Tamar Braxton & Ms. E Cooking Show Debuts On CleoTV

At just 5 years old, an eager-eyed, bushy-tailed Tamar Braxton walked into the kitchen where her mother was preparing a meal and made a single, surprising request: “Mama, can I make the macaroni and cheese?” It was a tall order for a kid; mac and cheese is the undisputed star of any soul food Sunday spread. According to Ms. Evelyn Braxton (affectionately called Ms. E), that’s where the magic began.

“She’s been doing this all her life,” Ms. E shared with me during our candid chat. The duo have been promoting their Cleo TV mother-daughter lifestyle show, Cooking Sessions with Tamar & Ms. E.

“She’s been making the best mac and cheese since,” said the Braxton matriarch, giving her youngest daughter props. I could almost hear the smile in Tamar’s voice as she basked in her mama’s praise. “Thank ya! Thank ya for your props!” Tamar beamed. Even as an adult, her inner child still yearns for her mom’s approval when it comes to her food.

“My mother’s my biggest critic, and the reason why she’s my biggest critic is because, you know, she’s my teacher,” Tamar said.  

So you know what my next question had to be — so what’s the secret to a banging mac ‘n cheese?

”You just have to take your time with it, you know what I mean?” Tamar dished. “It’s simple, but you gotta make sure your roux is right,” she added. The roux refers to the seasoned melted butter and oil mix that’s whisked with flour and used to thicken the cheese sauce. A well-prepared roux is what gives the classic dish that coveted smooth and creamy texture.  

“Focus on the roux — and no eggs, I don’t know where that came from. This is not a quiche,” she said with her signature Tamar flavor.

Harmonies And Recipes

Tamar, along with her sisters Toni, Towanda, Traci (who passed away after battling esophageal cancer in 2022), and Trina, were baptized into their family church tradition. Trained as choir girls, the sisters went on to form a musical quintet with famous, flawless gospel harmonies only heaven herself could orchestrate. Toni Braxton’s self-titled platinum-selling album with LaFace records put the family name on Hollywood’s radar in 1993. Toni’s success allowed the sisters to also shine. They would lend their vocals in the studio and on tour as her back-up singers. Tamar’s solo singing career reached new heights in 2014 when her album Love and War earned three Grammy nods. 

Both singing and cooking remain sacred pillars of the Braxton family connection. And in a family of five-girls, one can just imagine what it would be like to be a fly on the wall of their family kitchen, senses fully immersed in the sounds of singing, the scent of hearty recipes, and the cackle of chatty girl talk (which includes swapping cheat-codes on how to cook up their best “catch a man” dish). Tamar’s claim to fame is what the family calls the “Get ‘Em Girl” breakfast.

“It’s so easy. You get some biscuits in the can, cut them in fours, lightly fry them, dust them in powdered sugar, and make a side of turkey bacon, and you will get him, girl!” Tamar said.

Ms. E co-signed the aphrodisiac effect of  Tamar’s signature plate, saying she wants to learn how to make it, with one caveat: she will make her biscuits from scratch. 

“ I start from scratch, but then this is a new generation. How about that?” Ms. E said, adding, “and if I listen to her, maybe I will be able to ‘Get ’em. girl.’”

Tamar said her respect for the craft came from being a kid and sneaking peeks at her mom and her sisters from outside the doorway of the kitchen while they bustled around making meals inside. According to Tamar, the kitchen was seen as holy ground for Black women, a safe space where aunties and mommies bonded over hot stoves and juicy gossip. 

“First of all, we weren’t allowed in the kitchen, and I used to sneak and watch them and eavesdrop,” Tamar shared. Tamar and Ms. E said they want to bring that same generational spirit of camaraderie around cutlery into their show. While the Braxton sisters were born in Severn, Maryland, a small suburb outside of Baltimore, their love for the art and taste of soul food has clear Southern roots. Ms. E said her mother, Sister Jackson, was born in Columbia, South Carolina, and their home and meals were considered a centerpiece of their small community. 

“She was a Southern, pastor’s wife, and at our house on a Sunday, everybody, all the pastors in the neighborhood would come just to eat Sister Jackson’s food because it was made from the heart,” Ms. E said, recalling Sundays filled with the fresh aromas of finely chopped square-cut collard greens, savory chicken and dumplings made from scratch, and yellow “Church Lady Cakes” with thick chocolate frosting for dessert. 

“ Because my mother and her sisters cooked in the kitchen all the time, my mother would have us cook in the kitchen all the time with her,” Tamar said, adding that her new cooking show with her mom will be a nod to that lasting legacy.

‘Cooking Sessions With Tamar & Ms. E’

 ”Our ancestors used to cook all the time when they were slaves and when they didn’t have much. They would put chicken scratch together and have a complete, beautiful, loving meal. And so I just get reminded that I can go in the kitchen, and I can burn off energy, and I can be like my ancestors and guides,” Tamar said. 

Agreeing with Tamar, Ms. E said no meal starts without her acknowledging the power of the divine first. She said she prays over everything she cooks and eats. “ I just like God’s blessings, and if some feel that, ‘Oh, she’s doing too much,’ then that’s up to them. But I know how I was raised, and mom said, ‘Whatever you do, put God first.’”

Cooking Sessions with Tamar & Ms. E premieres Wednesday, March 26 at 9 PM ET/CT on CLEO TV.