Hiers Side

Today we're cooking up some of our family favorites with Bubba's kids, y'all

Like Uncle Bubba's shrimp gumbo. The shrimp are wonderful in there. Jamie and Bobby's recipe for deep fried pickles

I guess I'm going to have to go to Bobby's after this and work out now. And Jay's favorite, his daddy's corn muffins

They're out of this world. They are. If I eat one, I'll eat a hundred. And an all-time family favorite, y'all, banana pudding

Yum. Step back. Yum. I'm in the kitchen today, y'all, with my brother Bubba's children

And they are precious children. This is Kari. We're going to be making your daddy's gumbo

And I'm going to make a roux. I've got two sticks of butter here that we're going to put in our cast iron pot

Kari lives here with Michael and me, y'all. she's got a cute little apartment over the garage

Don't go far from home. And I love it. Auntie Paula is so happy

Bubba has always been so kind over the years. He always allowed me a close relationship with his children

Now, Kari, I'm fixing to put three-quarters of a cup of flour

All right, now, is this on a low temperature? Because I know with Rue, real quick, you can mess it up

You're exactly right. and you never want to quit stirring a root. You never want to walk away from it

because if it scorches, it's ruined. So, Kari, now that you've finished

chopping a quarter cup of celery, I'm going to need for you to chop

about a half of an onion, a half of a green bell pepper

and a couple of cloves of garlic. You know, Kari is in the kitchen with me here a lot, y'all

Sometimes I get lazy and I lay on the couch. Yeah, sometimes she'll lay on the sofa

and watch me cook and tell me what she wants me to fix

and tells me how to fix it. Well, you're the same way

Words both ways. But, you know, it's kind of funny because you're so particular about your food

I was at a dinner party one night watching somebody who didn't really know how to cook cook

and I was wanting to take over so bad. Oh, were you? And do it my way

Oh, well, Junior, I don't know where in the world you could have gotten that from. I did not like her presentation

Oh, you didn't? Well, don't mention any names because maybe she's watching the show

All right. So look, Kari. It's about the color of a new penny, y'all

So, Kari, all I do is just toss the vegetables in. Now, how long will this cook for

Well, we'll let it cook, you know, until the vegetables just sweat down

Not very long. It won't take but just a couple of minutes

Now while we wait for the room, let's get going on another family favorite, deep fried pickles, y'all

I take one of my girlfriends up to Uncle Bubba's all the time. It's her favorite thing to eat on the menu. Really

Well, at Uncle Bubba's, y'all, we use dill pickles, but this recipe called the bread and butter pickles

So we're going to try those and see what you think. We're just going to put a cup of flour and four eggs, if you'll beat those up

and these measurements don't have to be precise because this is just the coating for these

So if we need more, we'll certainly add to it. And I'm going to measure out a cup of cornmeal

Now, how did you know to use cornmeal? Because there's a lot of different things in the house

that we use for frying a certain thing. Well, this is Jamie and Bobby's recipe

And they use cornmeal because it gives a crispier outer layer than just using flour

All right. So here we go. Let's do it. Now we're going to put a little salt and pepper in the flour

a little salt and pepper in the cornmeal. Mix that up. All right, so if you'll start making the sauce for these

I'll start doing the dipping because this is messy. I'm going to go flour, eggs, and meal

Now once we get a good coating on these pickles, honey, we're just gonna deep fry them in vegetable oil at about 350 degrees

I'm just gonna put those in the basket. And then I'll be dropping them down into the fryer

Now, Kari's sauce that she's making, it's simple, y'all. Just two tablespoons of honey, a quarter of a cup of Dijon mustard

a quarter of a cup of sour cream, and a half a cup of mayonnaise

This is a messy job, y'all. To me. I saw some good groceries cooking over here

Look at here. Here's the other hires, y'all. He loves to eat, too

This is my nephew. That's good. Kari's brother, Bubba's son. You know I'm not going to pass up a free meal

