What’s Your Flava with Debbie Sledge (Sister Sledge)

In our What’s Your Flava series, we interview the musicians of Pub in the Park about their cooking rituals and the chefs about their listening habits. Turns out, Debbie Sledge thinks she could take on Tom Kerridge at a Philly steak cook off… Tongs at the ready?!

What’s a must have in your rider?

Honey, lemon, ginger and herbal teas are soothing mainstays and great for our voices before and after a show. A special treat that I sometimes request is chocolate covered strawberries.

What would you like your final meal to be?

It has to be something with chocolate. Everyone I know knows I'm a chocolate fiend so am not fussy in this regard!

What is your go-to dish when hosting a dinner party?

If it’s for family, a big pot of spaghetti always goes down well as everybody loves pasta! My husband Jeroen is a chef and makes the most delicious salads, one including watermelon which is both sweet and savoury. My son Carl is an excellent chef too and he makes amazing mustard soup and homemade pho. He’s also created what’s now known as 'Carl Sauce’ - a secret hot sauce recipe that has proven a huge hit with family members travelling across the city to buy. It goes with everything and he’s even got our band hooked on it now!

What’s your local and why?

Local spots like Phoenix music venue Crescent Ballroom, where they do divine tacos, or The Farish House, a lovely family-owned, red brick fronted French Bistro. Our local Italian Tratto made the NY Times Best Restaurants in America list, so we’re quite spoilt for choice in AZ. 

What would you challenge Tom Kerridge at in a cook off?

It would have to be the classic Philly cheese steak. I live in Phoenix now but we recently travelled to Switzerland for a show and had a layover in my hometown Philly. We had our fill of delicious cheese steaks when there, and my daughter Camille even bought some home with her on the plane. 

If you had to eat one cuisine every day for the next month, what would it be?

Don’t tell anybody but I’ve been eating chocolate brownies pretty much every day for months! As long as I know there’s chocolate in the house, I can keep on working!