution.
“I think food is a beautiful way of uniting people from all walks of life, because we’ve all got to eat,” she said.
Getchyo’ Man Beef Roast
Makes 6 to 8 servings
Yankees call it pot roast; Southerners call it beef stew or beef roast. Some dare to cook this in a Crock- Pot (cringe). Quit that right now and try it the old-fashioned way! No dry, stringy meat with watery gravy here. If Zach Top or Scott Eastwood were coming over for supper, this is what I’d fix ’em.
ROAST
3 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, unpeeled, quartered
1/2 large yellow or Vidalia onion, sliced into thick half-moons
1 pound baby carrots
2 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
2 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper, divided
2 teaspoons garlic powder, divided
1 (2- to 3-pound) well-marbled chuck roast or bone-in ribeye roast
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons neutral oil, such as avocado or canola
GRAVY
2 tablespoons rendered steak fat, bacon grease, or salted butter
1/2 large yellow or Vidalia onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 cups beef stock
1/2 cup dry red wine or lager beer
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Salt, as needed
1. Make the roast: Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F. Arrange potatoes, onion slices, and carrots around the edges of a large lidded roasting pan. (I put a couple onions and potatoes in the center of the pan—spaced out—to create a platform for my roast, but you don’t have to.) Season vegetables with 1 tsp each of salt, black pepper, and garlic powder.
2. On a large plate, season the roast on each side with the remaining salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne. Liberally rub the top, bottom, and sides with the flour. Shake off the excess flour onto the plate and reserve this for the gravy.
3. Heat the oil in a large, deep skillet (preferably nonstick) on medium heat. Add the roast and sear on one side for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the flour forms a light brown crust. Flip over the roast and brown the other side, about 4 minutes more. Quickly sear the sides, and transfer the roast to the center of the roasting pan.
4. Make the gravy: In the same skillet, reduce heat to medium-low and melt whatever fat you’re using. Cook the onion and garlic for 2 minutes. Add the plate of reserved seasoned flour (about 3 tablespoons), and whisk to incorporate it with the fat in the pan. Let it brown for 1 to 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in the stock, then the wine (or beer), and bring to a simmer. Season with garlic powder and black pepper. Taste for salt. Add more if desired. Pour the gravy over the roast and veggies.
5. Cover and bake for 3 1/2 hours, until the roast is fork-tender. To serve, transfer the roast and vegetables to a platter with the gravy (use a gravy boat, if you’re old-school). Serve over mashed potatoes, grits, or rice.
Hostess Note
Enjoy a roast for Sunday lunch and eat the leftovers over grits for Monday breakfast.
______________
Naomi’s Possum Pie
Makes 10 to 12 servings
CRUST
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter-flavored shortening, such as Crisco
1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter, softened
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
SECOND LAYER
12 ounces (1 1/2 blocks) cream cheese, softened
1 2/3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, preferably clear
2 1/2 cups whipped cream or whipped topping, such as Cool Whip, divided
THIRD LAYER
2 cups whole milk
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 (3.4-ounce) packages instant chocolate pudding mix
1. Make the crust: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, shortening, butter, pecans, sugar, and salt together, using a fork. Wet your fingers and press the mixture evenly into the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Bake until lightly brown, 11 to 12 minutes. Set aside to cool.
2. Make the second layer: In a separate medium bowl, blend the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer on high speed until smooth. Fold in half of the whipped cream to combine, and spread onto the cooled crust. Be sure that the mixture touches the walls of the dish to seal the edges.
3. Make the third layer: In a medium bowl whisk the milk, cream, and chocolate pudding mix until combined. Spread over the cream cheese layer. Top with the reserved whipped cream.
4. Cover and chill to set, at least 4 hours or overnight. Cut into squares and serve chilled.
Taken from “Stand By Your Pan” by Hannah Dasher. Copyright 2026, Photographs by Reactor Media. Used by permission of Harper Celebrate.