I know you're not, son. Especially right. What can I do to speed up the process

I tell you what give those pickles a shake Right there No baby The one in the basket Y this is my nephew Jay And those look like they ready to come out Jay

I'm going to take these over here with me. Do you like it? Do you like it

See, those are bread and butter pickles, Jay. Yeah, this is good stuff

Are they? Well, I want to taste. Would you like one? With the sweetness. Yes. I just want a little bit

I guess I'm going to have to go to Bobby's after this and work out now. As much as we eat, we have to work out a lot around here

Yeah, I already did my time this morning. Well, listen, we've got to take a quick break, but today we're on the higher side

Coming up, Jay and I are going to spice up Bubba's Shrimp Gumbo, y'all

Doesn't it look wonderful already? Smells good, too. And then, last one to the dance, like to kiss a frog, we get going on corn muffins

so good you won't be able to keep your hands off of them

And later, Jay and Kari are going to pitch in with me to make a classic dessert, banana pudding

Is that out of this world or what, y'all? Hey, y'all, welcome back

I'm cooking with siblings today. It's the higher side. That's right. Y'all, this is my nephew, Jay

Hey, y'all. I'm in the kitchen today with Bubba's children. Jay and Kari. Now, I started out with Kari, so she's going to know how to make the roux

That's right. And you're going to know how to finish it up. That's right. I'm the closer

You're the closer. Say if you need a deal closed. If you need a wingman

Call Jay Bird. So, Jay, now you're cutting up one cup of fresh okra, and that's going to go into the roux for our shrimp gumbo

I'm going to add three cups of shrimp stock. And, y'all, this is a homemade shrimp stock

So you just make your shrimp stock by adding your heads and your shells

and you can make it up in an hour or so. If you don't have access to those heads and the shells

usually in the seafood department you can find, like, a seafood bouillon

or at the grocery store you can find, like, a lobster base or a seafood base

You can use that. All right, I'll take back over now. If you'd open the bottles, Sure

We're going to add two bottles of clam juice. It's going to kick up our gumbo unbelievably well

And if you would open up, yeah, Jay Bird. There you go. When we get this in, if you would open up the tomatoes

You got it. Kari was on the cover of South Magazine here like two months ago

Well, Jay was also included in that. And let me tell you all what the story was about

It was about red hot bachelors. Oh, God. And bachelorettes. Thanks, Bobby

So Jay is one of Savannah's hottest bachelors, girl. It's not quite as working out as good for me as it was for Kari

She's actually, it took her about three weeks to find a man. Yeah. I'm still searching

Kari kind of. We've got to get Bobby Hitch first, so there's some left for me

All right. We're going to put in three bay leaves. And then we're going to come over here, Jay, and we're going to add our dry ingredients

We're going to add a tablespoon of dried parsley, a tablespoon of Cajun seasoning

Okay, a teaspoon of thyme and a teaspoon of dried basil. Now, if you've got those fresh herbs, use it, y'all

But you'll just want to at least double or triple your amount if it's fresh herbs

They're not nearly as potent as the dry. So I'm going to put about a half a teaspoon of black pepper

Put in the okra. Okay. I really like the okra cooked a long time in the gumbo

And it also acts as a thickening agent. I'm going to take our smoked link sausage

Okay. And I'm just going to cut it diagonally. We just need about a cup and a half, baby

And you're going to be just amazed at what that smoked sausage, y'all, will do for that gumbo

It's fabulous. Gonna flavor that gumbo like you would not believe. Doesn't it look wonderful already

Smells good, too. We're gonna just let that sit and simmer now while we get started on your daddy's famous corn muffins

They're out of this world. They are so good. If I eat one, I'll eat 100. If you will put together the wet ingredients, I'll start with the dry

And I'm gonna use one cup of self-rising cornmeal, y'all. And if you can't find self-rising cornmeal, you can take a plain cornmeal, y'all, and just add your baking powder and your salt to it

