Presented by Little Spoon
Are you a… um… “Butter Pants”?
That’s the term for those Caroline Chambers’ fans who, like Caro, warm up sticks of butter by holstering them in the band of their pants. (Hey, it works.)
Since the longtime recipe developer began posting recipes on Substack in 2020, her community has grown to the point where she has the No. 1 food and drink newsletter on all of Substack. Butter in our pants or not, we’re hanging onto her every new recipe. Why? Because Caro has absolutely nailed the art of easy, efficient, enticing recipes that fit into our real, busy lives (she has four kids, not to mention chickens!). Her substitution lists are legendary. Her flavors always hit. Her recipe writing is foolproof.
She gets real-time feedback on Substack that helps her immensely. “I really become a better recipe developer week by week,” she told Kerry Diamond on the latest Radio Cherry Bombe. That’s in contrast to the cookbook process, a slower burn so to speak, but no less exciting or useful. Tomorrow is the debut of Make It Fast, the follow-up cookbook to her bestselling What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking. The chapters are organized by time, with enough 15-minute meals to get you through the start of the school year and into the great beyond.
Consistency is key; if you commit to publishing once a week, you better deliver if you want to build an audience.
There’s a lot of competition now. Do what you do best.
To build an audience, they need to relate to you. When her posts went from being styled and polished food shots to showing her messy kitchen, her kids running around, the chaos of her life—things really took off.
Learn from the feedback. An essay on breastfeeding was both her most liked and commented post, but it was also her most unsubscribed. Does she need to start a parenting-focused newsletter to speak more directly to that audience?
She doesn’t use paper towels! She has a “basket system” with a pile of kitchen towels that get used and dropped into a laundry bin every day; we’re talking four, five towels a day.
These paper-based cutting boards for chicken/meat, anything you’d use plastic for
Leaving your Boos block on the counter
This fish spatula with a silicone tip to protect your pans
Caroline and Kerry will be in conversation this Wednesday in Washington, D.C., as part of the Make It Fast book tour. Grab a ticket here.
🍅 Make her Lasagna-Vibes Turkey Zucchini Skillet from her new book
🎥 Watch her new video series on Substack
🍋 Don’t miss her on the cover of the latest Cherry Bombe print magazine
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