Ina Garten’s gay appeal is undeniable. From her fabulous home and gardens, to her creative cocktail recipes, to her many gay friends and over-the-top brunch parties, who wouldn’t want to count Ina as a friend?

He may not be on the brunch invitation list yet, but we can all live a bit vicariously through Trent Pheifer, 37, a home cook who chronicled his quest to cook all 1,272 of Garten’s recipes on Instagram (@storeboughtisfine), catching her eye and ultimately cooking with her on a Zoom event earlier this year. 

To celebrate the release of Garten’s 13th cookbook this week, “Go-To Dinners,” the Blade sat down with Pheifer to talk all things Ina.

“She pulled me in, in a way that wasn’t about cooking,” Pheifer said. “She was always having a good time, it was approachable.”

Pheifer said that when he first started cooking he tried Julia Child, but ran into problems with her lengthy recipe for Beef Bourguignon. 

“A lot of those recipes weren’t working out for me because I didn’t have the skills,” he said. “I had made a few of Ina’s recipes and everything was easy to read and gave me confidence in the kitchen and the results were delicious.” 

Pheifer loved the film “Julie and Julia,” about a Julia Child fan who cooked all of the iconic chef’s recipes, and thought he would cook his way through Ina’s many recipes. 

It took him nearly six and a half years, but he did it and in March of this year, he reached the end, culminating in a memorable Zoom event with Ina herself in which Pheifer cooked the final recipe, her Boston Cream Pie, a notoriously tricky dish.

What did he learn during all that time in the kitchen as an amateur cook?

“It’s about diving in — you just have to do it,” he says. “So many people think they aren’t good cooks because they’ve never cooked or they’ve tried something too complicated. … Don’t overdo it when getting started and slowly build.”

Pheifer noted that he was eating mostly prepared foods from Trader Joe’s when he started and now can make anything in Ina’s vast repertoire. But learning to cook isn’t all about impressing dinner guests with fancy dishes. Pheifer, who’s gay and works as a fundraiser for the Advertising Council in New York City, said the bigger lesson was discovering his self-confidence.

“I’ve always struggled with self-confidence — not being good enough or smart enough – and I think in the last seven years of this project my confidence has skyrocketed,” he said. “Having worked hard at something and being recognized, having fun with people, I found confidence in being myself and that has spilled over into my job and life. I wouldn’t be where I am without it.”

Pheifer also shared his thoughts on Ina’s appeal to gay men, noting that about half of his Instagram followers are men, most of whom he assumes are gay.

“A lot of gay men are attracted to strong women,” he said. “A lot of gay boys grew up with ‘Barefoot Contessa’ and a lot of her friends are gay and it’s a place you knew you were welcome. She never waved the Pride flag, but I knew I would be welcomed into her home.” 

Aside from baking cookies with his mother and grandmother as a child, Pheifer didn’t grow up with an interest in the kitchen, though he noted the family sat down to dinner most nights together. By college he wasn’t cooking at all.

“When I was approaching 30 I realized I didn’t know how to cook for myself and it’s expensive to go out to dinner every day,” he said. Julia Child inspired him at first, until that run-in with the Beef Bourguignon. After discovering Ina’s recipes were more approachable, he only encountered one bad experience while cooking his way through her books: vegetable lasagna.

The recipe calls for roasting three trays of vegetables and making a sauce — not an easy feat in a small New York City kitchen. “There were too many elements at the same time,” he says.

Undeterred by the laborious lasagna recipe, Pheifer soldiered on for nearly seven years, sometimes wondering if all his efforts and Instagram posts would be noticed. He says he didn’t start the project hoping to get media attention, but there were thoughts that maybe all of this could lead somewhere.

“At some point you get years into the project and wonder, will anyone notice,” he said. “Ina is so beloved that she inspired this fan base of people who love her and I think I got lucky that no one else was doing it already.” He added that he didn’t do any outreach and the subsequent media attention was organic and came via word of mouth. 

One highlight of Pheifer’s culinary journey came unexpectedly while on a vacation in Paris, which happens to be Ina Garten’s favorite city where she and husband Jeffrey own an apartment. He was on a foodie trip with friends and snagged a coveted table at Verjus, known for its tasting menu, when he spotted Ina and Jeffrey at a table in the intimate dining room. When they finished, Pheifer summoned the courage to approach his culinary idol. 

“It was kismet,” he says, “the color ran from my face. I approached after they finished and my friend knocked over their bottle of wine as I was shaking their hands.” 

He introduced himself as the man behind @storeboughtisfine and Ina immediately recognized him and they posed for a photo.

“I couldn’t think of a more magical way to meet her,” he said, “this was such an intimate experience and in the city she loves the most. Ina is obsessed with Paris so it was a magical moment.”

With Ina’s new book out Oct. 25, Pheifer says he will continue his quest to cook all of the recipes. He plans to tackle two or three each week. 

And if Pheifer could pick the theme for Ina’s 14th cookbook, he says it would be “Store Bought is Fine.” Ina has said her next book will be a memoir and Pheifer hopes she will write about what drives her to create.

Although Pheifer turns to Ina for French, Italian, and American dishes, he said he collects all sorts of cookbooks and his favorite this year is “Korean American” by New York Times writer Eric Kim.

As for Pheifer’s favorite Ina recipe to make, he says it’s her rigatoni with sausage and fennel from “Cooking with Jeffrey.” Least favorite: pear and parsnip gratin. His go-to Ina dinner: Shrimp and Linguini Fra Diavolo with Outrageous Garlic Bread. Go-to dessert: Mocha Iced Box Cake. And his favorite Ina cookbook is “Barefoot Contessa At Home.”

Ina Garten’s latest, “Go-To Dinners” is out Oct. 25 from Clarkson Potter and includes breakfast-for-dinner options, make-ahead ideas, and simply assembled dishes. 

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