Dolly Parton Talks About Her New Cookbook

When Dolly Parton walks into the kitchen of her youngest sister, Rachel Parton George, she’ll often sing out: “Hey good lookin’, what ya got cookin’?” The line from a 1951 Hank Williams song has become something of a Parton family joke — and it also inspired the title of the sisters’ latest collaboration, “Good Lookin’ Cookin,'” a recipe book released this month.

The book features 80 dishes and drinks organized into monthly menus. Readers will find Southern classics — fried trout, corn fritters, and purple-and-white-cabbage coleslaw — interspersed with stories from the sisters’ childhoods in Tennessee and of their years touring and performing together. Travel + Leisure spoke to them about food, family, and finding the perfect recipes.

T+L: Can you share a food memory from growing up?

Dolly Parton: So much of our life was centered around the church, and Mama cooked a big Sunday dinner after. We’d have fried chicken, mashed potatoes, biscuits, banana pudding — all that stuff. 

Rachel Parton George: I can still remember how hot and flaky the biscuits were in the morning, along with the smell of bacon and coffee. Those memories still fill me with such a sense of home.

What inspired you to create this book?

DP: I had written a couple of books already about my songwriting. Rachel is really the great cook in our family, and she can make food look good and taste good — that’s where the title came from. She had wanted to write one and said, “Wouldn’t it be great if we did complete menus, from your drinks and appetizers all the way through?” 

RPG: Dolly and I make a great combination. I love to write the recipes and practical information, and Dolly likes to tell stories — and she does that so well.

Related: Dollywood’s Iconic Cinnamon Bread Recipe

Is there a recipe you can’t seem to get right?

RPG: Mama’s cathead biscuits! (They’re called that because they’re so large.) She would incorporate the lard, milk, and flour in such a way, and it was so amazing to watch her work the dough. I’ve tried to duplicate that a million times, but they’re still different from Mama’s. 

DP: I think that missing ingredient you can never quite get is love. The thing we long for is that person, and the love they put in that dish.

What’s a place that’s always stayed with you?

RPG: One of my favorite places I’ve ever visited was Lake Tahoe. We skied really badly, but had a lot of fun performing there in the late 70s.

DP: We’ve traveled all over the world, but I always look forward to visiting my kinfolk in East Tennessee.

What’s your go-to room service order?

RPG: A club sandwich.

DP: Oh, just the fact that they have room service! 

“Good Lookin’ Cookin’: A Year of Meals” is available on Sept. 17 from Ten Speed Press.

A version of this story first appeared in the October 2024 issue of Travel + Leisure under the headline “Together, Always.”