Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Being Southern is back in style
Larry Bly
Larry Bly runs an ad agency and does freelance writing in the Roanoke area.
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The Food Network is huge. In its short TV life (compared to the big 3 networks) it has gained legions of food fans, young and old, men and women. And through that brief history, it has managed to create a handful of superstars in their own right: Emeril Lagasse comes to mind.
Emeril was trained in the kitchens of the famous Commander's Palace under the watchful eye of the famous Brennan restaurant family of New Orleans. He learned well. Not only did he attain the art of cooking -- but like the Brennan family itself, the art of self-promotion. He now runs a string of restaurants he hardly ever sees, has his line of cooking sauces and other items, is a pitch man in TV commercials, and has at least two shows on the Food Network. He's a one-man industry. What will he cook up next?
Probably more schemes for promoting -- you guessed it -- Emeril.
Among the other stars that now get talked about among my Fanatical Food Network Friends: Rachael Ray's "30 Minute Meals" and that sweet little Italian lady that I love, Giada De Laurentiis, the "Everyday Italian", who makes me wonder if you can trust a skinny Italian cook? And could she consider pre-chopping one single thing?
Then there's the newest superstar: Paula H. Deen, or as she prefers it, "The Lady & Sons." Paula, like Emeril and others, has become a Food Network icon, with her easy kitchen ways, simple cooking methods, and a Southern drawl just chock full of "y'all's" and "Darlins" and such. Heck, she's just dripping with cornbread and honey! And while the southern "y'all's" sort of get old in hurry, Paula Deen is ageless and interesting always.
Her story: After getting dumped by her first husband way back when, she found herself unemployed, overwhelmed and living in Savannah with not much more than a will to succeed. "Using the skills I learned as a child, I invested my last two hundred dollars in a catering business that I started with my two sons, Jamie and Bobby" (whom she still trots out frequently on the TV show, along with her current hubby). The success of that venture led to opening The Lady & Sons Restaurant, so successful now (especially since her new-found TV stardom) that your chances of getting in without reservations are practically nil. One of her two sons now also has a restaurant in Savannah as well. She obviously relishes (no pun intended) her tremendous success and still shares the limelight with about anyone who will stand in it.
Her cookbook, "The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook" has been in print since 1997, but is now updated with an "As Seen On Food Network" logo and an introduction by no less than John Berendt, author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. In it, he extols the virtues of "The Lady" and all of her southern splendor. John may well do the best job of summing up southern cooking that I've read in some time: "Authentic Southern food is not about pretension. 'It does not require a sophisticated palate', says Paula. 'It's poor-man's food. Kids don't have to acquire a taste for it. They love it from the start. Southern dishes do not require split-second timing. They do not fall in the oven. We don't go in for ornate presentations, either, or sculpted desserts. We just heap food on the plate. There are some things we do that would make a French chef sick, like for instance, the way we make red-eye gravy---country ham cooked in a skillet with water and strong coffee. But let the French taste it, and he'll get over being sick real quick."
Paula takes her southern-fried philosophy to new heights with statements like, "I've never heard anybody say, 'Gee, golly, I can't wait to get up to New York so I can have some of that good Yankee food.'" OK, Paula, just calm down and take your medication. People do go to big cities to enjoy extraordinary cuisine. And when's the last time you heard "Gee golly"?
Anyway, she defines the staples of classic Southern food: butter, sugar, salt, pepper, hot sauce, vinegar, ham hocks, and, to lay it on the line: fat. In a nod to today's more health-conscious bunch, she hedges her bets a little with this statement: "We can make concessions for the health-conscious by doing things like using smoked turkey wings instead of ham hocks. But a better approach for weight watchers is to look at Southern food as a treat and just go with it."
Having said that, the introduction goes on to tell how her dear old daddy "dropped dead" when she (Paula) was young. Horrible, yes, and one can only hope from not eating too many ham-hocked, fat-laden southern dishes.
They've called her the "steel magnolia" and you just have to love her friendly ways and All-Shucks success story. The cookbook, like her monthly magazine, is chock full of great Southern recipes. While some are a bit shy on the herbs and spices side -- she'll use a pinch of garlic salt when some fresh, smashed real garlic would do, for instance -- you'll find many that are mouth-watering; and more than a few that will bring back memories of childhood eating here in the South. Her lemon meringue comes to mind. My Aunt Toots would always include lemon meringue pie in Sunday dinners -- and using REAL meringue, not that Cool Whip stuff. That's the only way I'll make it to this day.
Appetizers include such delicacies as Pecan-stuffed dates, Georgia Sugared Peanuts, Hot Crab Canapé', and mini-onion quiches to name a few. Then there are the more traditional ones we still get a church socials: Sausage balls, bacon wraps, various dips and spreads. There's a goodly number soups and salads to try: She Crab, Roasted Red Pepper soup, Oyster Stew, White Bean Chili, Sherried Avocado Bouillon, Chicken Salad, and yes, even "The Lady's Coleslaw". This is all starting to make me want to refer to myself in the third person.
There are main courses of fish and shellfish, veggies and side dishes galore, sauces, dressings, preserves, desserts, and of course, the obligatory breads! You can't be Southern without breads, though fewer restaurants seem interested in continuing this tradition anymore. Despite her best efforts, diets are screwing up our Southern eating habits.
If you have long-since forgotten the art of making homemade strawberry and cream pie, Chess pies, Southern tea cakes, Fudge, and Peach Cobbler, then get ready to re-discover your past!
The cookbook ends with a few tips from The Lady, like "Always beat eggs before adding sugar". It would be nice if she explained why, but alas, maybe taking secrets to your grave is a southern trait as well.
One curiosity about the book: The introduction by John Bernedt is included twice; once at the beginning, then repeated again at the end. Just in case you missed it the first time.
Despite her slightly exaggerated Southern ness (a bit of show-biz? Nah!) you gotta just love Paula Deen, her sons, her chubby hubby, and her little dog, too! Alls I can say is "ain't she the sweetest thang"?