And then I'm going to add three-fourths of a cup of self-rising flour

And then two eggs. Okie dokie. Now, Jay Bird, you can beat those eggs up in there

You got it. Because you're faster than your old auntie. All right, so I'm going to add a little cayenne, about a fourth of a teaspoon

and it's just gonna have a little bite. And then I gonna add about a half a teaspoon of salt I got a half a cup of oil here Which is going to make them real moist That right Okay there your whisk Thank you That might work better for you Yeah a little bit

I'm going to add in this whole thing of sour cream. Let's get that out

That's an eight-ounce carton, y'all. And this is the magic ingredient right here

8.5 can of cream-style corn. That's right. So there we go. Just that easy

I'll get our muffin tin spurred. and we're going to put these in the oven at 375 degrees, y'all

and we're going to cook them for about 18 minutes. You ready to go in? Yes, honey, boy, just pour all that in there

This is a Teflon-coated pan. They probably won't stick, but just to guarantee it

And our gumbo is looking so good, Jay. Look at that. I cannot wait

I've got two ice cream scoops. Okay. So we're going to fill these about a half to two-thirds full, and I'll race you

Okay. Last one to the dance. Take the kiss of frog. Whoa

I've got four. How many you got done? Uh-oh. I got a piece of one

Space them out. Uh-oh. Space them out. Space them out. Yours are a little full. That was yours

All right. There we go. There we go. I'm gonna let you have this one

No, I think you beat your weight. You're way faster than me, but you know what

I'll kiss the frog. Saloon. I always knew I was a prince

Yes, you're a prince. 375 degrees, y'all, for 18 minutes. And you're gonna have the best corny corn muffin you ever put in your mouth

Coming up, Kari's back in the kitchen, y'all, and we're making an old-time favorite

Banana pudding. Smelling food again. And later, Jay returns just in time to help folks finish it all

Step back. Yum. Kari, Jay did a good job on those corn muffins

Why don't we take them out? Oh, they look delicious. I got a little cloth bowl right here

Why don't you go ahead, darling, and place those muffins in the bowl, And then we'll get started on one of your personal favorites, Kari, a custardy banana pudding

We're going to make a custard, y'all. And we're going to start by measuring a third of a cup of cornstarch

And this is going to get that nice and thick for us. Now, I'm going to add two-thirds a cup of sugar

And, Kari, you've got three eggs over there. If you would be beating up those eggs, sweetie

All right, two-thirds a cup of sugar. All right. And I'm going to put in about a fourth of a teaspoon of salt

And I'm going to take that off my heat because we don't have our liquid ready yet

So I don't want to burn our sugar. If you would measure us out, three cups of milk, please. Okay

All right. So you can just slowly add that and give me a chance to incorporate the dry

Shall we? Tump it all in. See, we don't want our cornstarch lumping

There we go. Perfect. So, Kari, I just realized I had not put the shrimp in our gumbo

So if you just stir those in. And we've got a pot of rice up here because you can't have gumbo without rice

We've added two pounds of shrimp to our gumbo, Kari. And that shrimp will cook in just a few minutes

At Uncle Bubba's, we put in shrimp, scallops, oysters, and crab meat

So you can put anything in there you want to. If for some reason you have a family member that's allergic to seafood, you know, use chicken

Or you could even use pork if you had a good piece of pork. Let's let that gumbo simmer for a few more minutes, and our custard is all ready for those eggs you've beaten

Now you see this is getting nice and thick. Okay. So we're going to temper those

Now you get your whisk and just whisk that together. Just whisk it in right now as I'm adding it

All right. So we're slowly bringing those eggs up to heat. I like to add plenty so that I know it's not going to lump on us

All right, you just mix that now and put it back in the pan. And we're going to cook that for like two more minutes, y'all, just until the egg's done

And it's ready to go in. Okay, so we can dump this in, Neil? Uh-huh, uh-huh. If you just put that over in here

