Tinfoil Swans Podcast

Spotify

On this episode

Harry Hamlin shares how his Sunday Bolognese went from a Real Housewives lunch to an open-source food company, why his “tomatoes are American” stance was shaped by his pandemic gardening, the reason his psychology degree informs his hosting (at parties that serve as exposure therapy for his wife, Lissa Rinna), and why it’s so important to him to support hunger relief groups. Did you know he’s owned an energy company for almost 30 years? The actor, activist, and entrepreneur goes deep on his belief in ingredient transparency, the struggle meals he ate growing up, wooing Rinna, and why the podcast they host together is how they’re finally getting to know one another on a deeper level.

Meet our guest

Harry Hamlin is an actor, entrepreneur, and activist who first rose to fame with his role as Perseus in the 1981 film Clash of the Titansthe long-running legal drama L.A. Lawand his turn as People Magazine’s 1987 Sexiest Man Alive. Hamlin has worked steadily ever since, amassing new generations of fans through standout roles in Mad Men, Veronica Mars, Shamelessand The Mayfair Witchesas well as co-hosting the cooking show In the Kitchen with Harry Hamlin with his niece, professional chef Renee Guilbault. Hamlin inadvertently stole the spotlight on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills when he made lunch for Rinna and the cast, and parlayed the popularity of his signature Bolognese sauce into the consumer-ready Harry’s Famous line of sauces (available online and at Gelson’s supermarkets) as well as the creation of the packaged food enterprise, The Open Food Company.

Hamlin is the co-founder of the clean energy company TAE and co-hosts the podcast Let’s Not Talk About the Husband with Rinna. He holds dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in psychology and drama from Yale, as well as an MFA from the American Conservatory Theater.

Meet our host

Kat Kinsman is the executive features editor at Food & Wine, author of Hi, Anxiety: Life With a Bad Case of Nerveshost of Food & Wine’s Gold Signal Award-winning and Folio Award-nominated podcast Tinfoil Swansand founder of Chefs With Issues. Previously, she was the senior food & drinks editor at Extra Crispy, editor in chief and editor at large at Tasting Table, and the founding editor of CNN Eatocracy. She won a 2024 IACP Award for Narrative Food Writing With Recipes and a 2020 IACP Award for Personal Essay/Memoirand has had work included in the 2020 and 2016 editions of The Best American Food Writing.

She was nominated for a James Beard Broadcast Award in 2013, won a 2011 EPPY Award for Best Food Website with 1 million unique monthly visitors, and was a finalist in 2012 and 2013. She is a sought-after international keynote speaker and moderator on food culture and mental health in the hospitality industry, and is the former vice chair of the James Beard Journalism Committee.

Highlights from the episode

On offal and rationing

“It was not that long after the second World War and the Korean War. We were still doing paper drives and getting stuff for the military. My parents had become accustomed during the war to eating what was available, which wasn’t like what we have today. We had a lot of beef tongue. Every Sunday we’d have oxtails — all those odd cuts that weren’t being sent off to the military. We became used to beef tongue.

My father used to serve calves’ brains every Christmas morning. We had to eat it before we could open presents. He’d spend a couple of days preparing it — boiling it with capers and bay leaves, then finishing it off with burned butter. He called it ‘brains au boudoir.’ I don’t know what that means exactly, but after a few years I thought, ‘Oh, that’s not so bad.’”

On the lean and beefy years

“When I was in acting school in San Francisco, we had food stamps. My parents did not want me to become an actor; they said they wouldn’t support me and that I’d be destitute for the rest of my life. When I was offered a scholarship to the American Conservatory Theater, they gave me $45 a week to live on. It wasn’t much, but I had a penthouse apartment on Nob Hill for $100 a month in 1974, and I learned how to make it work.

I got into cooking roast beef because you could get a big hunk of beef and make it last. I’d take a knife, stab holes in it, put garlic inside, cover it with Kitchen Bouquet, throw it in the oven, and then I’d have food for five days. That’s how we did it. It wasn’t glamorous, but it was survival — and I loved it.”

