Hailee Catalano knew at just 13 years old she wanted to attend culinary school. In her 11 year career in the food industry and online, she has done just that and more. Catalano has over 1.9M followers on TikTok, over 542K on Instagram, and a debut cookbook on the way. In By Heart: Recipes to Hold Near and Dear, Catalano presents over 100 restaurant-quality recipes designed to be made in your home kitchen. We sat down with Catalano to talk about her upcoming book and why she fell in love with cooking.
Spoon University: Where did your passion for cooking come from?
Hailee Catalano: I feel like at a very young age. I grew up around my mom, who loves to cook, my grandma, who loves to cook. Everyone was always cooking around me.
Even growing up, I was always the one cousin where the moms were like, ‘Oh, look at Hailee, she likes artichoke,’ or ‘Hailey likes this weird thing’ that a kid normally wouldn’t like. I was always a good eater, and I was always interested in the food so I feel like that’s where it started.
For me, I am the key generation for Rachel Ray, Ina Garten, and all those Food Network shows. As I got older, it went from liking the shows to wanting to try cooking. My mom was always encouraging me to do that, so I would help her a lot. By 13, I knew I wanted to go to culinary school. I did that and went on to restaurants, and I’ve really always loved food my whole life, especially since I love eating so much.
SU: Why did you decide to start posting on social media back in 2021?
HC: It was a weird time for everybody, of course. I had originally moved back from Chicago to New Jersey in 2020 because I wanted to work in New York restaurants. But when I moved, it just did not work out at the time because of Covid. From then, I had really random jobs just to get by — like Instacarting and a random test kitchen job for a small home appliance company — I had more of a 9-to-5 schedule than a 12 to 14-hour shift at restaurants. So, I was like, ‘What can I do?’
I wanted to feel creative and do something with my passion for food. I saw a bunch of people posting things on the internet and TikTok. I wanted to try it, but I knew nothing about it — how to film and I’m pretty shy in general. But I was like, maybe if I do this, I can manifest having a restaurant one day. That was my whole thing. I just want to have a cafe. So, I just started spotting.
SU: Why did you decide to create By Heart?
HC: I have a website now where I put all my recipes, but I’ve always wanted to have a physical thing that people could use — like a tangible item. It feels different when you have something that’s really tangible and you can hold it. I feel like the book is a bunch of seasonal, cozy, homey recipes that kind of tell my story of food through them. It’s a lot of accessible recipes that a home cook could do, but then some techniques that you might not know unless you went to culinary school or worked in a restaurant to make the recipes a little bit more fun and interesting than what you might already know how to do at home.
SU: What was the journey of creating By Heart like?
HC: Obviously it’s my first book, so I really did not know what to expect. I didn’t really talk to many people that have done it before either. We would write recipes in restaurants, but it’s totally different. It’s not detailed — it’s kind of just scratch writing.
It’s definitely a learning experience. You really are in a different mindset. It’s writing a recipe for everyone to be able to do it, and really thinking about taking yourself out of it and think like if someone didn’t know how to make this at all, how would you write it for them? It’s a very interesting head space.
SU: How did you decide what recipes to include in the book?
HC: A lot of times people ask me how I come up with recipes and such, and usually it has to do with what season we’re in. I just think about things that are in season, and then I create whatever I want to make with that.
I wanted that to be reflected in the book, so I have a lot of different seasons represented there through pastas and pizzas. Italian American food is my favorite food. I have a whole section just on just Italian American food based off of my grandma, who I really found joy in cooking with at a young age.
I wanted to have a sweet section, and I love bread so much. I feel like people also love to watch my sourdough videos, so I really wanted to teach people how to make a quick, fresh portion of sourdough.
I wanted to create something where if you read the book and pick one thing from each section, you can make a really fun meal.
SU: Where did you select those recipes from?
HC: I have one specific section that’s inspired by my grandma. I talked to all my aunts and uncles about things that she would make, and things I remember her making. Some of them have my spin on them, but the general idea is from her.
For other ones, I kind of just divided it by what I always make. So, there is a pasta section that includes seasonal pasta for each season, a breads and butters section with various flavors like chai and vegetables, but it definitely has a lot to do with seasons and things I make.
SU: How has your mental health impacted you as a chef?
HC: I touch on this in my book, but I had anxiety, and food has always been my safe space and my calming place. Even in restaurants, which is a very stressful environment, it was really a way I could harbor my nervous energy into something that was very productive — and it helped me in those moments. I just love cooking, so it all kind of went hand-in-hand and helped me out.
SU: What can readers expect from the book?
HC: I would say you can expect a combination of very quick recipes, and then some ones that are maybe more of a weekend project. It is also something that will guide you through learning a new technique.
I have pasta recipes that are going to be really fast, and then I have pasta recipes where you’re going to make fresh pasta that’s more of a weekend project. It’s something that you’re looking forward to doing.
SU: What is your favorite recipe from the book?
HC: It’s so hard, I love them all. Roast chicken is my favorite meal in general — it’s simple and something you throw in the oven — but the one in the book is really good. It’s with red wine vinegar and honey and it also has some dried porcini mushroom powder on it, which really brings a real depth of flavor to the chicken skin. I would also say that with just a simple salad, like the little gem salad that I have in the book, I feel like it’s just the perfect meal.
SU: Do you have any future plans or goals following the release?
HC: When the book comes out, we’re doing some fun collabs with some restaurants in the cities during our book tour, some sandwich collabs —I love a good sandwich — and some fun pop-ups with the different cities that we’re going to.
My partner, Chuck, and I have a joint channel called “Two People Cooking” where we cook together. My dream would be to have a two person cooking cookbook one day.
You can pre-order By Heart: Recipes to Hold Near and Dear now through April 14. For more of Catalano’s recipes and culinary tips, follow her Instagram and TikTok.