Inspiring Home Cooks One Show at a Time

story by KAREN SNYDER          photos by CHARLOTTE BERKELEY

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade, right? Well, not exactly, if you’re Beaufort locals Debbi Covington and Susan DeLoach. When our town was enduring the pandemic shut down last fall, these two successful entrepreneurs got to work making much more than lemonade. Instead, Debbi, an award-winning chef, caterer, cookbook author, and food columnist, together with long-time friend Susan, also an award-winning and well-known wedding and portrait photographer, got busy teaching others how to cook at home debuting the online YouTube series “My Fabulous Cooking Show: Celebrate with Debbi Covington.”

After all, isn’t that what most of us were doing spending so many hours at home? Cook. Eat. Cook some more. Eat some more. Due to the pandemic, both women found their businesses largely “on-hold,” which provided the perfect opportunity to pursue something fun and new. It all started when Debbi, who was teaching an online course for OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) at USCB, reached out to Susan to request her help with streaming her presentations. Friends for close to 20 years, the two have worked together on dozens and dozens of projects, special events, weddings, and celebrations in Beaufort throughout the years — Debbi catering them and Susan photographing them. In fact, Susan, a Beaufort native, met Debbi when she photographed Debbi for her first cookbook, Dining Under the Carolina Moon. Susan also photographed Debbi’s most recent cookbook, Celebrate Beaufort. You can see more of Susan’s photography on Facebook, Instagram, or www.sdeloachphoto.com.

For the OLLI classes, Susan put an iPad on a rolling stand to move closer to show the audience the food as Debbi presented the recipes. All the while, Susan was thinking, “How could I do this better?” Challenged, she jumped right in, striving to capture different angles and shooting above the food to get the best images for the classes.

After some discussion between the two, an idea was born! Wanting to pursue something new during COVID downtime, the pair, who exude Southern charm, began shooting and having fun with what Debbi referred to as her “pretend cooking show.” It wasn’t until a client of Debbi’s saw the show and giving it high praise that they were encouraged to make it a “real” thing.

“I had done a little bit of videography work over the years for the Beaufort International Film Festival recording interviews with filmmakers who had submitted films,” Susan explained. But with much of her work for Susan DeLoach Photography put on hold once the pandemic hit, “It was the perfect time to learn something new!”

For Debbi, an accomplished chef, caterer, and entertainer at heart, sharing her gift of cooking with others (especially during the difficult days of the shutdown) just made sense. Her challenge, she admits, was getting used to being in front of a camera. “We learned as we went along,” she laughs. “We tried modeling the show after similar formats on the Food Network demonstrating three different recipes based on a type of cuisine or holiday theme. But getting the timing and the length of the videos ‘just right’ was tricky. At first, we found people were not sticking around to the end of our videos. So, we simplified the format keeping it to just one recipe per episode, which worked best for our viewers.”

Realizing the benefit of using the show to stay connected to her clients, Debbi provides the recipe featured on each weekly show on Facebook and on her website, cateringbydebbicovington.com and on YouTube. Debbi says her love of cooking came from her mother. The North Carolina native admits, “It was her love of food, and its preparation and serving, that instilled in me a passion for all that is delicious!”

Both Debbi and Susan don’t disappoint presenting a wide variety of delicious dishes in the close to 60 episodes they’ve now produced from Debbi’s Lady’s Island home. Viewers will delight in the palate-pleasing and easy-to-replicate dishes they’ve presented, including everything from Reuben Sandwiches to Palmetto Tortellini, to Alligator Lime Pie, to refreshing summer salads such as Festive Caesar, Veggie Wedgie, or Cranberry Pecan Chicken Salad, and many more. Debbi also takes time to provide her viewers with the “Tips and Tricks” needed to make various parts to her recipes, such as homemade salad dressing, candied bacon, and pickled red onion, for example.

“A lot of planning and work goes into each show which we post every Sunday. I spend at least two whole days working on food prep and set décor to go along with the theme of what I’m cooking whether it’s Mexican, for example, or the Fourth of July,” Debbi explains.

Together, they spend a day shooting as many as five episodes of the unscripted show once a month with Susan “working her magic” on the videos in post-production for two to three days before uploading them to YouTube. “I have to make sure the sequence of the video makes sense and is easy to follow by the viewer. It’s equally important to grab the attention of the viewer quickly so they’ll want to watch the video in its entirety.”

Admitting to having a rather funny “blooper roll” of mishaps during their recording sessions, it’s evident the dynamic duo is enjoying their labor of love. Susan jokes, “I like to tease Debbi about her eye rolls at the end of some of the takes. As she learned how to look into and interact with the camera, Debbi admittedly felt weird and made funny faces.” Yet, it didn’t take long for Debbi to get comfortable with the camera. Catch any of the videos, and it’s clear how natural and inviting Debbi is when teaching others how to cook.

For Susan, photographing food, she says, does present her a challenge. “You don’t get to interact with it like you do people,” she laughs. “Food can’t position itself with verbal direction like people can. It’s very hands-on.” Having worked together on Debbi’s cookbook, both admit that it’s about ensuring the food looks as delicious as it tastes. “I believe in the mantra that you ‘eat with your eyes before you eat with your mouth,’ so it’s important that my dishes look appetizing to viewers. That’s why making sure I have the perfect background, serving dishes, and background colors on which to place the food is important,” she explains, noting that neither she nor Susan ever uses “food styling” short-cuts such as adding glue, motor oil, or other substances for “appearances sake.”

“Our food is completely edible after we make it!” In fact, the two, having made their own personal financial investment in producing the cooking show, split the food among themselves to share with their families after shooting.

With YouTube segments averaging about 6-8 minutes in length, Susan notes, “You really can make the recipes we feature in the videos. I admit to not really being a cook, and I’ve personally made several of the recipes after we recorded them. One of my favorites is the Oven Roasted Beef Tenderloin. It’s so impressive when you make it, especially for guests. Of course, I get the advantage of taking home samples of what we cook before I try to make them myself,” she laughs.

As far as Debbi’s favorite cuisine or dishes, she says, “I go through phases. Sometimes it’s Greek, Tex-Mex, or dinner salads. It just really depends on my mood or the time of year, I guess.” Yet, her first concern is to demonstrate dishes and recipes that she knows her audience will enjoy and use or learn something new. “Sometimes I even learn something new like when we invited special guest baker Ken Davis to teach me how to decorate a cake! It was one of our longer featured videos we called ‘Cake Decorating 101’, and I learned lots of great tips.”

Much like Debbi’s award-winning food and catering services, the audience reaction to “My Fabulous Cooking Show: Celebrate with Debbi Covington” has been positive. “We’ve not advertised the show in any way yet. We’re gaining new followers each day on YouTube and Facebook. We hope people will find our show and subscribe!”

Though both Susan and Debbi, who jokingly akin themselves to “Thelma and Louise,” are now back in full swing with their respective Beaufort businesses and admit that scheduling time for the show has become more challenging, they remain committed to their new venture together just as they have always enjoyed their adventures together as friends.