There we go. Just dump it. Perfect. Perfect. And you see this is starting to turn a pretty pale yellow because of the eggs

Now, we're going to let that cook for about two minutes. Okay. So if you would just seal these things back up and maybe put the dirties over in the sink

When we take this off the heat y we going to add about a teaspoon of vanilla and a half a stick of butter We don want to add the vanilla until it done cooking because we don want the flavoring to cook out and that

extract will cook out. I'm smelling food again. Look at your muffin, sweetie

That's great. I can't wait. Can I start eating now? Sure. Start

bowling us up. Alright, we got the rice here, Jay Bird. Sounds good

All right, Kari, I've cut off our custard. So add about a teaspoon

of that. Get us about a half a stick of butter. All right. And

plop it here. And then we're going to let this cool a little bit. Because you

don't want your custard too hot. It'll turn your bananas brown. There you go

Perfect. Look in there at that beautiful custard, y'all. See how thick and rich

and delicious. Look at that butter just sitting on top of it

Y'all. You got our gumbo bowled up? Ooh, gosh. Yum. And a napkin

Here, Kari, you can quit stirring and you can eat now. Okay, thank you. Just let that cool

And I just want a little bit, Jay Bird. Oh, perfect for me

Is it good? But you know what now? I like to drop a little butter on my rice

Rice fries. I know. Just down on top of my rice, just a little butter

And I would sure love a piece of corn muffin. Have you ever made this before

I have. Mmm. So good. I like to use a turkey sausage

It saves me a little time in the gym. It's not quite as good, but... Oh, that's boring

Mmm. You do good work. Mmm. You did good work. Go run some more on the treadmill

Coming up, the bananas go into this irresistible custard pudding. So you can eat a lot of it

You can eat like two or three. Yes, you can. All right, Che Birdie, if you'd slice our bananas, we've got our custard

Sounds good. It's cooled. We've got our wafer cookies. It's just a 12-ounce box of vanilla wafers, and we're going to need about five of those bananas, Jay

I thought it would be cute in these little jars, and this would be a great way to pack them up for a picnic

You know, when you're wanting to impress your girlfriend or your guy friend, and just put the lid on them and then have individual servings

So that's good enough on your whipping cream, Kari. We put a fourth of a cup of sugar, y'all, to one cup of heavy whipping cream

So, Kari, if you would drop the cookies. All right. And I'm going to move these over here by you

And I'll layer the bananas on top of the cookies. And some people like a lot of custard

Some people like a lot of bananas. I like a lot of custard

I'm putting, like, that first round about three slices of bananas. Now let's put the custard on y'all

We'll just stick a couple of more wafers, Kari, on top of that

A few more bananas. Do you want me to put the whipping cream on these

Well, we got to put some more custard on them. So you can start putting the custard

There you go. And when Kari gets those filled with the custard, Jay Bird

Yes, ma'am. Top it with that whipped cream. I am swallowing to beat the bacon

Yum. Step back. Yum. We are ready to eat. I'll be getting up our mint because you know we have to eat our vegetables

One piece of green somewhere. Yes, we've got to have a piece of green somewhere

But how cute would this be for a picnic? They're great. So does everybody have a spoon

Yes. All right, J. Berg. How is it? Y'all have already started

It's great. Oh, my goodness. Is that out of this world or what, y'all

It's great. This is not too sweet, so you need a lot of it

You need like two or three. Yes, you can. I have had fun being in the kitchen with y'all today

Not half as much as I have. Thank you for having us. Y'all are like... I love you. I love you too, Jay Bird

You know, I may be prejudiced, but they are my niece and my nephew, and I think y'all are adorable

You're so sweet. Y'all are good kids, and I love y'all. Group hug

Group hug! I do love y'all. It's time to say goodbye and send our love and best dishes to everybody out there

We'll see you when we see you. Bye, y'all