Cooking with Your Constable

by Rachel Strickland · Photos courtesy Paul Leal

It’s been more than three years since COVID-19 reshaped our everyday lives through health fears and pandemic restrictions. In the midst of these challenges, many stepped up to spread hope, whether by donating to local nonprofits, running errands for people who couldn’t leave their homes, or for Williamson County Constable Paul Leal, starting a cooking livestream on Facebook.

Constable Leal remembers the palpable feeling of fear and frustration during the early days of the lockdown when he served as a law enforcement presence at the Taylor H-E-B. He was stationed there to maintain order when the lines wrapped around the building and emotions ran high. “I started seeing people getting discouraged about not finding what they needed to feed their families,” he recalls.

One night, while cooking dinner, Constable Leal had the idea to go live on Facebook to reassure his friends that everything would be okay. He propped his iPhone on a Lazy Susan, went live, and made a margarita. Within the next few days, people were begging him to go live again, and so, a few weeks later, he did. He says his main goal during his live streams was to tell people, “We’re going to get through this. We’ll be okay. And if you feel like you can’t find food, call me. I’ll help you.”

Savory Food

After people reached out to Constable Leal to express how enjoyable and helpful his live streams were, he decided to start streaming every Sunday at 6 pm. As the show evolved, the episodes were guided by the rule that the recipes had to be for 10 people for less than $15 with ingredients that could be bought at the store that day. When his wife was home, she joined him as a co-host, and their first stream together garnered over 3,000 viewers. At its peak, the show had around 7,000 people watching. “It took on its own life,” Constable Leal says.

...and a Sizzling Campaign

At the time, Leal was running for the position of constable, though campaigning was difficult because no one wanted face-to-face contact due to the pandemic. As a bit of a campaign strategy, he named his show Cooking with Your Next Constable and added a little bit of politics into the discussion. Still, he admits the show was mostly just cooking and having fun.

He started to invite other co-hosts onto his show, including Williamson County Judge Bill Gravell. Constable Leal also began to add a mini motivational sermon at the end of his streams where he told his viewers to “love those who love you and forgive the people who’ve done you wrong. We’re going to get through this, and we’ll be stronger.”

People began to send Constable Leal messages expressing how moved they were by his positivity, and they asked him to pray for their families. “My wife and I did 12 years of occupational ministry, so the preacher in me would come out.”

The show became so popular that people would pull up next to Constable Leal’s car at traffic lights and ask him what he was cooking that weekend. Those interactions showed him that he was reaching people and doing something good. “The mission at the time was to bring people hope,” he says. “And it made us get creative and think about what we could make.” Constable Leal says he spent a lot of time at the store walking up and down the aisles thinking about what he could make for his next stream. “I had to think outside the box,” he says.

When things began to return to normal and people started to go back to work, the views on Constable Leal’s show began to dwindle, and he decided to take a break. “It was a lot of fun, but it became a lot of work,” he says. He had also just won the election, so he wanted to focus on his new position, but to this day, he credits his election success to the show. “I’m from this area, and I’ve been a cop for 20 years, but that [show] opened a door that introduced me to thousands of people I would have never, ever met,” he says. “That’s the truth of it.”

Back by popular demand, Constable Leal has reprised the show with the same "rules" and a new hame, Cooking with Your Constable. Now, airings are on the third Sunday of the month at 6pm and each episode will feature a new co-host.

Follow Constable Leal on Facebook to watch his cooking show: www.facebook.com/paul.leal.54. Tune in for the next episode July 16 at 6pm.