On the roles that really mattered

“People come up to me all the time about Clash of the Titans. They say their childhood was shaped by it — that it gave them their sense of right and wrong, their sense of values. I never set out to do that; it’s just what came from the story. Maybe I had some small influence there, but that was never the plan. It’s just one of those films that stuck in people’s hearts.”

I made a movie early on (Making Love) that was the first gay love story ever financed by a major studio. That meant something. If in my career I made a few people laugh or think, or helped somebody feel seen, then that’s worth it. Acting gave me the chance to be part of stories that could change how people see the world.”

On cooking and love

“I cook every day. Sometimes Lisa likes it, sometimes she doesn’t, but I always like it. She doesn’t like fish, and I love to cook fish. I’ve got great sauces for it, but she wouldn’t eat a piece of fish if you paid her. We laugh about it. Cooking for the person you love is joyful — even when they order in instead.

I love cooking, but if someone says, ‘Hey, I made dinner for you, come on over,’ I’ll be there. You know, I don’t remember the last time someone did that.”

On what people don’t see

“Lisa’s not really in her wheelhouse when it comes to entertaining. I love having people over and cooking good food for them. She can be intimidated by it, so I try to take the curse off — to show her it can be great fun. When we started doing the show, it was almost like exposure therapy for her — proving that throwing a party doesn’t have to be painful.

When people watch us together, they think they’re seeing everything, but they’re not. What they’re seeing is what we choose to share. The real stuff is quieter. It’s the kitchen, dinner at home, those ordinary nights that keep the whole thing alive. I think that’s true for any marriage — it’s what happens off camera that counts.”

On fusion energy, open-source food, and hope for the future

“Without energy, we’d have no civilization. Fossil fuels gave us progress but also pollution. I learned about climate change in 1974 from a friend whose father worked for the National Science Foundation studying the ice caps. When I found out there was a way to make electricity clean — fusion energy — I jumped at it. My mission now is not only to help the world get off fossil fuels but also to get us off the kind of foods that are killing us.

If we can make a dent in food production and get people to be transparent about what they’re putting in foodI’d be happy. If we can help eliminate food that tastes great but isn’t good for you, that would mean something.”

About the podcast

Food & Wine has led the conversation around food, drinks, and hospitality in America and around the world since 1978. Tinfoil Swans continues that legacy with a new series of intimate, informative, surprising, and uplifting interviews with the biggest names in the culinary industry and beyond, sharing never-before-heard stories about the successes, struggles, and fork-in-the-road moments that made these personalities who they are today.

This season, you’ll hear from icons and innovators like Roy Choi, Byron Gomez, Vikas Khanna, Romy Gill, Matthew Lillard, Ana and Lydia Castro, Laurie Woolever, Karen Akunowicz, Hawa Hassan, Dr. Jessica B. Harris, Wylie Dufresne, Samin Nosrat, Curtis Stone, Tristen EppsPadma Lakshmi, Ayesha Curry, Regina King, Antoni Porowski, Run the Jewels, Chris Shepherd, Tavel Bristol-Joseph, Paola Velez, Bryan Caswell, Harry HamlinAngela Kinsey and Josh Snyder, Hunter Lewis, Dana Cowin, Edward LeeCassandra Peterson (a.k.a. Elvira), Ruby Tandoh, Phil Rosenthal, and other special guests going deep with host Kat Kinsman on their formative experiences; the dishes and meals that made them; their joys, doubts and dreams; and what’s on the menu in the future. Tune in for a feast that’ll feed your brain and soul — and plenty of wisdom and quotable morsels to savor.

New episodes drop every Tuesday. Listen and follow on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

These interview excerpts have been edited for clarity.

Editor’s Note: The transcript for download does not go through our standard editorial process and may contain inaccuracies and grammatical errors.