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Darius Slay is never more popular in the Philadelphia Eagles’ locker room than he is on Fridays. That’s when Slay walks around with his arms stretched by a box filled with individual cups of banana pudding, handing them to teammates who spend the week hankering for their fix.
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The pudding is a specialty of Jenn Slay, Slay’s wife. She started making small batches on occasion for Slay’s teammates, and they’ve grown in popularity ever since. The dessert is now a weekly ritual — as Slay is often reminded.
“I literally talk to him every day about bringing that banana pudding,” said defensive tackle Javon Hargrave.
When a team makes the Super Bowl, there’s often a search for the secret sauce. With the Eagles, that might be the pudding.
“This s— is good!” Slay said.
“Best I ever had in my life,” safety K’Von Wallace said.
“Any time she makes the banana pudding for the group,” said safety Marcus Epps, “it makes my day.”
The story behind the pudding originates in Detroit, where Slay spent the first seven years of his career. Jenn learned the recipe from Elise Tate, the wife of former NFL wide receiver Golden Tate. Jenn made a batch for Slay’s teammates, and he came home and told her they wanted more.
“So it kind of turned into a thing there,” Jenn said. “And then when we got here with the Eagles, I’m like, ‘You know what, why not keep the tradition going?’ Because it was something I enjoy and also something Slay enjoyed because he could brag about it: ‘My wife’s banana pudding is so good!’”
Eagles team captain Darius Slay is making rounds across the locker room and gifting teammates with homemade banana pudding, courtesy of his wife @jennwilliams23 pic.twitter.com/n5z7rtwF5q
— Josh Tolentino (@JCTSports) December 2, 2022
The pudding was an instant hit in Philadelphia. In fact, the first public acknowledgment came during Slay’s first training camp with the team in 2020. Former Eagles cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman finished a question about being teammates with Slay by stating that one of the memorable parts is the pudding.
“It was delicious,” he said then. “I want some more right now.”
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When Slay was asked that year about the recipe, it was as if someone sought the Eagles’ strategy in defending Patrick Mahomes on Sunday. He might as well have cited competitive advantage.
“Can’t give it to you,” Slay said, “but it’s amazing.”
The recipe has evolved over the years, with Jenn tinkering and refining it to the current iteration. And when she was asked to describe it, she offered a startling revelation for someone who excels at making banana pudding: She doesn’t really like bananas!
“I will say, it’s not like your typical banana pudding because … honestly, I’m not even a fan of bananas and I don’t do a lot of banana flavor in mine,” Jenn said. “It’s weird. It’s like a mixture of vanilla but with a little bit of banana and then you get the taste of the cookie. It’s different. You really have to try to understand.”
Venture over to Hargrave’s locker and “banana pudding” might as well be a password. It’s like saying “Mount Union” to Nick Sirianni — a smile fills Hargrave’s face, and he’s ready to review.
“I’m a big banana person, banana pudding,” Hargrave said. “I like the little cookie in it. It’s just some good banana pudding. I eat a lot of banana pudding, and that’s a good batch.”
“Them Chessman cookies she puts on the bottom, ground up … it’s fire!” cornerback Zech McPhearson said.
Jenn Slay’s banana pudding has become a weekly tradition in the Eagles’ locker room. (Courtesy: Jenn Slay)Jenn acknowledges that Chessman cookies are a key ingredient. She crumbles the cookies at the top of the pudding, but they’re also waiting at the bottom — ”surprise cookies,” as she called them.
“I don’t know the secret,” Quez Watkins said. “She don’t ever miss.”
The banana pudding didn’t become a team-wide phenomenon until recent months. It’s now like a special at a restaurant that becomes a staple on the menu. It’s unsurprising when Slay brings around the banana pudding after the last practice of the week.
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“He was like, ‘Oh, the guys want the banana pudding here and there,’” Jenn said of the original plan. “And the one time he told me, ‘Man, the guys keep complaining that they didn’t get it this week.’ I’m like, ‘Slay, you’re the point of contact! … I don’t know when they want it! So just let me know.’ And then that’s when I was like, ‘You know what? Instead of him asking me all the time, I’m just going to automatically make it every week. … I’m gonna make it every Friday. So right out of practice, they can get it and go home.’ So that’s why that became a tradition.”
That means Thursday nights are busy. She doesn’t have the equipment to make banana pudding in volume — only a “small mixer” that she’d otherwise use to bake a cake. She mixes four batches and combines them into a huge bowl.
“It definitely takes a lot,” she said.
Jenn previously used smaller cups. Then she saw a photo of left tackle Jordan Mailata holding the pudding and figured she needed to expand the portion. (In fairness, Mailata would make any cup appear small.) She now fills eight-ounce cups. The goal is to make 50 cups, but it usually ends up being around 45 to 47.
If the demand from Slay didn’t convince her of the popularity, the testimonials served as evidence. The Eagles host a holiday party for the entire organization. Jenn ran into A.J. Brown, who brought up the banana pudding. “I don’t care if I have to pay you,” Brown told her. “I need it!” She offered to make the pudding for Brown whenever he wanted a batch.
“It kind of reminds me of home,” said Brown, a native of Starkville, Miss. “She does a great job with it.”
This is a compliment Slay can appreciate because he said his wife makes the pudding “in a Southern way — and I’m from the South.” (Slay is from Brunswick, Ga.) He was impressed by this because Jenn was born in Iowa and raised in Oklahoma.
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The pudding is personal to some of the players. Hargrave said his grandfather makes the best banana pudding. Watkins rates his auntie’s pudding as his favorite. Mailata, who is Australian, was turned on to the delicacy by his fiance at Magnolia Bakery in New York. He considers Jenn’s the second-best he’s ever tasted — and he’s developed a discerning tongue for banana pudding.
“I always try to ask (Slay), ‘Hey, do you have any more?’” Mailata said.
Jenn gets a good laugh about the fuss for her banana pudding because she’s “never been really the baking type.” She cooks more than bakes, but when she met Slay, she needed to adjust because he has a sweet tooth. She now knows her desserts.
There’s someone else who’s in on the recipe: Slay himself. He helped her make the pudding during the week leading up to the NFC Championship Game. That cut the preparation time by two hours, with Slay wearing gloves to crumble cookies and fill cups.
Slay stood by his locker two days before the Eagles clinched a spot in the Super Bowl indulging in the dessert that was partly his creation.
“Credit to her — she’s been going crazy in it,” Slay said. “She told me not to tell her secret. I’m going to keep it to myself. … She wants to make it for the team. All them be calling me like, ‘I need the pudding!’ I’m like, ‘Damn, I wish I could call and ask for stuff like that!’ But it’s all good. S—’s good.”
The growing buzz about the banana pudding on social media led to Jenn delivering cups to tailgates before games. Now she hears from fans daily who want her to package and sell the pudding. She had not considered it before, but the wheels are in motion for distribution.
First comes another large portion this week. The pattern of pudding on Friday and a win on Sunday isn’t lost in some corners of the locker room.
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“We’ve got spoiled to it. I remind him, call him and tell him,” Hargrave said. “I told him he’s gotta keep the banana pudding coming (because the Eagles are winning).”
“Keep it going,” Watkins said. “I don’t know what she’s going to do for the Super Bowl, but we’ll make something happen.”
Here’s what she’ll do for the Super Bowl: Jenn is staying in an Airbnb so she has access to a kitchen. At the end of the week, she plans on delivering a batch to the Eagles’ hotel.
Why mess with what’s working? The proof is in the pudding.
(Top photo of Jenn and Darius Slay: @jennwilliams23 / Twitter)
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