Deen Paula - Paula Deen & Friends: Living It Up, Southern Style

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ALSO BY PAULA DEEN

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The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook

SIMON & SCHUSTER
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1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com

Copyright 2005 by Paula Deen
Photographs copyright 2005 by Alan Richardson

All rights reserved,
including the right of reproduction
in whole or in part in any form.

S IMON & S CHUSTER and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Designed by Helene Berinsky

Manufactured in the United States of America

25 27 29 30 28 26 24

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Deen, Paula H.

Paula Deen & friends : living it up, southern style / Paula Deen.

p. cm.

Includes index.

1. Cookery, AmericanSouthern style. I. Title: Paula Deen and friends. II. Title.

TX715.2.S69D43 2005
641.5975dc22
2004065348

ISBN 0-7432-6722-2
ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-6722-9 (print)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4391-0329-6 (eBook)

This book is dedicated to my soul mate,
my best friend, my precious husband,
Michael Groover,
the best taste-tester a girl could have.

I am greatly indebted to the following friends for their party ideas and recipes (listed in order of appearance): Barbie Lientz, Trish McLeod, Alison and Danny Mahfet, James Roszkowiak, Herb Wardell, Alice Jo Giddens, Martha Nesbit, Patty Ronning, David and Katherine Slagel, Kelley Ort, Wez Childers, the late Sally Sullivan, Judy Poad, Donna Haney, Mary Lou Haney, Mona Nesbit, Catherine Taylor, Susan Greene, Dottie Courington, Jeanie Simmons, Katie Borges, Bob English, Carole Beason, Carolyn Donovan, Julia Holliday, Margie Levy, Suzanne Butler, Jane and Gilbert Wells, Sue Off, Phyllis Curlee, Maria Oxnard, Sarah Gaede, Linda Giddens, Robbie and Sandy Hollander, Jane Feiler, Inez Pachter, Gail Levites, Sandee Eichholz, Alice and Walter Dasher, Corrie Hiers, Glena Harlan, Peggy Grimsley, Libby Lindsey, Karen Pannell, Sally Scott, Molly Gignilliat, and Laura (Shaky) Schexnayder-Thomas.

Thanks also to my agent, Barry Weiner, my biggest cheerleader, and my literary agent, Janis Donnaud; to the staff at Simon and Schuster: David Rosenthal, Aileen Boyle, Deb Darrock, Tracey Guest, Linda Dingler, Helene Berinsky, Jonathon Brodman, Sybil Pincus, Sarah Hochman, and especially the talented and patient Sydny Miner; to Gary, Zack, and Emory Nesbit, and Dottie Courington and Billy McGinley for being the taste-testers (talkin about the perfect job!); to Martha Nesbit for making sure the recipes work; to Christy Pingel for keeping me organized, dressed, and on schedule; to Brandon Branch for making my porch look like it was ready when it wasnt; to the photographer, Alan Richardson, and stylist, Michael Pederson, for making the food in the book look so gorgeous; to makeup artist Genevieve Markowsky for working her magic; to photographer Christine Hall for making me and my friends look gorgeous on the cover; to Susan Greene, Dora Charles, Aunt Peggy Ort, and Martha Nesbit for going through the torture of makeup and hairdoing, traveling, the horrible heat, and bugs to make this cover possible. We aint bad for a bunch of old broads.

And last, but not least, to my sons, Jamie and Bobby; and my brother, Bubba Hiers; and the entire amazing staff at The Lady & Sons for representing me so well when this project took me away.

About a year ago, I called my friend Martha Nesbit from the airport. Martha had been food editor of the Savannah Morning News when I was just starting out in the restaurant business, and she had featured my son Jamies chicken salad recipe in one of her newspaper columns. Martha and I both like to cook, and we appreciate each others food. We have very similar tastes. I want you to collaborate with me on a cookbook! I told Martha. And she said, Yes!

But what kind of book did we want to do? I had already done several recipe collections, and one dessert cookbook. What I really thought was missing was a book that told people how to put it all together. So we spent hours and hours thinking about how my friends like to entertain and came up with a long list of parties we thought would be fun to feature, from tailgates to bridge suppers, from christenings to camping trips. Then we set out to find the recipes that went with each party, going to some of the best southern cooks we know and begging for their best recipes. We threw in some of our own favorites, and as I do on my show, I tried to provide tips whenever possible to help you be successful with the recipes.

The result is a cookbook that I am so proud of. Not only do I think you are going to love the recipes, but I think you are going to love getting to know some of the people behind the recipes. Before I introduce you to them, here are some of my thoughts on entertaining, southern style:

The guest list is probably the most important part of planning a party. You should always invite fun-loving people. You can eat a hot dog with people who are fun and have a great time. On the other hand, you can have filet mignon with a bunch of stick-in-the muds and be miserable. I always try to surround myself with people who love life.

Southerners really know how to entertain, and they will find any excuse to share food with loved ones. I tried to paint a picture with words of these settings so you could re-create these heartfelt parties for yourselves, wherever you live.

As for the food, I can guarantee that youre going to like these recipes. I meet people every day from all corners of the United States at my restaurant in Savannah, The Lady & Sons, and Ive found that the love and appreciation for our Deep South cookin knows no geographic boundaries. Our cookin is so, so good, and I think our party food is definitely food for the gods.

To me, the hardest part of entertaining has never been the actual cookin but the menu planning, which I think is a chore! So if youre anything like me, I think youll love grabbing this book and just shakin those pots and pans, because Ive done the planning for ya. Heres that book I always wish I had, with the parties laid out for me! I wanted to write an entertaining book with unique ideas for people who entertain the way I do, which is very casually. I just love people, and thats whats important about entertaining in the Southenjoying good food with people you love. This book is all about real people cookin real food. So lets get to cookin, yall!