Paula Deen’s Southern Cooking Bible Book Signing at Off Square Books

Paula Deen’s Southern Cooking Bible Book Signing
at Off Square Books
By: Darby Radcliff
 
Legendary Paula Deen is not only a successful American cook, but she is also a cooking show host, restaurateur, actress, Emmy Award-winning television personality, as well as the successful author of several cookbooks including The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cooking and The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cooking 2 that were published in 1997. Both cookbooks were best sellers because each was filled with traditional Southern recipes that brought warmth to the table through traditional Southern-style cooking.
Deen’s latest cookbook called the Southern Cooking Bible published by Simon & Schuster contains over 300 Southern recipes and is about Southern cooking as a way of life. This cookbook contains recipes for any type of occasion and in addition to being a cookbook, the Southern Cooking Bible is also meant to be used as a teaching tool while cooking by containing helpful illustrations that accompany some of the recipes more difficult steps.
This past Wednesday on October 19, Paula Deen came to Oxford, Miss. for her book signing at Off Square Books. Her Campus Ole Miss had the chance to speak with Deen and learn more about the Southern Cooking Bible and the specialness and the traditions of Southern cooking that Deen has experienced throughout her life.
 
Her Campus: In your latest cookbook, Southern Cooking Bible, there are over 300 recipes, but what is your favorite recipe in the book?
 
Paula Deen: It’s hard to pin it down to just one recipe, but there is one special recipe that I started using and making when I started The Bag Ladyback in 1989. That recipe was the “gooey butter cake”, and is one of our signature things that we make.
 
In my new book, I pay homage to the “gooey butter cake” recipe from my previous cookbooks The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookingand The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cooking 2with the “ooey-gooey butter layered cake”.
 
The “ooey gooey butter layered cake” recipe is totally simple to make and worships the gooey butter cake by containing the same ingredients, except it is in a layered form.
 
 
HC: Your cookbook celebrates cooking and bringing together people through food, but what is your favorite food that you enjoy?
 
PD: My favorite food that I enjoy is hands down a potato because with a potato there is such versatility because you can make so many things with it such as: potato salad, baked potatoes, boiled potatoes, and Potatoes au Gratin.
Also, there is really nothing finer than a pot of potato and ham soup.
 
 
HC: Now, our Her Campus readers are primarily High School and college-aged students that all have different interests of what careers they want to pursue, but for those who have dreams of becoming a chef or a cook, what are some tips you can give them to succeed in this industry?
 
PD:  Well, I’m not a chef, I’m just a cook; and I didn’t go to culinary school, I just gained a wonderful education working in previous restaurants.  
 
My best advice for these aspiring cooks is to “go get yourself a job in a restaurant before you have your momma and daddy spend money on a culinary education”.
 
Also, the cooking industry is some of the hardest work in the world because the hours are atrocious, so really make sure that’s what you really what you want to do.
 
That being said if you find that it is in your blood to pursue this career, than do the very best in your area that you are placed in at your restaurant job.
 
 
HC: After working at restaurants and of course, running your own restaurant The Lady & Sons in Savannah, Georgia, what is your favorite restaurant that you have ever been to?
 
PD:“I love me a Popeyes” because my family loves plain ole honest cooking, not that foo-foo fake food with every herb and spice. So if I can’t get to my cooking, I always love to get to a Popeyes and get their delicious chicken.
 
 
HC: Leading up to now, you have had a very successful career in thecooking industry, but what has been the greatest moment in your career?
 
PD: There have been several moments in my career that have been those ‘Oh my goodness moments’. Some of those moments have been when I was asked to be a Grand Marshal in the Rose Parade last January, and also, when Oprah and Gayle King spent the night with me just two weeks ago.
 
It is hard though to pin it down to just one great moment that I have had in my life because it took me a long time to realize that there is no reason for a woman not to take responsibility for herself. At the age of 42, I realized that a woman doesn’t need to depend on a man, and that a woman can be just as smart and just as capable as a man. Ever since I realized that, God has immediately blessed me.
 
HC: Not just our readers, but many people in the world look up to you and admire you for all the success you have had in your life, but who is your idol in your life?
 
PD: Well, my mother and my daddy died very young, but they were the most fabulous people I have ever met.
 
In the culinary world, people out there can’t compete with your family, but I am so sad though that I didn’t have the chance to meet Julia Child.
 
 
Order your copy of Paula Deen’s Southern Cooking Bible today and for more information on Paula Deen, check out:
 
 
Paula Deen’s website: www.pauladeen.com
 
Paula Deen’s Facebook page: Paula Deen
 
Paula Deen’s Twitter: @Paula_Deen