The Reagan family Sunday dinners are the beating heart of Blue Bloods. That hasn’t changed across 14 seasons of the cop drama.

When writer and executive producer Kevin Wade was hired five episodes into Season 1, he was told there were two core things about the series that could never change: “Each episode must wrap up the crimes of the week by that show’s end, and no matter how deep the conflicts between family members, they would have dinner together on Sunday at Frank and Henry Reagan’s home,” Wade told TV Insider

Everyone who makes Blue Bloods loves the family dinners.

“Those scenes can take eight hours to shoot,” says Tom Selleck in our Blue Bloods: The Special Farewell Edition issue. “But I still look forward to it.” As Will Estes adds, “The Sunday dinners at the Reagan house provide a great centerpiece for the show.”

Here are some secrets from the family dinner table.

1. Frank Reagan’s Sunday night dinner rule is absolute.
Unless you’re in the hospital, if your name is Reagan, you’d better be at the table, say the producers.

2. Be careful what you choose to eat on camera.
“Unfortunately, I decided to eat the osso buco the other night,” says Bridget Moynahan. “I had to do that in every take for hours! I regretted it for three days.”

3. Donnie Wahlberg’s the best eater.
“Donnie eats constantly,” says Selleck. Moynahan adds that he eats “even between takes. He never gains a pound.”

4. The menus are emailed to the actors.
But they don’t get to choose what’s on the menu.

5. The crew heats the food when it gets gross.
3 ‘Blue Bloods’ Recipes to Cook From the Cast
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But still, “if you hammer one thing, then match that for six hours finishing the scene, you’re not going to ever want it again,” says Estes.

6. Always enter laughing.
“It gets long, shooting the angles for all the actors,” says Estes. “Toward the end, we get a little punchy and are known to break out in hysterics.”

7. It’s all about togetherness for the actors and the characters.
“It’s the only time that we all get to be together, and it’s nice,” Moynahan says. Adds Selleck, “Almost every time we have a family dinner, I catch myself thinking they’re all fine actors, but they’re all nice people too.”